SALUTATORY ADDRESS by Marie Pohl
The following is the salutatory address from last week’s commencement at Lawrence High School.
When I was a freshman, I fell down.
It was the first day of soccer tryouts, and I was stretched flat across the concrete, with all the other girls running right over me. I was not athletic to begin with, and falling down did not impress the coach. The rest of tryouts didn’t go much better, and I was cut from the soccer team. But after I fell down, I got back up and finished, and after I got cut from soccer I went out for field hockey.
One of the first things high school taught me was to get back up and try again. I also learned to watch where I’m going, because falling down makes me feel pretty dumb.
In our four years of high school, I’ve learned a lot of things. I learned how many degrees are in a triangle, who serves first in badminton, and all the words to "We are Family." Our teachers assure us that someday all this information will actually be useful.
But I know we have all learned a lot more than the high-school curriculum in the past four years, and it is this education that will help us as we live our lives. I learned that if am wandering the halls, just looking like I know what I’m doing ensures no one will bother me. We learned when sneaking food out of the cafeteria, it’s important NOT to make eye contact. These are important skills if you ever stuck in a bad situation.
High school has taught us a lot about relationships, also. Most of us can now asking out a member of the opposite sex without sending a note that says "do you like me? Check yes or no." We have learned to be careful what you say about someone, because they probably will hear about it. I have learned the value of good friends on a hard day.
And I’ve realized that sometimes, there can be a lot of hard days.
Marie Pohl graduated from Lawrence High School last week. She is the Class of 2000 salutatorian.