Sidney Crosby

Good afternoon distinguished guests, parents, teachers, and fellow graduates. I know some of you are less then excited for what is about to happen, so I’m going to attempt to grab your attention and keep it with me for the rest of my speech. One thing we always hear from others is “Never forget your roots,” and I can now see why they say that, as we’re ready to move on to another chapter of our lives. Let me give you a quick course in biology. The root of a tree is the foundation that keeps the tree standing up and allowing it to grow and become strong. If the tree were to forget its roots, it wouldn’t be standing up and growing to its fullest potential. Without its roots, the tree wouldn’t be able to live and become a beautiful apple tree or orange tree. This is a lot like you and me. The roots that we should never forget are made up of our loving family members and friends. Without them building a foundation full of love and encouragement, we wouldn’t be the beautiful tree we are today. This reminds me of a painting my cousin was working on. He took up the whole canvas with just a picture of an orange tree, just a simple orange tree. I asked him why he did that and his response still echoes in my mind. He said, “The tree represents the orange tree that grows in grandma and grandpa’s backyard. Every time I see an orange tree, I think of them. An orange tree, to me, is a symbol of family, our family.” In his painting, he made the roots of the orange tree particularly large. He said the roots represented our entire family. It didn’t matter if they didn’t even live in the same state or the same country as us; they’re still a part of our family, our foundation. In life you can grow up to become a successful person but if you forget where you come from and forget the people who helped shaped you. Without anyone sharing in on your success, it is considered pointless, like a broken pencil that you need for a very important bubble to fill on the star test.