2025 Valedictorian Address

Good afternoon,

Thank you all for being here today to celebrate this milestone with us. I am honored to be this year’s Valedictorian and am grateful to represent the Class of 2025.

When I think back to my early elementary school, I don’t remember every lesson, every worksheet, or every field trip. But I do remember the moment we were taught how to shake hands. We were told to look Mr. Anderson in the eye, stand tall, and offer a firm grip, because we were about to receive our very first summer reading books. It felt like a big moment. And it was. It was our first act of stepping forward, of letting go of the comfort of our parents' arms and walking into something unknown; it was our first step into a bigger world. Now, thirteen years later, the world still feels big. But something has changed: we’ve built something here together.

I’ve come to understand that life revolves around the act of letting go. Sometimes it happens to us: life tears something away. A friend moves. A chapter ends. A door closes. We grow up. Other times, we have to choose. We have to make the conscious, painful decision to release something or someone.

The hardest part of growing up is the suddenness of it. Often, we don’t even notice the change until it’s already happened. It’s quiet at first. Routines shift. People drift. Days pass. And then, like a wave, it hits us. We’ve moved on. What once felt permanent is now part of the past. The world is louder and so are our thoughts. We didn’t even see it coming until we were standing knee-deep in a new version of our lives, wondering when the tide came in. Letting go is never easy, but it’s necessary for growth.

Our class is small, just twenty of us, but in this smallness, there’s been something rare. Many of us have grown up together, side by side. We’ve shared everything from birthdays and inside jokes to triumphs and disasters. We’ve lost friends, said difficult goodbyes, and still, through it all, we’ve found comfort in the people who stayed. In the quiet understanding that whoever remained was familiar. Was home.

That’s what this school became. Not just a building or a schedule, but a home we built. With each year, each laugh, each conversation, and class, we added to it. From learning our phonograms with Mrs. Moessner and debating Brutus’s morality, to our philosophical conversations with Dr. McMahon, journeys into the past with Mr. Herndon, and learning the value of hard-work and resilience with Mr. Schohl, our house evolved into a home.

This year, we added something truly meaningful to that house: our senior theses.

The Senior Thesis was a mirror. A challenge. A question that allowed us to discover ourselves in a way that we had not before. We bravely took that question and turned it into something personal by sharing not just philosophy, but parts of ourselves.

It reminded me that this home, this little class of ours, is built on both learning and love.

And now, it’s time to let go of that home. Not to abandon it, but to carry it with us. We will go to new cities, meet new people, lose old routines. The world is not in our control. But what is in our control is our responses, our choices, our values, and our sense of self.

We are not the same people who nervously lined up in kindergarten. We’ve grown into artists, athletes, scientists, actors, dreamers, leaders, and friends. Ridgeview has given us the space to discover who we are, and more importantly, who we want to become.

It’s hard to say goodbye to a place that raised you. But growth demands space. And life, as we’ve learned, keeps moving forward. So, if this is growing up, then let us carry it gently. Let us begin our new journeys with gratitude.

To my class: this is not the end of our story. The walls we once leaned on have become the foundation we now walk on. And like all homes, we don’t stay in them forever, we carry them with us. In our values, in our memories, and in the people who shaped us. So, take everything we’ve built here: the lessons, the love, the laughter, and build something new. Wherever you go, find communities where you feel known, heard, and recognized. We are letting go, not to forget, but to grow.

Thank you, Ridgeview, for giving us a place to grow. Thank you to our teachers and staff for designing the blueprints for our future. Thank you to our parents for supporting us in every step along the way. So today, as we cross this stage to once again shake Mr. Anderson’s hand, and step into our new adventures, let us always carry our Ridgeview home in our hearts.