Fandom High Graduation Ceremony, Class of 2015, Early Saturday Evening [Part 1]

[bigdamnprincipal]

Right after sunset, to make sure all types of guests could safely attend, the ceremony for graduation was ready to go. The lawn of the school had been lit up with blue and gold lights, creating safe paths for everyone to get to the seating area. There were blue and gold streamers flapping peacefully in the breeze, and of course, the makeshift paths were covered in glitter.

Look, if the supply wasn't going down, Zoe was just going to embrace the glitter madness for the sake of her own personal sanity.

Congratulations, Class of 2015! You made it to graduation day! Now you just had to get through the ceremony. At least nothing looked oddly out of place this year?

Comments

Re: Student Council President's Speech - Sparkle

[myownface]

Sparkle stepped up to the podium, giving the crowd, and then, more specifically, the students, a crooked grin. And then, before he said anything, he let loose with a soft, "Heh."

"Full disclosure," he noted, "when I ran for Student Council President, it was mostly because I had strong opinions about the freaking Homecoming Carnival. I didn't think ahead as far as having to make a speech on graduation day. But then, more full disclosure, I hadn't even been completely convinced at the time that I was going to make it to graduation. From the day I set foot on this island, I was pretty sure I was going to drop out, I was going to bomb hard and there wasn't going to be anything worthwhile waiting for me coming out the other end of this. So yeah, I'm a little surprised to be standing here today.

"Over the past few years, I've seen a lot of that, though. I've seen people hold out their hands offering me jobs, TA-ships, extracurricular summer courses, help studying. I've seen people offering me a future. Anyone who knows even the first thing about me knows that I met most of those offers with suspicion. Back home, there are words for kids like me. Troubled kids. Problem teenagers. I'm the kid the well-adjusted kids are compared to in that scared, hushed tone when well-off parents warn them to eat their broccoli and do their homework, because, 'You wouldn't want to end up like them, would you?' So who the hell out there is crazy enough to give some angry Torontonian group home kid like me the first little bit of responsibility, right? But I took it when it was offered. I did the best I could with it. And while I was doing that, I was watching the rest of you making the best of what you were offered, too.

"I saw the leggy cheerleader type kick serious ass in self-defense class, and then outside of it too, when the need came up, to protect herself and her friends. Saw the brainy kid put on the Homecoming King crown, and the scary girl get Prom Queen. When the island's weather turned dangerous, the way island weather sometimes does, I saw people pulling together to fight back the elements to keep one another safe."

And for the sake of those going back to the less exciting realities, Sparkle wasn't going to mention that those elements involved sharks. You're welcome, folks.

Re: Student Council President's Speech - Sparkle

[myownface]

"While we were here, we were given the chance to take long, hard looks at who we all are, who we could become, and who we were never meant to be. We were given the opportunity to see what was spread out before us, to learn from it, and to pick our own paths. And some of us wound up burned. Some of us had the chance to embrace our wildest dreams, our strongest wishes, only to see those things blow up in our faces." He gave another little, almost bitter huff of a laugh. "Maybe we bled for it. Maybe we were left heartsick for weeks. But look at us now. We're all standing here today, stronger than we were when we first came to this island, to this messed-up school with its messed-up courses that maybe we'll never admit to having taken when we get back to wherever we call home. And after we leave here, when we go off to our respective realities, maybe everything will go to hell on us again. That's the way real life works, you know. It can go from bad to worse, and then stay that way. Maybe something will rip the breath right out of you, leave you feeling flat and tired and wondering if there'll even be a tomorrow.

"But you made it this far. And with what we had when we first came here, and what we're taking with us when we go, I can tell you all one thing I know for certain is that we are survivors. We're the Fandom High Graduating Class of Two-Thousand-and-Kick-It-In-The-Head-Until-It-Stops-Kicking-Back. We're the Alumni who know that we can get up again and fight some more, even after we have nothing left. We have our wits. We have our fists and our feet and our teeth and our voices and maybe once we go, some of us will still even have each other. But most importantly, we have our determination. We have our tenacity. And we all already know that whatever the universe throws at us, whether it's smooth-talking businessmen who want to tear everything we have out from under us or society breaking down around us and the whole world caving in, we can take it."

He lifted his chin a little.

"So, get out there and take it. If you're never offered your dream come true, go get it anyway. If somebody kicks you when you're down, I know you can get up again. Hell, I know most of you can get up and kick them back twice as hard in a place that'll hurt ten times as bad. I was there when we all learned how. We. Are. Survivors. We are fighters. And once we're set loose out there, we're going to make it. And, Fandom High Graduating Class of 2015, I pity anything in the multiverse that thinks it's going to get in our way. Thank you."

Re: Student Council President's Speech - Sparkle

[glacial_queen]

What an excellent speech. Karla was going to stand and applaud for it.

Well-said!

Re: Student Council President's Speech - Sparkle

[wandering-stone.livejournal.com]

An impressive speech.

Not that Jones showed any one of an emotional reaction to it but she applauded quietly when it completed.

Re: Student Council President's Speech - Sparkle

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

That was a very stirring speech, Sparkle. Now, if you could only internalize it and remind yourself of those things periodically, you would get along much better. Still, it did show an awareness of those things, and Hannibal was going to applaud you for it.