Class of 2020: Design Science Middle College

Design Science Middle College 2020 Graduation Speeches

Speaker: Padra Chang

Nyob zoo yav hnub qaij rau cov phooj ywg thiab txheeb ze sawv daws. Ua tsaug nej tuaj koom lub rooj txhawb siab rau cov tub ntxhais kawm tiav rau Design Science Middle College High School ntawm xyoo 2020 no. Tom ntej no, peb npaj siab yuav qhia txog peb txoj lwg uas tshwj xeeb rau nej sawv daws.

Good evening everyone my name is Padra Chang. Thank you for attending the commencement of the class of 2020. I’m so honored to be delivering this speech. I never thought that I would be the one giving this speech, and I certainly didn’t envision it to be through video, but here I am.

As many of you may know, I started my journey here at Design Science in my sophomore year along with 6 other seniors. Fun fact, I’m also originally from the Midwest. How did I get here? It was a mid-October dinner when my mother asked: “Would you guys be okay if we move to California?”. One week later, I found myself in 90-degree weather smelling the fresh Fresno air. For the rest of my freshman year, I lived with 22 people under the same roof. As you can imagine, it was chaos. I attended Sunnyside high school as a freshman. However, I never felt that I belonged.

As spring quarter came to a close, my mother discovered Design Science. It did not take much for me to jump at the opportunity to attend Design Science. I remember scoping out the campus before the sophomore year started. As many of you may relate, as soon as I saw the Patiño building, I was filled with excitement. No lie, it was kinda disappointing to learn that we had the mobiles. But it was in these mobiles that I got to make some unforgettable memories. It wasn’t easy being the new kid, but Design Science welcomed me, it became my second home. I found myself surrounded by a support system of friends and teachers who cared. Taking the opportunities given to me, I have started to grow into the person I hope to be.

I would like to thank my parents who allowed me to attend Design Science, my friends and teachers supporting me in my journey, and Mrs. Overstreet and Ms. Rojo for helping me navigate senior year. I would also like to thank Amanda Panh and Cristal Suarez for being such great mentors and giving me the opportunity to take a peek into the course of becoming a medical leader when I became the school liaison for the UCSF Mind and Body Project.

Even with all the support, it is inevitable to succeed without our own effort. I know that many of us pulled those all-nighters. It was hard, but we have grown. Class of 2020, we’ve all worked hard to get to where we are today. These 3 years we’ve been together will never be forgotten even as we walk different paths. Like our graduation year, with 20/20 vision, we will strive towards a clear future and I wish you all the very best.

Speaker: Paige Dote

I found out what a “senior quote” was in eighth grade, and ever since then I have been collecting a list of potential senior quotes to use in my senior year to make sure I thought it through. As graduation approached, I was looking through my quotes in chronological order from ninth grade till now, and I realized there was a slight shift in the quotes that reflect the Design Science experience.

Quote 1: “Wit beyond measure is man’s Greatest treasure.”- Luna Lovegood

Freshman year, I had planned out the next four years of my life: Devote myself entirely to my work, Go ahead of the class and finish my graduation requirements early, and leave for college. My mom told me I would never want to leave high school. I never knew how right she’d be. Because:

Quote 2: “You don’t have to be blood to be family.”

Freshman year I met Toby; Sophomore year I met Audrey and Angelina. I became close with the academic decathletes and the class of 2020, and had teachers that pushed the boundaries of my education. That is when I knew it was going to be hard to let go of Design Science. Then all of the sudden, one day I found myself looking around an advisory room and thinking about how amazing the class of 2020 is. Because if Design Science taught us to do anything it was how to:

Quote 3: “Believe in yourself. Try. Do good.” - Mr. Feeny

People have the potential to be powerful. A huge part of this potential is unlocked when teachers can teach students to believe in themselves. To go out on a limb and advocate for their college classes. To get a good education, and believe that one day they can make it, and find happiness, however one defines it. At the very least, they taught us to Do Good- or as Mrs. Overstreet would say- Do No Harm. From spreading kindness with clothespins and hearts to making pink friendship bracelets for everyone- the class of 2020 Does Good, and in my book, that means we have done, are doing, and will do, amazing things.

So at the end I had pages of quotes, but I picked one I believe sums up my four years:

Quote 4: “How strange, and how lovely, it is to be anything at all.”- John Green

This quarantine has physically separated us. Nonetheless, it has made me realize how we remain connected. We as a class have grown into ourselves and our identities. We, as a class, have changed locations every year since we have gotten here: from trailers, a single advisory classroom, and finally being the first seniors fully located at FCC. We as a class did everything in our power to give opportunities to every student, every year, from prom to grad nite. And we as a class have finally made it.

“How strange, and how lovely, it is to be” a part of the class of 2020. A part of a tight-knit community. A part of a family.

Thank you.

This quarantine has physically separated us. Nonetheless, it has made me realize how we remain connected.

This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 12:00 AM.