Your exceptional achievements in the pillars of Scholarship, Leadership, Character, and Community Service have brought you all here tonight. But even though tonight is a milestone for all of you, it's not just tonight that matters-- as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The reward of a thing well done is to have done it."
When I started writing this speech, I thought back to five years ago when I was inducted into the National Honor Society. When I thought of my future all I could see was endless possibilities and I hope it's the same for you all.
I loved growing up in Lebanon but after having my Aunt for a math teacher freshman and senior year and my Mom as the school nurse, I was feeling a little smothered and was ready for something different. Choosing to go to school at American University in Washington, D.C. was undoubtedly one of the best decisions I have ever made. I would highly recommend trying somewhere new to all of you, but if you don't get the chance go away to school, you can still expand your worldview by committing yourself to staying engaged-- reading the newspaper, voting, and getting to know new people.
I ended up being randomly placed with a roommate from Oregon-- yup, that's right, it's not actually pronounced Ore-GONE but Oregon! Going to school in a city was shocking at first-- they actually have stop lights..you have to use public transportation and even WALK places..but it's exposed me to such a culturally diverse group of people that I couldn't be happier with my decision..and I hope you'll all consider mixing things up too.
The biggest thing I've learned since my induction five years ago is that when you do think of your future, you don't need to think of it like this: graduate, go to college, get a job, get married. Sure, those are the important things, but what's more important is what's along the way to reaching those milestones. What's more important is seeking out experiences and creating opportunities to do things you never thought you could've done.
One of the things I've done that I really didn't see coming was studying abroad in Paris. I took Spanish all the way to AP Spanish at Lyman and struggled through ser versus estar with Senor Garcia, but I fell in love with Paris on a family vacation and couldn't resist applying to study abroad at La Sorbonne. Even though I had only taken one semester of French and perhaps against my better judgement, I moved in with a French family in January and lived with them for four months!
Just like going to college in DC, I couldn't foresee how things would turn out, but that was half the fun of it. My horrendous French skills quickly became my decent French skills paired with a still-horrendous American accent. I did a lot of traveling and had conversations with more random people than you could imagine (I even got to use my Spanish skills!)
The icing on the cake in my mind (not so much in my Mom's!) was doing something not too many people can say they've tried-- going skydiving over the Swiss Alps. Last December I was lazing around my apartment with my roommate- procrastinating on Facebook while "studying" for finals when I came across some pictures of an old friend doing just that. Then and there my roommate and I decided it was something we absolutely needed to do while we studied abroad, and six months later we jumped out of a plane thousands of feet over the alps!
I guess what I want to say is that you've all established that you've got what it takes to maintain a great GPA and your induction into the National Honor Society has recognized that, but the four pillars are about much more than just grades. Academically, good grades are important but engaging your mind in life-long learning is much more important. Service is about more than logging hours-- it's about actually being aware enough to recognize that people need help even when they're not asking for it. Leadership isn't just holding leadership roles-- it's striving to achieve your goals and upholding your ideals. Finally, character is about staying true to yourself even if not everyone else understands.
It's about recognizing that life has so much to offer and engaging yourself in experiencing as much as you can to become a culturally well-rounded person is SO worth the effort. I've tried as hard as I can to do so-- and somewhere along the way I've become a lot more open minded, thoughtful, and accepting than I was when I started out.
In closing, there's 3 things that I want to reinforce to all of you.
1) You've gotten this far, so you probably already know this, but you have to believe! If you think you won't go far, you won't.
2) Start small and work your way up from there!.
The only way I got to meet Defense Secretary Robert Gates or CNN's Pentagon Reporter Jamie McIntyre or attend meetings where USA TODAY editors decide what tomorrow's front page stories are was by starting off staring at excel spreadsheets, stuffing envelopes, and running errands all day long.
3) Don't give up--stick with it.
You probably won't get exactly what you want on the first try and you might not even get it on the second, but if you really believe in something you won't give up on it, and that's when you will succeed.
Thank you so much for having me tonight and congratulations again to you and your family for all of your wonderful accomplishments thus far!
