Patrick Murphy Senior Speech
Today is the day that we have been working towards since
starting school 13 years ago. Although
13 years sounds like a long time, the day has come a lot faster than any of us
would have ever imagined. Today, I am
going to look back on some of our past memories, highlight a few of our many
successes, and reveal the potential our class has to impact the world.
Over
the years, we have made a lot of memories.
From the elementary to high school, we have had many good times.
Something that sticks out is how competitive our class
has always been. The height of this
competitiveness came during girls vs boys Missouri Kickball in elementary
PE. During these games Mr Mahoney had to
endure our complaining, and usually screaming, about his calls while he also
was supposedly keeping score. Most of us
would agree, however, that the score of these games was usually somewhat
questionable.
In high school we have also shared many experiences. Some of the highlights include decorating
for prom, decorating the school for Christmas, and our senior trip.
During
our junior year, we were tasked with the responsibility of hosting prom. We put in a lot of hard work getting the
Legion decorated and setting up for prom.
Even though we worked hard, we still had fun. Mr. Marr let us test the new fog machine and
lasers. Also, while decorating, Travis, with a little help from Eric,
demonstrated the proper way to slide into the DMs. After we finished setting up, our class then
went to Huddle House in York to eat.
Because naturally, after a hard prom setup, we had to feast.
A few
days later during cleanup, Seth demonstrated how not to change a light
bulb. In the middle of cleaning up,
everyone heard something crash to the floor.
We then looked to see Seth standing at the top of the ladder, and below
him, was a light bulb shattered into millions of pieces. Don’t worry though, the Legion was reimbursed
for that lightbulb.
Our
class also carried on the tradition of decorating the school for
Christmas. This December we made a trip to Walmart for decorations and
then went on the hunt for only the best of Christmas trees. After finding some candidates, we loaded most
of them onto trailers and trucks. One,
however, had to be loaded onto the top of Joey’s station wagon to reenact the scene from the movie Christmas Vacation. Once at the school we went through the
struggle of getting our selected tree setup in the hallway. This was a challenging process. Tara and Katie Mounce would especially
agree. While they were trying to tie up
the tree, they got caught basically trapped under the tree’s branches as it
fell towards them. Additionally, once
getting the tree up, some of the other guys almost broke the top off. In the end, it took some talent but we were able
to get the top to stay utilizing a few bungee cords. Despite our struggles, our decorating for
Christmas turned out very nice.
Just
last month, our class went on the annual senior trip. We chose to go to
Galveston and stay in the same beach house as last year’s class. While there, we went swimming, hung out on
the beach, went dolphin watching, and spent a day in Galveston. The drive to Texas was pretty tiring. We left at noon on Wednesday and didn’t reach
the beach house until around 5:30 am on Thursday. We made many stops on the way there including
one stop just under one hour into the trip when someone just couldn’t hold it
any longer. One of the other stops that
definitely stuck out, as Kelsey mentioned, was the stop at Walmart. We drove off the interstate to some
neighborhood Walmart at about 3:30 am to do some grocery shopping. It was an interesting experience going
grocery shopping at 3:30 am.
Once
we finally arrived at the house, some people went to bed to try to get as much
sleep as possible, but others, myself included, stayed up just a little longer
to take in the sunrise. Staying up for
sunrise was definitely worth it. After
sunrise, we were still able to catch one or two hours of sleep.
One of
the most memorable experiences while staying on the beach was swimming in the
ocean and jumping over the waves.
Sometimes you got the wave, but most of the time, the wave got you. Fortunately we didn’t lose anybody in the
water. Although there was one time a few
of us were out farther and we couldn’t find someone we thought was with
us. We then turned and were relieved to
see that the person had started going back towards shore.
While making so many good memories, we have also achieved
a lot in terms of athletics, academics, and activities outside of school.
In
athletics, we have aided in winning several state titles. Our freshman year, we won both the football
and boys state basketball state championships.
Our sophomore year our volleyball
team won the state championship. Our
volleyball team then returned this year to win the state championship
again. Additionally, our teams made
several state appearances as well as performed well in many tournaments.
In
academics, our classmates have had a variety of different experiences. Travis, for example, has worked hard on
creating many really cool projects in shop.
In FCCLA, many classmates have completed projects that have gone on to
state. Kayla, Hannah , and Katie have
even gone on to nationals to compete. In
band, our class was always well represented at both the CRC and Class D Honor
Bands. While in high school, we were
also able to work to receive tw plaques and three superiors at District Music
Contests. Several members of our class
have also had fun competing on our high school quiz bowl team. Additionally, many members of our class
received notable academic scholarships at their college of choice.
Outside
of school, our class has also excelled.
Derek, for example, has already started his own business. Kayla, Claire, and Hannah Horne have gained
valuable experience working in local nursing homes. Furthermore, others in our class have been
helping out on the farm, or have been working at other local businesses.
None of these successes, however, would have been
possible without support and help from countless individuals. I would like to thank our parents, family,
coaches, advisers, teachers, administration, and community members that have
always been there to support us in everything we do.
With this amount of support and success in high school,
one can only imagine what our class is going to go on to achieve. Our class is going into many different
careers from medical careers such as nursing and physical therapy to farm
machine maintenance and other ag related careers. Our class also has many future
educators. Yet, other classmates are
going into other fields as well.
Additionally, our class has two members, Hannah and Hannah who are both
going on to play collegiate sports while furthering their education.
Although this day signifies the end of our high school
careers, it marks the beginning of a new stage in life as we continue onward
towards reaching our goals. Today, I
have shared some of our classes memories, highlighted a few of our many
successes, and revealed a little of what lies ahead for the Exeter-Milligan
class of 2018. Class of 2018, and
everyone here today, I would like to you leave you all with a short quote from
Drew Houston, co-founder and CEO of Dropbox:
“Your biggest risk
isn’t failing, it’s getting too comfortable.”
Congratulations class
of 2018.
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