[Editor’s note: Marymount of Santa Barbara eighth-grader Allison Swift delivered these remarks at the school’s promotion ceremony. Click here for a complete list of the Marymount Class of 2008.]
In my life, I have experienced changes, one in particular that greatly challenged me. I moved from a place that I knew and loved to a small town called Santa Barbara. I was to attend a new school called Marymount. I thought this was the worst decision my parents could have made.
I remember my first day of sixth grade and that overwhelming nervous emotion that grabs you in the stomach and turns you inside out. If I could have at that moment, I would have blinked my eyes and returned to the comfort and ease of my fifth-grade class, with the place and people I knew. It only took the reassuring “hello” from one of the current Marymount students to put me at ease.
Then I found students around me who were warm, funny and welcomed me to my new surroundings with a sense of family. From that moment to the Catalina trip to the end of that first month of school, I realized I was surrounded by a group of new friends who cared about me, and Marymount felt like home. This change helped me to become a stronger person, overcome the sadness of leaving the home that I knew, and in the long run led to many close friendships.
Even though today is a day that we have longed for, I can’t help but feel melancholy. We are now ready to accept this change because of the support, teaching and guidance of the teachers and faculty at Marymount, who have, through their hearts and minds, prepared us for this transition. For today, our final day as Marymount students, we look back at our time here and reflect on the changes we have gone through.
We will remember fondly this time, this place and these people because the challenge of these changes has made us who we are this day and make us proud to say we are graduates of Marymount.
Congratulations Class of 2008.