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Good morning everyone. My name is Desmond -omitted-. Yes yes, haha, funny last name whatever ok awesome let’s continue.
So here we are class of 2008, a class that has witnessed and experienced change all together. Well I’d like to tell you, don’t be too eager for the change to stop because we’re only running into it once again. So, with that I’ll open up my speech with a song.
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"Come gather 'round people
Where ever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'."

Bob Dylan anyone?
For the times they are a changing, now lets think back, how true is this quote to you? Close your eyes and look at your old self. How much have you changed, how much have your friend's changed? Was it good or bad?
Just from this first verse, I can interpret life. From the lines "Better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone", I can already see me. Take action, do good, or you'll sink to the bottom, and once you're down it is really hard to get back up.
The times they are a changin’, and a huge change it’s going to be. We'll be off from our little world of middle school and set free into another world that will prepare us and, like a little canon, launch us into society. I like to call that canon, high school.

"I still don't know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets
Every time I thought I'd got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I've never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I'm much too fast to take that test"

David Bowie much? It’s amazing how songs speak out LIFE. From this song, I can see experience. A million dead-end streets. I'm pretty sure we’ve all failed as well as change into something only to change once again. Then we turn to look back at ourselves only to ask, its time to change again no? We change to be better people, we change to find ourselves. But even though we may need change, we must never force it upon ourselves. Otherwise we’d be trying to hard to be something we aren’t.

We can connect change with growth, after all, we grow with time and as time passes we become different. From when we were little kids to where we are now, we’ve changed. Some say we are a reflection of our parents, I don't believe that. We are a reflection of our lives, our experiences, and where do all these come from? It comes from growth. We grow out of music, we grow out of friends, grow out of habits and just basically everything.

There are so many songs about change but quoting all of them would take ages. But we shouldn't look for change in just songs; we should look for changes in our lives. Like all of you out there, I've experienced change (who hasn't?).

I've seen all my friends change, each slowly drifting off into their little cliques. But I want you to look into your friends eyes and think about what you see. They aren't going to stay this way, they are going to change. In my friend's, I see a lawyer, a doctor, a businessman, a technician, a politician, even a musician, all these things because people change. On the outside, they are the labels we slap on to each other but in their hearts they are the people of the future. We are all people of the future.

Change also led to the loss of many good friends. But still, we can never look at change as good or bad; it’s only a tool in life, a tool in life that comes as we grow.

SO look back at life, look back at change, and look forward to what you'll change into. Think now to shape your life, think now for change. And come freshman year, we'll all be playing this song in our heads:

"I'm coming out
I want the world to know
I'm gonna to let it show"

Thank you for your time. Best of luck to everyone in the future and may our lives stay epic. I would also like to thank all the parents, families, friends, faculty and staff for coming out and celebrating with us.