Good afternoon class of 2015, teachers, parents and community members. It is a great honor and pleasure to be here today delivering the valedictorian speech. I wouldn’t be here without the support and compassion of my teachers, community members, and most importantly my parents. Even amidst their own hectic schedules, my parents were a constant presence that I could rely on, and even if they couldn’t help me with my BC Calculus homework, at least they tried. On behalf of the class of 2015, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to everyone who has helped us reach this stage. Thank you.  

I could continue this speech with an inspirational quote from a famous leader, activist or personality, but instead I’ve decided to take a slightly different approach. This time is reserved for the class of 2015, so it should naturally be filled with our ideas and beliefs, not someone else’s. This is probably the last time we will be together as a class for a while, and that got me thinking: just what does it mean to be the class of 2015? Our class is something incredibly special, and we are surrounded by some of the most intelligent and accomplished people around. As a way to add something creative to the standard graduation speech, I asked some teachers to describe our class in one word or phrase. Naturally, the responses varied.

Dr. Munn described our class as “spirited, helpful and giving,” while Mrs. Weintraub complimented our class on showing kindness that “is not that common.” Mr. Wilson described us as “vibrant, enjoyable and immensely likable.” Ms. Kurtz recalled a few memories when she stated that the best way to describe our class was in the following phrases:

“Oh Ms. Kurtz, you don’t want to know.”

“You drew a picture of what!”

“Grapes hanging from the ceiling.”

Even though we all came from different middle schools, we’ve spent the last four years together, and whether we realized it or not, everyone subconsciously shaped and molded each other into the people we are today. We have also left our mark on the school, the classes below us and our community.

Looking around today, it’s clear that we have a lot to be proud of, and a lot more to aspire to. Even though these past years have been a roller coaster, they should not be our only defining years. These should not be the best years of our life. If MCAS testing, APs, vocabulary quizzes and projects are the best years of our lives, then something is horribly wrong.

I know that everyone is probably itching to get their diplomas and begin the after-graduation celebration, but no commencement speech is complete without an attempt to impart some wisdom to the audience. I want to avoid sounding like every other commencement speaker who says the mantra “follow your dreams, follow your passions, do what makes you happy.”

At first I thought that there was nothing wrong with this message. However, as I continued to ponder it, I realized there was a pattern — your dreams, your life, your passions. As New York Times columnist David Brooks noted in his article The Moral Bucket List, “This is a vision of life that begins with self and ends with self.”

Throughout life, people have been telling us to follow our dreams and our hearts. We spend a majority of our lives obsessing on our individuality and how to make ourselves stand out and how to make our dreams, hopes and ambitions a reality. Instead, if we invert the idea where we focus on the reality and have hopes, dreams and ambitions that follow, it will lead to a more fulfilling and accomplished life.

As Brooks also pointed out, there are two types of virtues: resume virtues and eulogy virtues. As you can guess, the resume virtues are workplace virtues such as writing effectively or adding and subtracting. These are the virtues that make us more desirable for an employer and that high school has instilled in us and for which we are overqualified.

When it comes to eulogy virtues, we may be under qualified. These virtues are based on character. We haven’t had classes that teach us about honesty and bravery like we have had classes on computing integrals and writing thesis statements. Our educational system is effective in preparing us with our resume virtues, but not quite as adept in providing us with our eulogy virtues. We live in a society that caters to the individual and feeds our resume virtues.

We spend so much time taking that perfect selfie to post on our story or making a Facebook post that highlights another one of our accomplishments, but never seem to stop to ruminate on our inner self. Even though our society demands us to yield to “the selfie” or “the tweet,” we don’t have to. As Brooks says “wonderful people are born not made,” and I agree.

In conclusion, class of 2015, embrace the world with open arms knowing that this is the only thing we have right now, and let our dreams grow out of this fertile environment. To paraphrase Kennedy, don’t ask what you need of society, ask how you can improve society. Everyone has a special talent, and ask yourself going forward, how can you apply this talent to create a better world. Make your resume virtues second to your eulogy virtues.

Regardless of the path you take over the next few years, show the world what it means to be a member of the MVRHS class of 2015. Never forget where you have come from. Always look towards the future. Make sure to live in the present, changing it as you see fit.

Samantha Potter is the valedictorian of the class of 2015. She will attend the U.S. Air Force Academy in the fall.