Senior Speech

Here she is:

Good morning.

Somehow, this essay is stemming directly from my English class, so bear with me. One of the beauties and benefits of living in the environment that we do is that we hold the ability to define ourselves. We dictate who we are and how we are perceived in society. It's a huge piece of our lives, who we are. It encompasses everything from how we act in certain scenarios to the memories of our lives. And if taken to the next level it becomes far more complicated, because let's be honest here, I know you don't act the same way in front of your teachers as opposed to in front of your family as opposed to your friends. As for people you find you're attracted to, well...lets just say we all have the potential to be incredibly stupid. We've all done things that we regret, or if we choose not to regret, things that we wish we could have done differently.

This is where I feel we are so lucky. We have so many opportunities to redefine ourselves in this world. Whether it's joining an activity, a sport, going to a dance, or even something as small as meeting somebody for the first time - whenever any of these things happens, you are given the chance to reinvent yourself. It's like being given a clean slate, a fresh start. Obviously, reinventing yourself every time one of these things occurs would be crazy, but just having that ability is what I feel is so important. There are even some people who make a living out of recreating themselves. You may have heard of some of them. You know, those actor people? Yeah, they get those Academy Awards for their portrayals of people that they most certainly are not. Imagine getting an award for being the best person in the world at being somebody that your not. Kinda weird to think about.

It's especially hard for actors when they try to define themselves. Being a member of Players for the past four years, and over that period of time assuming a unique character for five different roles, I can tell you that it doesn't make it any easier. I'm not sure of the reason why, but for me, it's a wonderful thing to be able to become someone I'm not for a few hours at a time. I've never had any difficulty imagining myself as someone or something else, even if it has no resemblance to me whatsoever. It allows me to easily flow in life, whether I am a (accent) student from the small town of Laramie, Wyoming to a (accent) pompous Italian art critic roaming a museum to a (accent) wonderfully mad hatter in Alice's Wonderland. I love it. Again, I don't know how that defines me, but on the other hand, I'm not really concerned about it.

Seniors, we are all about to be given one of the greatest chances as far as redefining ourselves is concerned. Once we leave here, our reputations, our memories, and most of our previous life means precisely zip, nadda, zilch. It's awesome, isn't it? So when we get to wherever we're going, we can say things like, "Hey, you know what they used to call me back in high school?" We get to be whoever we want to be. Choose wisely, my friends. A chance as great as the one before us comes few and far between.

Thank you.