2012 VALEDICTORIAN`S SPEECH

2012 VALEDICTORIAN’S SPEECH
by Fernanda Maria dos Santos Machado
graduation. It was only when
writing my speech that I could
understand what made my friends
so sad: we are leaving the place
where most of our precious
memories were formed.
Members of OLM’s community teachers, parents, dear friends, and
fellow classmates - it is a great honor
to speak in behalf of the class of 2012
tonight. I have to admit that I was
very nervous (and still am) to express
my class’s feeling towards this special
day. While some friends of mine shed
tears and hoped this day would never
come, I honestly counted the days for
It was in OLM that some of us
learned how to read, to write, to
eat using a knife and fork, and to
use a computer. [Right from] the
beginning, the school’s main
concern was to teach us values,
such as solidarity, generosity,
forgiveness, and team work.
Throughout the years, OLM
continued to mold us into citizens
they someday would be proud of.
Young people academically and
socially prepared for any obstacle they
would face in their lives. Our senior
year was the final evaluation of our
endurance and persistence. After
many academic tests, preparations for
ENEM, vestibulares, AP tests, SATs,
and finally, a thesis to prepare and
present, we understood that the senior
year was not as easy as we thought it
would be, but we all survived it.
Today we say goodbye to OLM—our
second family, our second home—the
place where unbreakable bonds were
tightly built. I remember my first day
of school; how nervous I was to be
taken into a room filled with kids I
had never seen before. Today, these
kids are people I call friends. Some I
had met on that special day…have left
but are always in our hearts. I would
like to thank you, Class of 2012, for
making school days more enjoyable,
for making me laugh during tough
days, for being so loud to the point of
almost driving me insane, for helping
me become the person I am today.
Our thanks and appreciation must go
to the Superintendent, teachers, and
staff. You never hesitated. You never
gave up hope on any of us. You
realized that every journey begins with
a single step. Sometimes you
encouraged us to go crazy and
sometimes you needed to pull in the
reins—yet all the while, you
encouraged us insistently forward until
our graduation ceremony. We are
grateful and privileged to have had
your valuable input in our lives—the
true value that we may only fully
comprehend in the years still to come.
O filósofo Bertrand Russell uma vez falou:
“Os nossos pais nos amam porque somos
seus filhos, é um fato inalterável. Nos
momentos de sucesso, isso pode parecer
irrelevante, mas nas ocasiões de fracasso,
oferecem um consolo e uma segurança que não
se encontram em qualquer outro lugar.”
Russell descreve exatamente como nossos pais
nos apoiaram durante todos esses anos.
Vocês, pais, estiveram sempre ao nosso lado,
seja em momentos de tristeza ou de alegria,
para nos guiarem e terem certeza que nunca
iríamos desistir de enfrentar os nossos
obstáculos. Foram [vocês] essas pessoas
maravilhosas que se sacrificaram, se
dedicaram e se preocuparam conosco e com o
nosso futuro.
Queridos pais, agradecemos por tudo o que
vocês têm feito por nós. Obrigada por nos
terem deixado ir naquela festa depois
daquela longa discussão. Obrigada por
sempre terem investido no nosso
desenvolvimento e por tantos sacrifícios feitos
pelo nosso bem estar. Obrigada pelos
amparos e por acreditarem no nosso
potencial. E finalmente, obrigada pelo seu
amor.
a stepping stone for the beginning of
our success. Now that we have already
established our true selves, we will be
going out into the world, each of us
on different paths, following different
dreams.
Dear classmates, may you have every
success, may you work hard and play
straight, may you hold your heads
high, and may our paths still cross
from time to time. Congratulations
class of 2012!
Hoje, vocês estão colhendo o fruto de um
trabalho que começou anos atrás. Olhem
para seus filhos e vejam: aquelas criançinhas
que viviam agarradas nas suas pernas, agora
se tornaram homens e mulheres prontos para
traçar as suas próprias rotas. Eu acredito
que este é o nosso presente de agradecimento a
vocês.
We have reached the final level of our
school lives. This ending, however, is
Fernanda Machado and Mr. Rundle