Brian Stelter – Graduation Senior Speaker Audition
"The best is yet to come"
April 30th, 2003

Do you remember the first day of high school? Way back in 1999, in the first week in September, when the seniors were tall and you walked around in a circle looking for your classroom. The changes we have all experienced in the last four years have been tremendous, but I am convinced that the best days of our lives are yet to come.

My first day was not quite perfect. I stepped off my bus and headed straight to 1st period, afraid that if I went to socialize with friends, I would never find my class in time. On the top of my schedule card was Spanish with Mr. Romero. "Hola," he told me and I walked inside the empty, bland classroom. I leaned back on a desk in the front row and it collapsed underneath me, crashing to the ground, making a loud noise. "What is going on in here!," Mr. Romero yelped with his heavy accent. It wasn't a great first impression, and it wasn't a good first hour at DHS.

Thankfully, things improved. Eventually, the high school layout didn't seem so perplexing; in time, the upperclassmen didn't seem scary. And some things never change: crowded hallways, Mr. DeBoy's P.A. announcements, entertaining Friday morning TV shows.

There have been so many memorable moments, both in class and out. Remember paper ball wars in History class? A World War 2 veteran speaking in Modern World? Remember the time that math finally made sense, thanks to a special teacher? How about DNA experiments in Biology, or creating a catapult for Matter &Energy, or preparing for a debate in English?

The moments outside of class were sometimes even more memorable. A Dave Matthews Band concert, or HFStival, or Nsync. Friday nights under the lights, with the band and the poms and the victories. Lounging by the pool on hot summer days; trips to Jimmie Cone on hot summer nights. More than anything else, it’s the little moments with friends that define our high school years.

The friends we sit with today we’ve known for many years – in some cases, since kindergarten. Remember cooties? Kickball and hopscotch for recess? Assigned seats at lunch? And then in middle school – having a locker for the first time, enjoying the middle school dances. And through it all, friendships are what have lasted: in some cases, they have come full-circle, with the friends you knew in elementary school becoming more important to you as this day drew closer.

We sat through classes that were boring; we enjoyed classes that were a blast. We participated in field trips; field studies; field parties. We learned about drama in English, watched dramas on stage, and experienced drama in our own lives.

As we changed, the world around us did, as well. Remember when Burger King opened, only to be one-upped by KFC/Taco Bell? How about Hoyts opening in Germantown? No more driving to Rio to see a movie on Friday or Saturday nights.

The "experts" may describe us as a traumatized generation -- Columbine, Y2K, September 11th, the snipers, code blue, war in Iraq. But we weren't traumatized. We rolled with the punches. We realized what a fragile world we live in.

And that’s the lasting lesson I have taken from high school: that life is precious. We should live every day to its fullest. Our next step is especially notable: entering college, the military, the workforce is a dramatic change in our lives. As young adults, our opportunities are nearly infinite.

The best is yet to come. As we enter the "real world," the adults will seem big and bad and we may feel lost at times – just like the first few days at Damascus High School. But with our memories and our lessons learned – both inside and outside the classroom – the best is yet to come.