Good evening everyone. I would like to start off by saying thank you for coming to graduation. It is hard for me to believe that it is already time for me to graduate. It feels like just yesterday I was starting high school. I would like to thank all of my teachers, coaches, family, and friends for all of their support.
I have had a wonderful high school experience, albeit it was a bit crazy at times. I have done some crazy things in order to accomplish my goals. I have taken several college classes from SUU and Snow the past couple of years. High school breaks are often different from college breaks. There are multiple times when I was doing homework for college or watching class when my high school was on a break.
Last year during my high school spring break, I went to Florida. However, it wasn’t college spring break. I had a speech to give that week in one of my college classes, so I ended up giving my speech from a hotel room in Florida. During this year’s high school spring break, I went on a cruise to Mexico with my Spanish Club. Again, it wasn’t college spring break. I spent probably 80% of my free time on the cruise doing homework.
When you set a goal, you never know what you will have to sacrifice to accomplish it. When I set a goal to get my Associates Degree before I graduated high school, I had no idea all of the work that it would take to get there. There are several times where I almost gave up on my goal, but I succeeded. I was able to graduate from Snow College a couple weeks ago with my Associate of Science and a 4.0 GPA.
No matter how hard something may seem, you can accomplish anything if you work hard enough for it. This is something that my classmates have really taught me. They have encouraged me along my way. I definitely couldn’t have done it without them.
My class is like family to me. Every person in my class is one of my best friends. They give me something to laugh about and look forward to. All six of us have been together for at least the past seven years. We have made some amazing memories and accomplished impossible things.
A couple years ago, it was our turn to light the E on the hillside. It was a couple weeks before graduation, when we were told that we couldn’t light the E anymore because of fire restrictions. We asked if we could light the E anyway, if we did it without fire. They told us we could, but it was all up to us to figure out how to do it. We came up with the idea to use Christmas lights. We asked everyone we knew if they had white Christmas lights that we could borrow and use to light the E. Somehow we successfully managed to light the E.
Another prominent memory with my class is when we were setting up for Prom. Once again, we decided to go big. We spent two weeks decorating the gym. It was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun and definitely worth it.
Later that year, on graduation night, we all got together and attempted to stay up all night. Then we cooked breakfast and watched the sunrise together. Another time we tried to stay up all night was two nights ago. This time we actually all succeeded. We spent the night blowing up 5,000 balloons to fill one of the school hallways for our senior prank. It was definitely worth it.
Now, tonight we also plan to stay up all night again and spend our night having fun. Our class has definitely done some crazy things. I am so thankful for everyone in my class, and I don’t know what I would have done without them. Congratulations class of 2023 and thank you for such a great high school experience.
– by Briannon Woolsey, Valedictorian, Escalante High School
Feature image caption: Briannon Woolsey delivers her valedictory address at Escalante High School’s graduation on May 26, 2023. Courtesy Hayley.
A Valedictory address for Escalante High School’s Class of 2023.
Read how Piute’s graduated class accomplished a goal in the address Piute’s Largest Class.
Read Escalante’s 2024 valedictorian speech in Well, Well, Well… by Ryen Treanor and Korben Young.