“There is No Way to Short-Circuit the Path to Success”
Brandy Rosario Corder was the Class Valedictorian for 2021 received a Mavridis Scholarship from the English High School Association. Below is her Valedictorian Speech given to the class during commencement ceremonies on June 11 at Fenway Park.Thank you to all the people that made this day possible, to the teachers, staff, and parents. We wouldn’t be here without you.
As the fashion designer Tory Burch said, “We may live in an age of instant messaging, instant gratification and Instagram, but there is no way to short-circuit the path to success.”
None of us have taken the easy path to success. We have been through remote learning, which means that we have had to repeat ourselves multiple times. We have had to hear again and again the famous phrase of “you’re muted” especially after just saying the most brilliant comment or sharing a fun story.
We have had the craziest classes; sections where we just stay where we are and we participate in class without ever taking our heads off of the pillows. We have learned to multitask and be able to manage two zoom conferences at the same time: yours and your siblings. But finally, the day is here.
The day where we leave high school, and homework, and Ms. Murphy running to catch the student that has a hoodie on or doesn’t have a pass. We leave behind yonder pouches, crowded cafeteria, detention. But we also leave behind drill competitions, Physical Training, volleyball practice, soccer games, football games, pep rallies, the so-beloved thanksgiving feast on the hallways of the 4th and 5th floors.
We leave behind Ms. Trono’s homework overload, Ms. De Guzman’s not so funny jokes, Ms. Tucc’s comforting hugs and words of inspiration, Ms. Gonzalez’s fun activities, Sg Major’s encouragement.
Today we close out an important chapter in our lives and begin our next journey. Today I stand here before you not only to congratulate all of you, but to say that we can do it. We have shown endurance, perseverance, and confidence. We faced the most difficult and strange year with an incredibly positive attitude, we have suffered loss but somehow those losses influenced us to keep moving forward. We all did something remarkable this past year.
Like our T-shirt says, “Others made stories, but we made history.”
