So today I wrote the speech that I am going to give on Thursday night at our 3rd Annual AVID Sr. Farewell. Creatively speaking it may be one of my best - it has a powerful message, connects to this year's theme, and will lend itself to some theatrical additions ... I might find some sappy words to add in their books but for now I feel confident that they will enjoy what I have to say and I won't make a blubbering idiot of myself. SPOILER ALERT! If you are an AVID 12 scholar and you don't want to read it, but would rather hear it, then stop reading now! For all others, it goes something like this:
Four years ago, I agreed to lead this program called AVID. Four years ago, 11 of you agreed to follow. We didn't know what we were in for - but we knew where we were headed. We were headed towards a place called college. A place of promise. Something told us it wasn't going to be easy but we were up for the adventure. So we packed our binders, wrote to-do lists in our agendas, used the curriculum as our compass and headed on our way. Some of us got lost - including the leader - and we had to hold up our torches to light the way. Some didn't see the torch and are, unfortunately, still meandering around quite lost. Some got tired and simply quit. Some were ousted because they weren't pulling their own weight and our journey was far too arduous to drag along perfunctory vagabonds. Some joined new groups that were headed in a different direction. But most of us, saw the value in the adventure, and stayed the course. We saw so much value in it that we wanted to share it with other worthy adventurers, so we asked some to join us along the way. Some said yes and our numbers stayed strong. Yet some others heard about our adventure and actively sought us out - also wanting in on the journey. With careful deliberation we said yes to some and said no to others. We had invested too much blood, sweat and tears into this adventure to just let anyone ride along on our momentum. And soon it seemed (even though it had been three years) we came to the point where there was no turning back. No more adventurers would be added and we had come too far to quit. So there we stood looking at the labyrinth of college admissions in front of us and each of you had to individually decide what path to take. I could not enter - the other leaders could not enter - we could only tell you what tools we had used to make it through. We had given you the knowledge and it was time for you to use it. Somewhere in that labyrinth, there was a college or two or three or five ready to open its doors to you - somewhere in that labyrinth there were pots of gold called scholarships that assiduous adventurers would find. And at first everyone seemed ready but soon it became apparent that I had to use a blow horn from outside the labyrinth because some of you were standing still waiting for the college and the money to find you. Some of you thought you had all the time in the world and some of you had lost your motivation. It was only when you heard the celebrations of other adventurers finding the gold and when you heard the sounds of doors opening and people cheering, that you decided it was truly time to ACT NOW. And finally you kept going. But sometimes no matter how hard you knocked, some doors remained closed. This was when you had to remember what we learned from Randy Pausch and his lesson about brick walls. Those brick walls were dead ends in the labyrinth and they were there to test how bad you wanted it. So you figured out a way to go over, under, or around until each of you did indeed find an open door. Some of you thought you would never find one. But we are here today to celebrate that all 21 of you found an open door, that all together you found pots of gold that exceed over one million dollars in scholarships. And now with 21 doors wide open, each of you knows the place that you will call home for the next 4 years.
God speed my AVID adventurers. Go forth. A new labyrinth awaits. Remember what you've learned. Remember the power of keeping company with like-minded people. And once in awhile stand still long enough, embrace the silence long enough to hear the faint echo of a weary traveler with a blow horn from miles away reminding you ... act now ... for your destiny awaits.
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