Charlene and Dan watch and listen to Matt's Valedictorian Speech at the Wausa, NE

High School Graduation on Sunday, May 18, 2003. The text of the speech is found below.

Valedictorian Speech by Matt McGrew

          When I started school at Wausa Public Schools in the fall of 1996, I was scared and unsure of what was ahead of me.  At first I thought “This won’t be so bad.  This class has 22 kids to impress and the school I left had about 50.”  As the days progressed, I realized this school wasn’t going to be so bad.  The teachers and kids where kind and accepting.  I made friends fast.

          Today I am graduating as the valedictorian of the class of 2003.  Being valedictorian is a great honor for any graduating senior.  But today is more important than our class ranks.  Today, all 24 of us are surrounded by our 23 best friends.  Soon we will be leaving and going our separate ways but we will always be best fiends.

          I found a reading in a book that explains exactly how I feel about my classmates.  It’s entitled Why They Are Friends, by Kristy Glassen:

Because…they smile.

Because…they understand just by looking into your eyes.

Because…they finish your sentences and know what you like.

Because…they know you better than you know yourself.

Because…with them, you’re not afraid to be yourself.

Because…you can say something stupid or expose your deepest secrets to them.

Because…everything you do together becomes a memory.

Because…you don’t need to do something special to have fun…fun just happens.

Because…you don’t need to explain anything…they just know.

Because…they tell you the truth, no matter how much you’d rather not hear it.

Because…they would do anything for you and get you out of trouble.

Because…they make you laugh harder than anyone.

Because…they are not afraid to put themselves on the line for you.

Because…you can trust them.

Because…they believe in your dreams, no matter how silly they may seem.

Because…they dry your tears.

Because…you are good enough when you are with them.

Because…they love you for who you really are.

          When we sit here and think about our friends, this group of individuals is the best definition I could ever come up with.  They are always there when you need them.  They are the people that know you and love you no matter what you have done or experienced.

          In three months or less, each one of us will be going our own direction.  Some are going to Northeast Community College, some to the University of Nebraska in Kearney or Lincoln, one is going to Mount Marty in Yankton,  some are going to the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, a few are going to Chadron, and a couple are going into the service.  I wish you all the best of luck making new friends, but never forgetting what you had at Wausa.

          T. S. Elliot once wrote, “What we call the beginning is often the end.  And to make an end is to make a beginning.  The end is where we start form.”  Every landmark in our lives will end but there is always a beginning to an end.  As each new path ends, a new one begins.  Graduation mark the end of one path but as it ends, a new path begins.

          Life goes on whether your path is ending or beginning.  If you have the desire and the confidence to believe in yourself, you will make it through.  Wherever we decide to live our new lives in society, we take with us our education, dreams, goals, and memories we have achieved throughout our journey.

          I hope our class will always remember what we had here at Wausa.  Our class motto says it best:  Good Friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget.  As we go on with our own lives, I want to wish you all the best of luck.  I want to leave you with one last thought I found in a poem:

I hope you surf the waves in from the ocean,

Big and small.

I hope you watch the sunset,

from a mountain straight and tall.

I hope you sing a song to all the angels,

loud and clear.

I hope you always try new things,

never giving in to fear.

I hope you fall in love,

with one who makes your world go ‘round.

I hope that if you fall out,

your feet stay on the ground.

I hope you find a rainbow,

and realize it was worth the rain.

I hope that through your journey,

you’ll learn to balance smiles with pain.

I hope that you realize,

life isn’t always on your side.

I hope you know when hope is lost,

In me you can confide.