By ERIKA CRONE
SV Valedictory Speech
Once upon a time in a land far far away,
    That’s how the best stories start. The stories about princes and princesses, knights in shining armor, dragons and castles. Our stories don’t have any of those things (except the possible occasional knight in shining armor). But the one thing we do have in common with those stories is the beginning. Just like the best fairy tales start with once upon a time, our stories have the same beginning. They all start in kindergarten. As kindergarteners we began our adventures. We challenged Magnolia school with where to put the new kindergarteners they had coming in. We were a big class and there was not enough room. They even had to hire a new teacher. As we moved through that school we left our mark. We were the class who went to the apple orchard, and the class who got the new playground and the class who made the principal kiss a pig. We became best friends with whoever sat next to us in class, and we chased each other at recess, if Ryan and Jordan would let us play tag.
Then, as our setting changed, so did our stories. A different group of us became town walkers, and Mrs. Tope kept us in line by putting her long nails our necks. We put on puppet shows with Mr. Snyder and had our first spelling bee. We sat in two different lunchrooms, and loved playing medic in gym class, we had leaf collections that made our lockers look like fall, a bug collection that made them smell like garbage. We were the class who made the teachers think a bomb went off when a basketball exploded in some kid’s locker one winter. The girls made up clubs at recess while the guys played football and basketball. And then before we knew it, the page was turning again.
The plot thickened as we headed to East Sparta. Some of us joined band others fine-tuned our art skills. We sold candy bars to pay our way toward sixth grade camp and did peer mediation to work through our problems. We played tetherball at recess and saw our first real fight; some of us got our first real detention. We went to sixth grade camp and met another tight knit group of kids from St. James. It was freezing all week, but we got through it together and made new friends in the process.
In junior high we had to relearn how to use stairs; correctly! Our teachers yelled at us for walking up the down steps, or down the up steps. The kids from St. James were in our classes with it and us seemed like they had been there all along. We had our first dance where we just stood around in circles girls on one-side guys on the other, and we took our first exams. We made it though Groff and Keck’s classes, and had some memorable student teachers along the way. A really good looking one, and another who wore the same outfit (complete with a paperclip) every day. Some of us missed class as we sat in the hall for talking excessively in class. Our teachers told us we had better shape up for high school.
Along every step of the way our teachers warned us “you’ll get a zero if you’re name’s not on your paper in high school” “your teachers will make you write in cursive in high school” “you can’t turn things in late in high school” But then, high school happened. We were freshman! We forgot to put our names on our papers, and our teachers still gave us a grade, we made up lame excuses for why our papers were late, we wrote in print (not cursive) and the majority of the time we got away with the same kind of things we did in elementary and junior high school. The seniors intimidated us, but we got to sit in the REAL student section at football and basketball games. Girls got prettied up for our first homecoming and guys polished their dance moves. As sophomores we were figuring out how high school worked. We had a new administrative staff that was excited about our future. And we began to see our future as the ground was being broken for our new buildings. When we were juniors we were ready to be seniors. We were full of school spirit and as our buildings were growing, so was our school pride.
Over time some friends stayed friends, and others moved away or drifted apart. Any new students became main characters in our stories. But some broke away from the group and went to other high schools: Perry, Canton South, Glenoak, Timken, or Buckeye Career Center. Others decided to take college classes post secondary, but even though they weren’t at Sandy Valley in body, their heart was still with our class.
By senior year we claimed we were the class with the biggest senioritis epidemic, but in reality we were the class who became more and more attached. Half way through our school year we were the class leading the march into our BRAND new buildings. And we felt like freshman again. We got disoriented in a new place, but we still owned the school. We were the class who initiated the roller coaster, the first to see a faculty volleyball game, and we were the class who paid for prom tickets but we didn’t mind, it was worth it. Change came through us first.
When we thought we were had mounted the climax, and were in the winding down of our story, another unexpected twist made it’s way into our stories this year. Together we were the class who came through it, and helped our teachers through it. We heard the phrase “if it weren’t for this year’s class” time and time again. If it weren’t for this year’s class, the changes would have been a lot harder.  None of us would have the friendships we have and none of us would be crying. If it weren’t for this year’s class, graduating would seem a lot easier.
Some of us say we’re ready to get away from the valley. We can’t wait to start college and be in a world where your next-door neighbor doesn’t have a key to your house. And where the lady at the grocery store won’t even know your mom, let alone tell her all about that altercation you were involved in the other night.
Others of us aren’t ready to move on. We’re not ready to leave our comfort zone of friendships and our safety net of community members who are watching out for us. But it’s time.
Our stories, for the most part, have been similar until now. We have a killer intro and we’re ready to fill the pages with anything and everything life has to offer.  But our story is not an easy read. It’s like a choose your own adventure. Some of us are going to college, others to the military, and some to the work force. It’s up to each one of us to write our own story from this point on. We have to fill it with our own new experiences. We have to learn to face any plot complications on our own. We won’t have the support of our class, our teachers, or our community right there with us anymore. But they’re with us in spirit, thinking about and praying for us, and it is because of them, we’re ready to face the next chapters of our lives.
When we broaden our horizons and live up those new experiences, we fill the pages of our stories with Pulitzer winning material that can captivate any audience. Our lives may not be a fairy tale, but with so much that is left of them, I hope was can all make our own happily ever afters.