Salutatorian Address- Meghan Lauzé Very Rev. Kazimierz Chwalek, Provincial Superior of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception, members of the Trinity Foundation Board of Directors, faculty, family, friends, and classmates, good morning and welcome to the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2015. It is truly an honor to be standing before you today, and I truly hope you can actually see me standing here. I m only 5 3 in these heels. All joking aside, high school has been a time of growth. I still remember the first time I saw many of you chubby, baby faced, and completely in dress code. As we sat in the old study hall, nervously scanning the room for friendly faces to sit with at lunch, there was hope in our hearts and anticipation in our eyes. What would the next four years bring? How would we change? We had no way of knowing then only time would tell. And time has since told some incredible stories. The boy who introduced himself to me with a Star Wars joke is our Student Council President. The shy girl with the harp has become an awardwinning artist and hurdler. The kid who dropped his plate on the cafeteria floor on the first day of school is now our valedictorian. These and countless other stories of growth and progress show just how far we have come since our first time
driving through the entrance gates. Class of 2015, you have blossomed into classy and confident young adults. Take a look at the blazers and white dresses around you. Here sit SENE champions and class officers, dancers and engineers, future politicians and future doctors. Be proud of yourselves and your accomplishments, and know that this is just the beginning of great things to come. There is, of course, no easy road to success. Success requires sacrifice, which, in turn, requires a great deal of courage. Have the courage to pass up a night with friends to finish a term paper. Have the courage to ask for help. Have the courage to put others before yourself. Most importantly, have the courage to rebound from failure with a smile on your face and even more determination to succeed. For eighteen years, we have been guided towards adulthood. Now, we are about to receive our diplomas and leave this last phase of childhood behind. It is time to free ourselves from our parents and teachers and finally explore the real world on our own. It s a daunting prospect, but we are ready. Speaking of the real world, I recently started a cashier job at my local deli. Being a cashier has definitely encouraged me to stay in school. As I ring up customers sodas and sandwiches, many of them ask what the giant M on my jacket stands for. I am proud to explain that I go to Marianapolis. I want to brag
about my second home. I want to tell stories about jumping off cliffs in Costa Rica, bonding with freshmen and seniors alike on the track bus, and being late for class because the MOMs have decorated the senior locker room with candy and piñatas. To an outsider, it s hard to comprehend how much of an impact Marianapolis has had on our lives. To us, however, it is the reason why we ve made friends from across the globe, spent four days of our lives raking huge piles of leaves, and, for some alumni, come back to teach future generations of Golden Knights. Mostly, I am a proud Marianapolis alumna-to-be because we have gained more than just the knowledge necessary for a diploma. Outside of the classroom, we have learned respect by exploring our classmates cultures and thanking the Sage Dining staff at the end of every meal. We have learned leadership through formal roles and everyday actions. We have learned sportsmanship and dedication, as evidenced by all the spirit awards that Ultimate Frisbee brings home and the Math Team s perennial dominance. The list goes on: integrity, faith, and service, to name a few. To be honest, I m not sure how often we ll need to know the Pythagorean Theorem, Membean vocabulary words, or the just war theory in our futures. I do know, however, that we will need strong consciences and characters
for the rest of our lives. Some people joke that the only lesson we learn in high school is that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. They complain that we haven t learned real world skills, like how to pay taxes or how to cook something besides macaroni and cheese. And that s okay, because we have been provided with the lessons we ll truly need to succeed in the future. On behalf of the entire class, I d now like to thank the men and women sitting behind me and sitting behind the graduates. There are over eight hundred people here to celebrate our accomplishment. Eight hundred! That s roughly eight and a quarter people per person, and no one wants to be a quarter of a person, so we ll round up to nine. That is an incredible amount of love and support. We could not have completed our high school journey without all of you, and we are honored to have you here with us today. To our teachers: thank you for being more than just teachers. Thank you for taking us to Turtle s Tacos, cheering us on at games and practices, and making sure that we thrived both inside and outside of the classroom. To our families, especially to our parents: thank you for giving us the wonderful opportunity to attend Marianapolis. We truly appreciate the sacrifices you have made to ensure that we received a quality education. To my own parents: thank you for bringing me to America. Thank you for pushing me to
be my best for all these years. You ve given me the world, and I hope I ve made you proud. So, Class of 2015, we made it. We survived. These are the last moments we ll spend as high school students. We will never get this time back. We will never again see these eight hundred people gathered together as one celebratory body. Cherish today, because this moment, right now, is ours. Take a second to rejoice that you never have to take the SAT, ACT, or TOEFL ever again. Think of the good times you spent with your friends, teammates, and classmates. There were victories and heartbreaks and everything in between, and as cliché as it may sound, we really couldn t have survived high school without each other. Remember how nervous you were on your first day of school, be it freshman year or even this fall, and look at how confident you are now. Look towards the future with the same bright eyes and excitement that you brought to Marianapolis, and never forget that you can always call 26 Chase Road your home. Congratulations, everyone! We did it! Thank you.