By RACHEL LIM, Valedictorian
Hello, everyone. I’m Rachel Lim, and I’m incredibly honored to be up here today addressing my fellow members of the Class of 2025, as well as our teachers, mentors, families and friends.
First, of course, to our teachers: On behalf of the graduating class, thank you so much for all of your help and support throughout these past four years. I don’t think it’s possible to overstate how monumental your guidance has been in shaping our daily lives, our passions and our futures. It has been such a privilege to receive the education we have received here, and your hard work and dedication are certainly not to be taken for granted.
Thank you to all of the staff at LHS, including Mrs. Puglisi, Mr. McLeod, our guidance counselors, cafeteria staff, janitors, nurse and technology and media support. Thank you for keeping the building and our community running, helping us shape our futures and making our school a safe and welcoming place.
And of course, to the parents, siblings, family members and good friends who have supported us students throughout the years — thank you. Your willingness to be a shoulder for us to lean on, genuine care for our well-being and unwavering love have not gone unnoticed whatsoever.
I also want to personally thank my own parents, who have always supported me no matter how annoying I could be; my older sister, who I can always confide in; and the other members of my family, most of them overseas in Korea, who have rooted for me from thousands of miles away.
I have to confess that I kind of struggled in writing this speech. For some reason, I found myself procrastinating, maybe just a little bit more than I usually do.
I realize this may be because I was terrified of doing this, talking to so many people at once. But it’s also because, although I’m excited to graduate, I was terrified of what would come after this. We’ve spent a lot of time in this town — for many of us, we’ve spent all or the majority of our lives here. From history field trips into Boston to football games to Doc O’s Cookie Fridays to Prom and more, we’ve shared a lot of experiences together, begun to understand who we are as individuals and made great, lasting memories and friends.
But what’s next? We’re done with high school, and our childhoods are technically over. Some of us might not be able to come home for a long time, and others of us might end up feeling lost in college, questioning what we really want to do with our lives. Soon enough, we’ll probably have to learn how to live on our own, and get our first real jobs and do our own taxes — it’s scary. And I’m sure I’m not the only one among my classmates who feels this way.
But just as we’ve moved from infancy to childhood to adolescence in the past, we will continue to grow. There’s nowhere for us to go but forward. Whether you went to Summer Street or Huckleberry or some other elementary school, drawing little ketchup faces on smiley fries at lunchtime or waiting for your turn to play four-square at recess, I don’t think your younger self could’ve imagined that you would come this far and change and learn so much. We went from crying over scraped knees to enduring messy relationships and the stress of college application season. We’ve watched the world rage in brutal wars and invasions; witnessed our country engaging in polarized, divisive politics; and were forced to wait out a whole three-year pandemic.
Our grade has already faced scary challenges, but we’re all here right now, getting through them in one piece. I know we can be tenacious people, and because of that I just want to express my hope for us to enter our uncertain futures without too much worry. We have accomplished so much — discovered so much about ourselves, those around us, and the world — and we’re off to accomplish even more. We have exciting futures ahead of us!
I look forward to finding out where everyone ends up. I’m sure I’m looking at future lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, researchers, stay-at-home parents, teachers, athletes, engineers and artists. It’s time for us to go off and find what we’re truly passionate about, or to pursue the passions we’ve already found. It is a privilege to be able to graduate like this and to know that we can create for ourselves futures of passion and hard work, and I hope we can all recognize how important it is for us to take this grand opportunity to essentially make whatever we want out of our lives.
So, to conclude, in spite of the slightly daunting fact that we don’t know exactly what will happen in the next few years of our lives and beyond, I trust that we can go forward with overflowing excitement and eagerness, wisened by both our struggles and successes, ready to take on life’s next challenge.
Congratulations, everyone! Thank you.