Advice to the Class of 2007, as South Brunswick High School graduation approaches.
The Class of 2007 is getting ready to leave high school behind.
On Wednesday, 679 South Brunswick High School seniors will move their tassels from left to right and then toss their mortar boards in the air, officially closing out a chapter in their lives and opening up a new one.
Most will be heading off to college in the fall, some will enter the military and others will begin their working lives. But all will face new challenges, find new interests and learn things about themselves they had yet to learn.
It is a phase that contains great promise. But it also is one of great uncertainty, one in which there are potential pitfalls lurking around every corner.
Here is our advice to the South Brunswick High School Class of 2007:
1. Have fun.
2. Be flexible. You don’t have to decide the course of your life now. You can change your mind, change direction, change your goals.
3. Do good in the world. To quote John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach: "You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."
4. Always hit the cut-off man. Teamwork is not only important in baseball, but in life. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and don’t shy away from offering it.
5. Be yourself or to quote Judy Garland: "Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else." Or, as Dr. Seuss once said, "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind."
6. Follow your dreams. Now is the time to try out new interests, to learn as much as you can about the world, to discover what it is you love and to determine how best to make it a part of your future.
7. Never stop asking questions. It is the only way you will ever learn the answers.
8. Eat between five and nine servings of fruit of vegetables a day. Or, to put it another way, take care of yourself.
9. Go boldly. As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world."
10. Our final piece of advice is this: Take this and all advice with a grain of salt. In the end, the decisions you make are your own your successes and failures helping to plot out future chapters in the novel that will be your lives.
Don’t run from them. Embrace them. Live your lives.
Good luck to the Class of 2007.

