Well guys, we did it. We have finally made it to graduation. We no longer get to walk the halls of Brown Middle School as students. We have made it through 9 years of school, and to top that off, 4 months of a global pandemic and quarantine. Covid-19 got in the way of us doing this ceremony live, but we have to play with the cards we’ve been dealt. Even though we cannot graduate together in person, this graduation remains very special. 30 years from now, our kids will be graduating from something, and we can tell them “I once graduated over a Zoom call.” They’ll ask “What’s Zoom?” And then you’ll get to play the part of “old person” for a day. Anyhow, let’s start off by giving credit where credit is due:

Thank you to our families, who have supported us and guided us to help us make it this far. Thank you to all of our elementary teachers at Angier, Country Side, Mason Rice, and Williams. Thank you to the wonderful teachers and administrators here at Brown who have made the past three years such an exciting and valuable adventure. And of course, I want to say a special thank you to Mr. Jordan and all the other teachers that are retiring this year.  And best of luck to Ms. Lysaught in your new role. All of you have helped to prepare us for this moment. 

But enough of the niceties. It is now time to address the elephant in the room. Bowties. Who’s gonna wear one next year?  

Ok, just kidding: High School. It was easy to think about high school in 6th and 7th grade, when we weren’t about to graduate. We spent those years just waiting and planning and longing for the freedom that High School offered. High school seemed elusive and exciting - and we couldn’t wait to get there. But during all of our time planning, I’m not sure we noticed how close our next big step was getting.

Making things even more complicated, we also have the added stress of a literal global pandemic. This is not how any of us pictured transitioning to high school. We were all excited to take part in the events that traditionally mark the end of middle school. But the end of year plans that our teachers have been hyping since September are not happening. And our live graduation ceremony has been replaced with a Zoom call.

Now, as we find ourselves sitting on that Zoom call, middle school is ending, and high school is looming on the horizon. It all suddenly feels very real. And now, after years of waiting, I suddenly can’t help but be a bit apprehensive about this whole high school thing. And I can’t help but think that many of you share this apprehension.  

Middle school feels safe. Example?  We don’t have course catalogs. I mean I like planning as much as the next guy, but this year, when we were all asked to plan our highschool schedules, it was scary. And sitting in that huge South gymnasium hearing our future teachers talk about our high school classes, I felt lost. I’m pretty sure we all did. Why? Because people like to be safe. We like to stay in our comfort zones. We don’t like to jump into brand new things.

For us, High school is the next big thing. And whether we feel ready or not, High School is happening. 

Fortunately, we are prepared. All the hard work and efforts of those people I mentioned earlier -- our parents, our teachers, our administrators, our friends, and more -- have prepared us for this new challenge. During our 3 years at Brown, everything we’ve been doing -- whether we knew it or not -- has been laying the groundwork for this next big step in our lives. We’ve been building friendships with amazing people, reading wonderful books, solving complicated math and science problems, and writing inquisitive essays. Our teachers have taught us to absorb knowledge, analyze information, and think critically. In other words, we’ve been learning all the things we supposedly need to know to begin succeeding in high school. 

Looking around -- and by around, I mean flipping through the pages of our Zoom call -- we can see all of our teachers and peers and family members that have helped us to get to where we are now. The future is always going to seem scary. But it doesn’t have to be. Because we are prepared.  We are ready to handle it.  And we will face it together.

Graduation. We finally did it. We got through Middle School. Next year, we will be the little fish in the big pond. We will be the Freshmen, the little people, the newbies. And it’ll be new and a little nerve-wracking.

I often find myself thinking, Was all this worth it? Will I be ready for High School? Am I good enough? I know that many of you also think of this, and of course, you should. Something new is coming, and none of us know a bit about it. But the answer to those questions is this: it doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t. We have each learned so much in our time as Middle School students, from learning how to actually write an essay to learning about American history. From learning parts of math where I thought “What the crap is this?” to parts of science that I didn’t know existed. And it doesn’t matter if we’re “good enough” or not. We will learn what we need to anyway. It’s trial and error. Next year, each of us will face unique and extremely difficult challenges. And because of the things we have learned in Middle School, we will be able to puzzle them out. Growing older and moving on to the next level shouldn’t be scary. We should be excited about it because it’s not throwing ourselves into deep water, it’s learning new things and becoming better people.

I did cross-country and track and field. In the beginning, I was one of the most out of shape people to ever actually run on the team. But I didn’t give up, and I got better. I went from running over a fifteen-minute mile to a six-minute mile. I’m not the best of the team, and probably never will be. But I don’t care, not in the slightest. I’ve grown as a person from the experience of cross-country and track and field, and I’ve gotten significantly better. That’s all I care about. As I’ve continued to persevere and actively worked at a goal I wanted as sixth grade passed, then seventh, I’ve finally won. I got to my goal. And I’ve grown as a person because of it.

I know it sounds a little cliche, but as we continue on our little journey from Middle School to High School, remember what Martin Luther King said: “if you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” If you don’t remember anything from this speech, remember this: getting older and going to new things is not about accomplishments, or having the most. It’s about persevering to be better, to grow as a person, and to learn more about the world. If you don’t remember anything from this speech, remember that. 

Thank you

“As you set out for Ithaka / hope the voyage is a long one,/ full of adventure, full of discovery.”

If you went to Brown in 6th grade you know where this came from. However, if you don’t know what the heck this even means, let me quickly summarize it. Odysseus was traveling back from the Trojan War and got into some trouble with the Laistrygonians, Cyclops, and Poseidon. These creatures alone were among the scariest enemies of  Odysseus, and ultimately Poseidon sends Odysseus all the way back to Ithaka.  

