Class of 2020: Sanger High School

Sanger High School 2020 graduation speech

Speaker: Osvaldo Aceves

Hello, my name is Osvaldo Aceves.

I would like to welcome all those tuning in from the safety of your home. Before I begin I would like to thank the staff who put in so much effort to give us this graduation ceremony. I would also like to thank our teachers, staff, family and friends for making these 4 years everything that they were.

In the beginning, we were freshmen, we were still recovering from looking like middle schoolers but it was fun doing high school things like going to football games and maybe a couple dances.

Sophomore year... I’m just going to skip that one. We don’t talk about that one.

Junior year, panic hit. We were sitting there, taking the SAT, wondering why we decided to stay in a country whose education system has consumed our Saturday spring morning.

Finally, senior year ... I could be upset at the pandemic for canceling everything but honestly, after deep reflection, grad nite was $300 too expensive and I probably wasn’t going to find a date for prom anyway.

But the truth is, we can’t say our senior year wasn’t memorable. Whether it was hanging out with your friends despite the stay-at-home order or ignoring your teachers’ Zoom calls. It was a memorable year.

In that sense, maybe we didn’t lose as much as we thought. We still have so much to hold on to and that’s what matters. Doesn’t it feel more special this way? We are the class of 2020. Our situation has given us perspective andi it has reminded me that I must hold on to the things that I believe in .

I believe that one day, this will be over, and we will look back with a smile.

I believe that each of you will be remembered as the person you hope to be.

I believe that one day, we will meet again at the infamous Sanger Walmart and we will shake hands and be reminded of our high school days.

So to my fellow graduates, I ask that you find something to believe in. You can believe in God or believe in love, but at the very least believe in yourself. Believe in your plan of becoming an architect, artist, doctor, engineer, teacher ..., counselor..., ninis, mantenidos, mientras me caso ... no juzguen.

Whatever it is, just believe.

I am honored and humbled to be one of this year’s valedictorians.

But more importantly, in a couple of minutes, no matter what we are wearing today or what title we have, we are going to walk down the same aisle and receive the same diploma. And that’s what I believe graduation is really alll about.

Once again, Thank You and Congratulations to the Class of 2020.

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