Bright, articulate, ambitious, and flourishes
in an intellectually demanding and competitive setting.
With a strong line of balanced energy and
a love of learning, Melinda has achieved a GPA of 105.3.
She will be attending Dartmouth College in
the fall.
Outside the classroom, Melinda has an excellent
-- and has numerous areas showing not only her expertise but also her diversity as an
individual.
As an athlete, she has been a valuable member
of the Girls Varsity Cross Country Team, and a member of the Winter and the Spring Track
Teams.
In the area of arts, Melinda is an outstanding
musician.
She enjoys horseback riding and is an avid
reader.
She is truly eager to embrace the challenges
that lie ahead.
Please help me in welcoming our valedictorian,
-- Melinda Tascarella!
Hello everyone!
I'm happy to be here
tonight and I would like to extend my thanks
to the superintendent, members of the board
of education, Mr. Caulfield, Mrs. Crossan,
Mrs. Sullivan, all of the guidance personnel,
staff, teachers, and my fellow students.
I
want to thank you, all of you, for being present
in my life, and for teaching me.
We are all
teachers and students at heart; we learn
and grow from all that we teach one another.
I have learned so much through all of you...
And tonight, I want to share with you something
I've learned.
I hope to inspire you, and maybe
even spur you on to live more openly.
What I say,
I say with my whole heart, and I hope that
you will
open your ears, your minds, and your hearts,
and listen.
First, embrace the fact that we all will change
the world.
It is inevitable.
As creatures of this
earth, we will have an impact on other lives.
Our presence is like a light.
We all have a
light about us, an energy that radiates.
We
will shine and teach and guide others, we
will smile at someone and brighten their
whole day, we will have friends who we will
help to discover themselves, we will have
countless experiences in which we inspire,
encourage, and teach, whether or not we are
aware that we are doing so.
Our lives, then, our presence here, is both
meaningful and beautiful.
Since we will have an impact on the world,
we should strive to make it as wondrous as
possible, by living compassionately, not only
for the sake of others, but also for the sake
of ourselves.
To live compassionately is to
embrace our link to humankind, other creatures,
and the environment.
With this connection
come both joy and sorrow in greater magnitudes
than we would otherwise experience.
Choosing to live in this manner requires
courage, as compassion, at times, can
be very painful.
It pains us to see our fellow
beings hurt, but we should embrace these
aches of sympathy.
We should not put up
a shield that stops us from feeling.
At the
root of many of the world's issues is a refusal
to feel and act with compassion.
When we
choose to ignore the environment that we
incessantly and needlessly destroy, when we
close our ears to the cries of the impoverished,
the starving and the sick, we are acting in
a
way that is detrimental to humankind, the
natural
world, and ourselves.
Indeed, it is, at times, less painful to live
without compassion.
But, if we choose to
live ignorantly, then, in the words of Kahlil
Gibran, "[we] enter a fathomless void in
which [we] may laugh, but not with all of
[our] laughter, and cry, but not with all
of [our] tears."
We have been told that "ignorance is bliss."
But
this is wrong, modern society is wrong, living
ignorantly is not living.
Joy and sorrow are
inseparable.
Light would have no meaning
if one had spent one's whole life in a bright
room, never knowing darkness.
In addition telling us that we should be ignorant,
modern society also tells us that we will
only be
happy when we reach a goal.
The moment in
which we reach a goal, however, is not the
sole
time for happiness.
We can be most joyous
during the journey, when we are living fully,
with awareness.
Think, right now, of this
monumental goal, we, the graduating class
of
2010, have just achieved.
And now, think back
to the past years we have spent in high school.
Is right now, this moment, more beautiful
than
the ones in which we laughed with our friends
in the hallway or felt the first warmth of
spring
on our skin?
We are told that we must have a destination,
but it is sometimes easier to live more fully
when we don't have a plan at all.
Whenever
someone asks me what I'm going to study
in college, or what my future plans are, I
just
chuckle and reply joyfully, "Well, I have
no
idea!"
I'm excited to discover what I love; I
can form my path as I live.
And living openly, compassionately, and willingly,
I will be less
prone to living with my mind set only on the
future.
For it is the present, now, that is most
beautiful, the lulling beauty of the blue
sky,
every slow breath of sun-drenched air,
my high-pitched, chirpy voice, your feelings
about everything, the present.
This moment;
every moment, is glorious with an open,
compassionate heart; every moment is
extraordinary.
So, my fellow teachers and students, I beg
you,
I beg you to live, wholly and in the present.
To
let your light shine freely on others and
to not
be afraid to feel; to allow yourself to be
compassionate.
You are wonderful, you are
strong, you are a part of this earth, you
have its
energy coursing through your veins!
So, go ahead, go forward, embrace the world,
and live the journey with your whole heart!
