Superintendent Willis, Piute County school board members, Principal Bagley, faculty, staff, parents, family, friends, and graduates,
Welcome and thank you for attending Piute High School’s graduation ceremony. It is an honor to speak to you tonight. We are glad and grateful to finally be at this point. Congratulations to us! Congratulations to all of you out in the crowd as well. Every person here tonight has had a role in shaping us into who we are, so thank you all for the help and guidance you have given us. Thank you teachers for putting up with our constant complaints and for giving us knowledge. Thank you families for the support and the behind-the-scenes things. Thank you, leaders, advisors, and coaches for helping us develop our skills and being our examples. Thank you friends for sticking by our sides and making us better people.
A few days ago, I found out that one of my second cousins was just named a valedictorian of her class, along with 25 other valedictorians. Every one of those 26 students had a 4.0 GPA leading back to their 8th grade year so they were all named valedictorians. Well, we don’t have 531 students in our class as my cousin did, but our ratio of valedictorians to class size is almost three times that amount.
I’d now like to recognize three students whom I consider to be valedictorians. Cooper Fautin, Tera Morgan, and Brooklyn Jessen all had 4.0 GPA’s. They have worked so hard their whole high school careers and should be as proud as their peers are. Congratulations to Cooper, Tera, and Brooklyn.
Before I go any further, I’ll brag about our class. Since seventh grade, our teachers have told us that we are a special class because we are so well-rounded. Now, do me a favor and look at all the posters hanging around this gym. I know I haven’t seen that many posters for a single class in a while. That just scrapes the surface of the involvement and accomplishments of this class.
Besides sports, many were and are involved in the National Honor Society, FBLA, FFA, HOSA, Game Club, Shooting Club, Robotics Club, Class Presidency, Student Council, 4-H, rodeo, music, the military, religious activities, and more. These have sprung many opportunities and achievements. Within this group of graduates are many with high to perfect GPA’s, club region and state placers and champions, MVP’s, state wrestling placers and champions, boys basketball state champions, two-time girls basketball state champions, four-time baseball state champions, and one four-time state champion wrestler, to name a few.
Looking back, we are all very different than when we first came to Piute High. Six years ago, these soon-to-be graduates started as little, scared, and mischievous seventh graders. There have been bumps in the road and lots of growth.
In eighth grade, we made our version of the twelve days of Christmas song to remind everyone how crazy and chaotic our class was for an assembly. I’ll let you all discern which ones are true and which aren’t, but most of them did actually happen.
I won’t sing it, but I will read the list: On the first day, 1 kid got expelled. On the second, 2 teachers yelled. On the third, 3 kids got caught. I’m not sure what they got caught for but we can all use our imaginations. On the fourth day, 4 kids were fighting. On the fifth, 5 kids sluffed. On the sixth, 6 backpacks were stolen. On the seventh, 7 teachers wanted to quit. On the eighth, there were 8 failing grades. On the ninth, there were 9 test retakes. On the tenth, there were 10 deficiencies. On the eleventh, 11 punches were thrown. And on the twelfth day of Christmas, 12 kids were suspended.
That is just a brief description of what our class was like. We have all come a long way from where we began. I feel that we have all become more responsible as we have prioritized school, athletics, clubs, and other important ways of learning. All of these involvements have taught us to be dedicated, how to manage our time, and who we want to become. They told us in 7th grade that we have bright futures.
We have officially fulfilled our peers’ hopes for us, but now we have bigger and better future opportunities and responsibilities. We need to take those opportunities and continually be bettering ourselves so we can attain our own goals and hopes. Being involved is what got us here today and I know that if we stay involved, we can brighten our futures even more.
I ask all of you, whether you’re in seventh grade or seventy, to choose to be involved. Find wholesome activities that will better your lives. To the Class of 2023, let us use what we have learned and done here to create amazing lives for ourselves. Let us share our talents and abilities. Let us prove that we truly are special. Finally, in the words of Charles Spurgeon, “Let us see what we are made of.”
– by Madisen Remund, Valedictorian, Piute High School
Feature image caption: Madisen recounts how her graduating class has been difficult in many ways, but also very special and involved. And she can’t wait for the world to “see what we are made of.”
The Valedictory Address given at Piute High School’s 2023 graduation.