Kwalikum Secondary School co-valedictorian addresses for 2025:
Robert Roth III
To those who helped to push me towards taking steps to find out who I am. To my teachers who put up with me, never let me give up and never, ever let me slip through the cracks.
To my fellow grads — those who convinced me to run, those who voted and those who had faith in me. I would not be standing here without all of you. So I say thank you.
The parents who took the time (lots of time) to throw the prom we asked for, and then some. It was certainly a night to remember. We appreciate you.
To Lyra my co-valedictorian, thank you for sharing this honour with me.
I don't know how you will look back on your high school years but for me... I will always remember the late nights "studying" with Crash Royale. Cramming in homework time in the library with Ms. Martin asking us to "please put a filter on it", the ever important life-giving coffee or energy drink.
Skipped classes via the "can I go to the washroom?" excuse that led to a full school tour (stops included), the accidental bumping into the teacher whose class you "missed" earlier in the day and the times just hanging out with friends.
If you don't know who you are how do you expect to change what you don't know?
It's like looking for an answer when you don't even know the question or building a house with no foundation.
Sometimes we move forward so fast we forget to see ourselves. Take a step to the side, slow down and find yourself.
There is such a busy world with ideas, advice, should do's and don't do's.
This is your adventure and until you choose to take that step for yourself, you will never get to experience your own adventure. The steps are yours to choose and yours to take.
None of us knows what lays ahead for us, so let's enjoy the adventures that each day brings, remember who you are and embrace the journey you are on.
I heard a quote once and its has stuck with me.
"Be strong enough to be gentle and be brave enough to be kind. In a world where we are now playing "figure it out" that seems to have lost kindness, hold on to your kindness and gentleness towards others. We all need it some days. When the account of the ages is etched into the cosmos, let those who exist long after us know that this was our finest hour."
-Optimus Prime
Lyra Sales
Elle Woods said: “It is with passion, courage of conviction and a strong sense of self that we take our next steps into the world. Congratulations, Class of 2004 — we did it!”
OK, maybe that last part doesn’t quite apply to us ...we are in 2025 after all.
Elle Woods was valedictorian at Harvard Law School and, based on her speech, she seems to know what she’s doing as she graduates. But here I am, one of the valedictorians for Kwalikum Secondary School, and I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we have no idea what we're doing.
For the past five years we have been following a curriculum — things we need to learn, tests we need to pass, and projects we need to complete – but there's no curriculum for our lives. We get to write it.
What do we do now that the bell schedule is over and we don’t have the consistency of Mr. Abel’s photo wall or Mrs. Worthen's undying love for Times New Roman, size 12, double-spaced papers?
How do we go out into the world as graduated citizens and lead fulfilling, joyful and meaningful lives?
That’s something I can’t answer - but in the next two minutes I’m going to try.
We are graduating into a world filled with disconnection, where families and friends are torn apart by political beliefs, religion, values and even war. Everywhere we look — from scrolling on Instagram to having dinner with our families — we are flooded with crisis after crisis: famine, casualties, climate change disasters, injustice and reminders of everything we’re doing wrong. It feels like we’re losing battles we don’t even know how to fight.
When this happens we can feel powerless. And when it feels like things are too big a problem, it becomes easy to just stop caring.
Apathy is easier than empathy.
But apathy is not harmless, it’s contagious. And it doesn’t defend us; it makes us numb.
Tomorrow morning the school bell won’t ring, and the only principles we have to follow are our own.
Do we choose to focus on the tragedies of the world, the polarization, the things that seem to hurt us too much to care about, or do we choose to see the beauty in the world?
There is love everywhere if we only stop to notice it. There is inspiration everywhere, if we only start to look for it. So maybe that’s our job now - to see the beauty in the world without looking away from the pain.
Not to pretend that everything’s fine, but to hold both truths at once: This world is hurting.
And this world is worth loving.
Now, more than ever, it is important that we lead with curiosity, empathy. kindness, and love. What if we look for, not only for what makes us unique, but for what makes us united?
And that brings me back to Elle Woods. Finding passion for connection, courage to feel deeply, and the conviction to find good in the world even when it’s hard. Because the truth is - this world is wonderful, and it is terrifying, and the answer to apathy is love, action, and the courage to feel.
As we move into the next stage of our lives, our challenge is to have the courage to love, to listen, to look for what is beautiful and to fight for what we believe in.
History has its eyes on us, let's make it proud.
