English 100
31 October 2018
Finding Your Circus
Welcome, to the graduating class of 2018! Thank you to all the students, faculty, family, and friends who are here today to celebrate this group of kids in their accomplishments thus far, not only academically, but as people and members of the community. This is the day we’ve been working towards for years. Senior year has come to a close. Reminiscing about our time here at O’Fallon Township High School, I'm flooded with emotions of pride and respect as I see all these familiar faces sitting before me. I’ve known some of the people who make up this graduating class since 5th grade, the year I moved.
When I was in 5th grade, middle school couldn’t come soon enough. In 5th grade, I also thought I was going to be a knife thrower in the circus. By 8th grade, high school felt so far away. By then, I had learned more about the world and raised my standards; I thought I was going to be a trapeze artist in the circus. When my freshman year of high school finally rolled around, I thought graduation felt like a world away. During freshman year, though, I had come to my senses and decided I would be a doctor. Doctors make money. They save lives. That will make my parents happy. That will make me happy. Right? This is the mindset I had throughout high school (I know a lot of you felt the same): “make everyone around me happy”. By the time the college application process came around, I was conflicted. Did I want to spend the rest of my life doing what others expected of me, or would I rather carve my own path and do what I knew would make me happy? Ultimately, I decided that only working to please everyone else was not the best way to find...
