Don’t settle for being average

ntlemen and welcome to the graduation of the Class of 2009! My name is Collin Murphy and I am proud to have the opportunity to address you all here tonight. Over the last four years, I have learned much about classical art, integrals, and electrical chemistry. However, you go to school for much more than a grade point average. While learning in class is important, it is our learning from interactions and experiences that will serve us the best later in life. Through our life experiences, important traits like leadership are learned. Leadership is persistence, confidence, and decisiveness.

Confidence is the belief in yourself. It allows you to not give in to what everyone around you is saying or thinking. My freshman year, I came in the football program as the 3rd string quarterback for the C-team. I came into contact with football camp coaches from out of state who told me to switch positions or forget about offense. This continued into my senior year. We even had a college coach that came up to help us out over the summer who seemed convinced that I should not play. He said our team would never win with me at quarterback. Three months later, after a successful season, that same coach was offering me a scholarship to play for him. By believing in myself, I was able to overcome the negative vibes of others around me.

Persistence is the ability to stick with something until you accomplish your goal. When I think of persistence, a quotation by Will Ferrell comes to mind: “I have won a lot of radio contests by refusing to get off the phone.” Although it was meant in jest, there is something to what he said. A lot of challenges can be overcome by simply sticking with it. This also allows us to enhance our talent. People who come to mind are our very own seniors from the Class of 2009: Yiying Jin (graduating Summa Cum Laude) playing the violin tonight, Alex Coon (our most valuable player) from Colony girls’ basketball, and Jeton Rhys, one of our drum majors with the Colony High School Marching Band (the only marching band in the state).

The ability to be decisive, yet admit when you have messed up, is an important quality of a leader. Nobody respects anyone who can’t make a decision for themselves or who is influenced by the last thing that they hear. I have a story to illustrate my point. As a disclaimer, I’d just like to say that all the names and places are fictional and any similarities between them and a real person are purely coincidental. Nearing graduation, a senior named Peter is very upset. He has had a great year filled with lasting friendships and memories. Now Peter has two things that he really excels at: drawing and math. The problem he faces is that he has only been accepted to two colleges. One is strong in math while the other is known for their art program. Peter hates math; he only really does it because he is very good at it. Nevertheless, his parents are pushing him toward the prestigious math school because that is where they wish for him to go. If he goes there, will he never be able to realize himself as an artist? What will Peter do? Peter succumbs to the pressures of his parents and chooses the school for math. Instantly he knows he has made the wrong decision but he is unable to change it. By being unable to make a decision for himself, he has allowed others to make a decision that will impact his life forever. Never base your actions off of another’s expectations of you. People might not like it, but they will never respect you for not being true to yourself.

Our class has distinguished ourselves in many ways. We achieved the school’s first (and second, and third) state wrestling championships. The state’s only marching band who went all the way to Washington, DC for the presidential inauguration. Our girls’ basketball team took state last year. We started up the talent show and the Mr. CHS Pageant. Not only did we begin these events at Colony, members of our class won the events as well. We also created a ping pong tournament which later became a club this year. We even won academic competitions like Battle of the Books and our first Science Olympiad state championship title since 1997. We had top finishers at the state chess tournament. However, no great achievement can be accomplished without the support of the people behind the scenes: our parents who always believed in us and provided us with everything we could ever need; our teachers who stayed late at school helping us make up a test or study; and our coaches who provided us with the opportunity to do the activities we love.

Coach Mayo repeatedly told us, “Anyone can be average. It takes a special person to push their limits and strive to succeed.” Over the last four years we have been more than average; we have been leaders. Congratulations, Colony High School Class of 2009!