Graduation Speech: Ive Been Apart Of The James Island Charter High School

Sense the age of twelve years old, Ive been apart of the James Island Charter High-school Track and Cross country team. For the past five years, I've developed inseparable bonds and life long skills that have helped me develop important morals in my life. This year, my senior year of high school; I chose to tell my parents, coaches, and teammates that I wouldn't be competing for our team this year and that I wasn't running cross country. As a five year varsity letterman and athlete, making the decision to not run cross country was pretty emotional and painful. The decision to not compete and to pause my athletic career for three months all started from me interviewing seniors for media tech (our schools news network). I was gathering
I thought "How have I gone to school with these people every day and never before have seen them?" It was then when I decided that I wanted to extend the aspects of my friend circle and get to know and learn more about people that I've never talked to. I decided that I didn't want to focus on running for a few months and to not have to worry about manipulating every aspect of my life, in order to preform well and train the next day at practice. I wanted to be a kind of scientist and to experiment. I decided to live as an average high school senior and enjoy the moments of having "few" responsibilities while I can. A large factor in my decision was the accomplishment of recently overcoming my social anxiety. Ive always had many friends, but the real problem for me was being able to get out of my comfort zone and put myself out there or approach others. With the fears of my anxiety no longer weighing me down and my decision to not run cross country as a college sport I chose to actually tell my coach my final choice. After spending the weekend consulting with my friends and family I
Ive formed new bonds and friendships with many and out of all, few have truly given me a new perspective on life. For me, one of the most important lessons learned was to not be afraid of change. Change was something I feared. I knew change brought new experiences, I feared I'd never be know how to take charge and undertake my life as my own. Looking back, Im so grateful that I had the guts to put trust in myself to make the choices I've made. If given the change to refine my choice, there wouldn't be one thing I would change. Making the decision to give up my senior year cross country season, permanently opened up a door in my life. It showed me to be fearless and take to chances and to never suppress the voice in your head telling you to take a chance, bur instead suppress the voice telling you that you aren't good enough or that its something others won't be happy about. You and only you have the chance to change your stars, without taking risks, the outcome will be forever remain uncertain. When life gives you decisions to make, its boils down to your willingness to simply take a