2019 Valedictory Address - Alyssa Zillini '19

Good morning Mrs. McGinnis, Ms. McEvoy, Mr. Raphael, Mr. Wagner, faculty, staff, fellow graduates and our families. Standing up here today, in front of all of you, I simply cannot believe that we are graduating. I have sat through three of these graduations so far, each time knowing that one day it would be me walking across the stage to receive my diploma. And yet, even with all that preparation, I cannot believe that it is our turn to walk across this stage, receive our diplomas, and say goodbye to St. Edmund Prep.

For so many of us, St. Edmund Prep has been our home for the past four years, the place where we have created countless memories and grown up to become the people we are today. From freshman year until now, we have learned and experienced so much that we will never forget. And while it may not have always been easy, our time here has been nothing short of remarkable. As freshmen, we couldn’t wait until our senior year, for all the senior privileges and activities like sitting in the front at the assemblies, senior Christmas show, 100 Nights, prom, the awards dinner, and so much more. And as seniors, we got to participate in each of these special events, but with each experience came the bittersweet realization that we were nearing the end of our time here at the prep. After today, we are no longer students at St. Edmund Prep, we are high school graduates and alumni. Each of us will move on to our next stage in life, the world at our feet and the future in our hands, but even as we move forward, St Edmund Prep will always be a part of our identity.

For so long we have had our SEP family to fall back on and rely on, and I think this is what makes moving on so difficult. St. Edmund Prep has been such a large part of our lives for these past four years and it’s hard to imagine going anywhere else. Looking toward my future challenges me to question who I am outside of the prep and who I want to become. While the thought of graduating and going off to college is daunting, it is comforting to know with utmost certainty that St. Edmund Prep has provided us with the tools we need to grow and to succeed in college and beyond.

As we graduate we become tasked with the responsibility of making the world a better place. But how do we do this? Well, some of us have already began fulfilling this responsibility, whether it be helping the homeless in Philadelphia during the Summer Outreach Program, making and serving food to the poor on Thanksgiving by participating in Street Corner Gourmet, providing food and clothing for the poor of Manhattan as part of the Midnight Run, or by simply volunteering our time at school functions such as the 5k. It’s the little things in life that matter, that make a difference: donating to Hunger Awareness, volunteering to feed the homeless, or even giving up our weekend to help out at our school function. So how do we continue to make a difference once we leave, once we pursue our own careers?

I have heard three valedictory speeches over the past few years and in each the valedictorian said to their fellow graduates that standing amongst them might be the president or the doctor that will one day find the cure for cancer. And while that may be true, maybe one of you will grow up to become the president and maybe one of you will be the doctor that cures cancer, it is not certain. What is certain, however, is that each one of you will grow up to change the world, to make it a better place in more ways than you can imagine. Will you become a teacher and one day educate students the same way we’ve been educated these past four years? Will you become a nurse and change the lives of hundreds of families seeking care or help thousands of sick high school students? Will you become a mechanic and fix cars for those of us who can’t tell the engine from the brakes? Will you work in sales and retail and use the skills you acquired in marketing class to sell to your customers? Will you become a therapist and help those who cannot necessarily help themselves? Or will you work behind a desk in a school office to create a homey atmosphere to welcome your students?

 

To make a difference in this world is not only to cure cancer or become president but to simply be a person for others in everything that we do, to take all that we have learned throughout high school in order to make the world a better place for our future children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews. And we do this as nurses, as teachers, as mechanics, as carpenters, as whatever it is that we are called to be. It is okay to be ordinary. It is okay to pursue an ordinary career. You don’t have to become a world renowned doctor or an award winning mathematician to make a difference, to have an impact on the world. Because ordinary people are capable of doing the extraordinary. Our past four years here at St. Edmund Prep have been perfectly ordinary, but that doesn’t make them any less amazing. It is not the title of your job that matters but rather what you decide to do with it, how you choose to make it matter.

I challenge each and every one of you, my fellow graduates, to go and find whatever it is that you are called to do. Don’t pursue a career because that’s what your parents want you to do, don’t major in something just because your best friend is too. It’s okay if you’re not sure what you want to do or what you want to be. This is your time to go out and to explore, to find whatever it is that is going to allow you to make a difference in this world, to be a woman or a man for others. It is our turn to figure out what we want and who we want to become. The only way that we can change this world is by first figuring out where we stand and what we can do to be that change that we want to see. And I’m sure some of you are sitting here, feeling lost and intimidated by what lies ahead, worrying that you’ll never figure it out, but trust me, you will. If you are patient and open minded, you will one day find yourself exactly where you were meant to be all along.

I know for many of my fellow graduates, we have learned that the most used phrase in the Bible is “be not afraid”. And I think today that has a special meaning for all of us. Don’t be scared of the future because we will figure it out, even if we feel unsure right now. God tells us that there is nothing to fear because even as we graduate and we each go our separate ways, we will always be bound together by the family that we have created at St. Edmund Prep. We were eagles yesterday, we are eagles today, and we will still be eagles tomorrow and for the rest of our lives. Be not afraid of what lies ahead for we are more than prepared to take on whatever it is that life throws at us.

So thank you St. Edmund Prep. Thank you for teaching me more than I knew there was to learn. Thank you for exceeding my expectations. Thank you for giving me the confidence to go out into the world and do what it is I am supposed to do. And while I am not yet sure exactly what that is, there is one thing I know for certain: whatever it is that I do, that each and every one of us does as we enter this new stage in our lives, it is going to be wonderful.

 

Thank you!