Aurora Miller
HHES Academy Student and National Honor Society President, Class of 2023
June 2023 - Graduation Ceremony Speech
I’d like to start off by saying good morning and thank you to the friends, family, staff, and everyone in between who are here to celebrate this momentous occasion with us. And don’t worry graduates, I didn’t forget about you, to the class of 2023, congratulations, we finally made it. For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Aurora Miller. This year I had the honor of being National Honors Society’s 2023 President.
As a student at Beloit Memorial High School, I had the opportunity to work with many amazing people; students, staff, and administration I will hopefully never forget. Although I spent most of my four years in one hallway, the best hallway according to the banners, I was still touched by many others.
One person gave me advice that has stuck with me to this day, and because of that, I want to share it with all of you. She told me that life is like a book. Every person, place, thing, event, it all has a place in this book. Whether it be a word, sentence, page, or chapter, it is all somewhere in our book, the story of our lives.
For the last 12 years we’ve gone to school. First elementary, then middle, and finally high school. We’ve spent somewhere around 62,208,000 seconds together, some of us more and some of us less. For me, school has still been a large chunk of my book so far. I’ve devoted chapters upon chapters to school work, clubs, volunteering, and even just driving back and forth from school.
But despite all those chapters, I would give just about anything to have one more sentence in my book about Mr Walker's hot takes of the day, or watching Mr Rondeau try the spiciest chip in the world and almost die. I'd give just one more sentence in relation to a pep rally with this class, the class of 2023. Or one more page to spending 8 hours getting ready for something as ridiculous as winter formal, but this chapter has come to a close for us.
For some, and some being myself, the end of this chapter hasn’t sunk in yet and it probably won’t until next fall, when we’re well into the next one. And while that may be scary and intimidating for some of us, just remember that it’s ok to reread chapters that have already been written, just don't forget to keep writing more. Don’t get stuck trying to predict the end of whatever chapter you’re on, let alone your whole story. It’s best to live in the moment, or I guess read, maybe write? Whatever you think fits best with this analogy.
And so with the close of this speech, which marks the end of a very anxiety inducing page in my book, all I have left to say is thank you. Thank you to all the teachers, friends and family who have supported me in these last few chapters. People like Samantha Hoppe, Chad Quamme, Caitlyn Harrington, Dustin Rondeau, Shivani Kakade, Brooklyn Westbury, and especially Cameron Schaller. I wouldn’t be who I am today without your help, not just as teachers and friends but family.
To the class of 2023: congratulations and good luck on your next chapter.
May the odds be ever in your favor.
Thank you.
