At my high school graduation in 2001, I was chosen by my peers to give a speech on "Class Future". As I recall, I was also nominated for "Class Spirit" (or at least, something else), and I requested no one vote for me on that one. Future seemed the least constricting. And no, I wasn't the valedictorian or salutatorian. --- It's really great to be here today, because it means I won't have to be here next year. That is, I'll be able to go to college next year. Apparently, most colleges got together and decided they'd require a high school diploma. Now, the concept of high school in general is a lot like prison. Your entire day is scheduled for you-you're told where to go, when to eat, you even know you're in for four-years. The main difference is that in prison you don't have to ask permission to use the bathroom. Of course, there are various downsides to prison which would be inappropriate to discuss. Anyway, I've been chosen to speak today on the topic of Class Future. I've worked on this for weeks, and I still haven't got a clue what the topic means, exactly, but I assume most of you don't either, so let's just go with this. In the very near future, I'll be receiving my diploma. We'll all be getting one, as we graduate. Oh, except for Alexander Lewis. I'm sorry, Dr. Kazmark wanted me to inform you that you won't be graduating this year. Apparently, you still owe the wrestling team your unitard from freshman year preseason... I can't imagine why they didn't mention this to you sooner. Anyway, for the rest of us graduation from high school really marks our entrance into the world of adults. Our generation is entering the real world. We are becoming what was once considered the future. As we grow up, it will soon become time for us to take over important responsibilities. Picking out a place to live, mushing foods, changing diapers...and that's just what we'll have to do for our parents. Eventually, we'll have jobs, families, and kids of our own. The basics of our future are pretty well known to us. But just one year from now, we'll come back, and this place will seem odd to us, a faded memory. Well, as I said, Alex will still be here, but otherwise... Four years from now, we'll come back, and we won't recognize this place, following the renovation. Twenty years from now, we'll come back, and this place won't recognize us. Hell, we won't even recognize each other. Most of our teachers will be gone, most of who and what we know of PHS will be gone. Today is certainly the last time we'll ever be brought together as a full group. Some of us may breathe a sigh of relief at that thought. But in the future, we'll never meet another group of people like this one, share experiences like the ones we've had in the past four years, or be forced into knowing a group of people in the same odd way we've known each other. I'd like to thank everyone here: my fellow students, teachers, and parents, for the past four years. Anyway, before I get too sentimental, I thought I'd share a few predictions I've made for the future: In the future... ...Gas prices will rise so much that many will be forced to decide between their SUVs, and their first born children. Those who chose to keep their cars will be surprised at how little a first born child fetches in the open market. In the future... ...When "The West Wing" is interrupted for a speech by President Bush, millions of people will realize that Martin Sheen is NOT our president. A complete loss of faith in our government will ensue. In the future... ...Cell phones will be implanted in baby's ears at birth, allowing for instant communication with everyone in the country. However, visitors from poorer nations will believe we are all ranting to ourselves in fits of insanity. In the future... ...This era will be known as "The Boy Band Age" in history textbooks. We'll all realize how pathetic we are when our grandchildren come home to ask us about N*Sync, after hearing about them in Lucker's class. Yeah, he'll still be here. But before that last prediction comes true, we've all got lives to lead, in the future. Some of us have careers waiting for us now, while many of us are headed for further education. We're all headed in different directions, but one thing still unites us. We've all got important things to do. The future is waiting for us, and it's up to us to take it. To quote a dialogue from Lewis Carroll's book Alice in Wonderland: -"There's no use trying," Alice said: "one can't believe impossible things." -"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." So think big! Think HUGE! Think IMPOSSIBLE! And then go out and do it. Because as the less culturally-valued, but no less relevant punk band Fifteen once said "Nothing is insurmountable, nothing is undoable, nothing is unbeatable, nothing is impossible!" Good luck guys!