13 ENG Valedictory speech

Draft 1

Virtute Experiamur, Let courage by thy test. A quote that has affected me from my starting point of high school learning to throughout vanguard where I stand before you now saying it with pride. Hi my name is Nathan Dawe, more notably called "Dawesy" or the very recent name of 'Vortex'. I stand before you now not just as a graduating student but a successful Vanguard recruit ready to unfurl my wings and jump, to where, only time will tell.

When I think of Vanguard Military School I see my teachers and friends, but to me they are more akin to a close-knit family. We laugh together, our failures driving us ahead, we fight, to let out tension or show our dominance, we cry not just in the sadness we feel but in joy we achieve, and we share memories, both from our pasts and the ones we make along the way. WE ARE FRIENDS, FAMILY, WE ARE VANGUARD.

when we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change – Avatar Aang, whenever I ask people what they think of Vanguard Military School their answers are pretty generic, "isn't that the school for failures, drop outs or nobodies?", excuse me? excuse ME!?, mind my language but HELL NO! let me paint a picture, I've lived all around new Zealand, wellington, Christchurch and Auckland, I had 4 years of BS at WBHS, because of my varying degrees/fragments of failed schooling I felt like a fish out of water. I went downhill in grades during my first year of NCEA level 2. I couldn't focus on meager things and the complexity that they had so I did something not even my parents knew about, I wagged some of my classes. I would go to class, sign in and then walk out and just chill out in the library most days, hell I slept in some of the classes I actually bothered to go to, some of my 'friends' and I say that term loosely because they weren't my friends at all, they would annoy me with light-hearted nicknames like "door-knob" or "window", ask for food from the canteen and when I granted their wishes they would use excuses to say, "no we don't owe you anything", "go away" or just walk away. I was naïve enough to do this and think they thought of me as significant to them. While this happened I just didn't do anything and this left me to catch up, not enough time I could prepare and I failed NCEA level 2 with 18 credits away from passing.

Then the bombshell hit. The parents had made an exclusive decision to offer me an ultimatum of sorts. 'either go to school and finish level 3 or go to work with a job in mind'. All I saw was "Adulthood? responsibilities? no please I'll do anything just not that, ANYTHING but THAT. They introduced Vanguard Military School as a possible change and I immediately disregarded that choice, I mean I still thought about going there and thinking of me being tied to the army, to be 'confined to barracks', 'is it a boarding school, will I be punished for doing no work, why can't I go back to Westlake', I complained but the timing was final, so we left for the opening night to see and believe. Oh, how wrong my opinion was.

When going to the night I was scared I would fail and make myself feels like a failure, (don't lie, you would have too), I met staff Mueller and I felt intimidated by him but I didn't let that stop me, I stayed as a gentle man, tried my hardest and persevered in all areas of expertise. Finally, after a couple of weeks I was accepted into vanguard.

I started Vanguard nervous as all hell, I mean WHO? wouldn't be scared of going to MILITARY SCHOOL. But I had resilience and as I met the teachers, they instantly blew me away with how caring they were, not just as people trying to teach me but also to encourage me to do better. I adjusted and finished my schooling but stayed on for the active benefit that came with the PT sessions and the friends I made. Fast forward to the end of the year, the graduation happened and I aced it showing I was adept and being at vanguard much more so when it came to me as I write this valedictory speech.

This brings me to my last point and quote – cuitu peccatum est iter prosperum (failure is just a detour on the road to success)

When I look at everyone here I see young adults ready to explore the world, ready to let their wings fly, but I also see some of them possess naivety, many of us will look at the world and say its 'perfect', that it can't be too bad, because we live here, and I'm sorry sunshine but your views are terrible. The 4 horsemen (if you believe that) have come, FAMINE, WAR, PESTILENCE, AND DEATH are upon everyone in this world, oppression, hate, bias, all of these can change people either physically, mentally, emotionally, or psychologically. we live in a society that praises people for how smart they are and lets the others go, they have pointless debates in politics that have no meaning, such as $52 million spent on changing our flag, not to mention we have referendums that let people decide what should happen ,an example of this is the laws of CHB (methamphetamine) to be legalized, and the bill for euthanasia of mentally diseased people (or as the term goes, a 'vegetable'/'waste of oxygen'.

in conclusion, i have many things to say, both good and bad. i'll finish this speech as i know you're bored, i am as well to be honest so here it is. WE ARE IDIOTS!! no i'm not going to apologize, i see here people who are ready for the real world and others who have begun to open their eyes and see clearly for the first time in forever, we can't fix the past, the present has not been set and "the future is now", be ready, because life is not in the egalitarian philosophy that its made up to be.

-Nathan 'Dawesy' Dawe