I am both honored and pleased to have the privilege of speaking to all of you tonight. Being up here makes all the studying and hard work worth it. When MS. Morris officially told me that I would be the Salutatorian for our class, it was a very exciting moment for me, but after a short period of time I realized I had to write and present a speech. Upon being informed on what kind of speech I would have to give, I learned it would be an inspirational speech. For about a week I thought, how am I going to inspire my classmates? What can I tell them that they don't already know? I've only experienced as much as they have so far. Then I decided to just go over some points that my mom, dad, coaches, and teachers have been preaching to me for about the last 13 years. To set goals, do what makes you happy, put your heart into everything you do and always smile. Set goals. I would have never made it up on this stage if I had never set goals to make good grades throughout Junior High and High School. We set goals to give ourselves something to work and strive towards. Our goals give us an endpoint of somewhere we would like to be in the future. Without these goals that we set for ourselves we have nothing to reach and continue to strive for.
These goals can be as small as making all A's for one six weeks or as big as deciding to graduate college with a particular degree. Without goals how can we measure our success? Do what makes you happy. Doing what makes us happy has a lot to do with the decisions that we make. We can never find happiness if we let others make major decisions for us. We are the only ones who know what truly makes us happy; therefore, we should make all major decisions for ourselves. Don't be unhappy with any part of your life. Live where ever it is that you want to live, work where ever you want to work and marry the person you truly love. Put your heart into everything you do. If you decide to do something then give it your all.
