Administration, faculty and staff, friends, and family, thank you for helping the Class of 2008 reach this important place tonight.  Personally, I thank my family and friends for their love and guidance that have shaped me into who I am today.

I am honored to be one of the Class of 2008’s Valedictorians*.  I could not have asked for better classmates**.  I am forever grateful for how each one of you has touched me in your own special way.

I look back on the last thirteen years of our educational experience, and what do I see?  I see a giant roller coaster ride.  Every drop, every twist, every sharp turn represents a memory, whether good or not so pleasant.  This roller coaster has never let us ride for free; we all have paid a price in order to take—and complete—this ride.  We have on many days ridden it unwillingly; however, we never got off.  Instead, we shared the desire to experience its many corkscrews and giant loops.  This coaster ride has always been changing; its track, never seeming to end.  And whatever decisions we made along the way, the track has seemed to mold itself into a formation that reflected our emotions and how we handled the situation, whether a heart-stopping drop or a smooth tilted curve.

Over the years, this track has changed slowly but extensively.  During kindergarten and elementary school, our ride was rough on a rickety track that jerked us around.  If our mamas told us to become a little cheerleader or our daddies wanted us to become a little football player, we did it.  Not much choice was given to us then, so the coaster ride pulled us in many directions with little resistance other than small cries.

As we moved on to middle school, the coaster track took a quick stomach-flipping dip when we found ourselves changing classes and studying harder.  In time, the track began to level out as the new changes of middle school life became more routine.  Even then, however, it still jerked us sharply at times because of athletic tryouts, club responsibilities, and peer pressure.   Fortunately this time, though, we had more of a say in choosing our paths, which caused a smoother ride.  Near the end of middle school, this coaster began to climb slowly up a huge incline: the weeks leading up to eighth-grade promotion.  Butterflies swirled in our stomachs.  Inch by inch, the important night came.  Then we peaked over the top and hung by a thread until our names were called and our diplomas touched our hands.

Then, suddenly came high school, and down we went again.  Our high school experience sent us spinning in corkscrews, hanging upside-down in loops, and racing around tilted curves with little sympathy.  Thankfully, many people—custodians, coaches, teachers, parents, and friends—helped us along the way to make the track smoother, less unpredictable, and—most importantly—pleasurable.

Tonight, we are climbing another steep incline, but this one makes the eighth-grade promotion look like a small hill in comparison.  As each minute of the ceremony tonight passes, we inch farther toward another peak—each of us at least a little lost in his or her own thoughts of thrill, fear, and impatience—as we seek to answer that common question in all of our minds: “What happens next?”  This question sends a tingle of uncertainty down our spines—from those who believe they have every little detail of the ride mapped out to the gamblers who plan to close their eyes and hope their luck will hold out.  Once we drop over the top tonight, few things are certain.

However, let us remember that no matter what happens on our roller coasters, we are responsible for how we handle every jerk, every drop, every turn.  I believe God is always standing by, waiting to be contacted.  He is always with us, helping us along.  Unfortunately, sometimes we forget and let his guidance slip away, and that is when we cause a runaway roller-coaster.  If, however, we trust Him for the remainder of this roller-coaster ride, no problem is too big or too small for His eternal love.  We can always count on Him.   Our lives might not turn out exactly the way we dreamed they would, but with God, our lives can be easier to manage and better than our dreams.

Yes, this roller coaster has reached another one of its peaks.   Thank you, my fellow classmates of 2008; it’s been a great ride.  And, yes, there is uncertainty about the final outcome of this ride.  But we have God’s divine guidance to help keep us on track.  So with that assurance… hang on tight!