Most of us know the blood sweat and tears that were put into just reading this poem. But as I reflect on everything that has happened in the past three years, I no longer see this poem as a burden. I now understand why our teachers in 6th grade never wanted to tell us the true meaning of it. Because as we grow older,  we eventually figure out the truth behind this poem ourselves. 

In sixth grade, we were all completely new, and we were trying to figure out our place socially and academically. We all had to overcome our own monsters in the sixth grade. Whether it was social anxiety, intimidation, or academic struggles we were not in it alone. I personally struggled with my identity. I slowly started to realize that the self-confident, smiling fifth-grader who entered sixth-grade was starting to change overnight. I felt as though I needed to look or act a certain way in order to fit in with my peers. My worst fear throughout middle school was being different. 

When we entered seventh grade a lot of reality started to kick in. We weren’t being “babied” anymore. For some of us, balancing social life and academic life was definitely something that we had to master over the years. Some of us started losing friends we thought we would have forever, we started to realize that we were accountable for our actions, and in all that, we still were trying to find ourselves, still on that journey to find our “Ithaka’s.” I made sure I got all A’s in all my classes and I made sure to always wear outfits that other girls would wear, in order to fit in or be “cool.” I feel like we are taught to fit in and not be the black sheep. And what I didn’t realize is that the black sheep run the farthest.  

Our 8th-grade year began with the subtle realization that we were now the upperclassmen, the leaders of our school.  This made us feel freer to be ourselves. Middle School was no doubt a tough journey, but it made us learn so much about ourselves. However, I felt as though I was still far from my “Ithaka.” Why did “Ithaka” still continue to feel far away? I was frustrated because I thought I would have found it already. The truth is I still haven’t found myself yet. Honestly, I wonder if any of us have.  

We are now going into ninth grade and we are going to be new and at the bottom once again. As we look back on the ups and downs of our years here, I want you to ask yourself a question: What does “Ithaka” truly mean to you? It took me a while to figure out but to me, “Ithaka” is a long term goal of finding myself. And I am definitely a long way from it. But now that I’ve learned so much from Middle School. I have grown into this newer and better version of myself. I have learned so many things that I will treasure forever. I learned that procrastination was no longer an option, especially if you have a 9-page book project due the next morning, and that there is no point rushing to Advisory to only figure out it’s a Tuesday. Yes, in fact, I did that every Tuesday. Feel free to ask Ms. A. 

All jokes aside, I do know this: don’t, I repeat, don’t take the experience you’ve gained for granted. Even the bad times have taught us to be a better friend, student, son, daughter, or person and have brought us farther along in our journeys. Something I regret about these past few years was not embracing the fact that it is okay to be the odd one out. What I didn’t realize was that Middle School is the time where we are supposed to be different in order to begin the process of finding ourselves. This was my journey and let’s just say I wish each of you luck on yours. 

“Keep Ithaka always in your mind. Arriving there is what you are destined for. But do not hurry the journey at all. Better if it lasts for years, so you are old by the time you reach the island, wealthy with all you have gained on the way...Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.” 

Let’s please not rush our journeys to Ithaka, they are what makes us who we are. Thank you.

From my first day of kindergarten and every year since, the Pledge of Allegiance has been optional. And yet, in seventh grade, a substitute Spanish teacher forced my class to stand up and say the pledge. She told us that if we did not comply, we were disrespecting our country and threatened that she would give us a silent class. Little did she know, we recognized the power in our united voices. After an endless argument about equality, a group of my friends and I marched down to the office, furious that this teacher had denied us a choice to say the pledge. And in the end, the administration talked to the teacher and proved to us that we had made our point. 

This moment stuck with me because it taught me an important lesson: that we are so much stronger together. In just a few hours, my classmates and I had made our point, but only by doing it with one another. Additionally, this taught me that even though I may be young, my voice matters, and that everyone can stand up for something they believe in. 

Although my experience varies greatly from that of famous activists, our actions still bear some resemblance to each other. Unlike Malala Yousafzai, our government was not flatly denying us the right to an education; simply denying us the choice to say the pledge. But the choices of activists such as Malala and those who participate in the March for Our Lives movement can still teach us valuable lessons. Ultimately, those people that we hold up on a pedestal, that we regard as uniquely superior, are simply human beings, just like you and me. The profound impact of their actions comes from their unity with other motivated, passionate  people. We can all become those people. And most importantly, standing up for what you believe in, big or small, has the ability to change the world. 

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you won or lost that game, or how many people you were friends with, or what grade you got on that test, or how many followers you had. Those inconsequential things are simply moments that make up a day which makes up a week, and a month, and a year. So ask yourself, when all those moments are over, what do I want to be remembered by? And, at least for me, I want to be remembered for the impact I had on this world. So stand up for what you believe in today, because you may never get the chance again. And you never know. It might just change the world.

We all have now been through a whole three years, and now we are done, and now we are officially old. All of these wonderful and not so wonderful things that we have done, and that have been done to us, are about to be behind us, and the rest of life is about to be ahead. The bubble of middle school is bursting, but now we are in a special space where we get to start to build our own bubbles for the future. 

I have learned many a skill and many a value from good old BMS, and don’t get me wrong, I would like to spend a whole speech recounting each and every thing that happened, but I won’t. The things that I have learned may be helpful for you, or they may not. They were born out of my experience. Everyone here has had different experiences, and will have different, shall we say, universal truths.

I will now proceed to recount a personal experience that illustrates the fact that everyone has a unique perspective of our time here in middle school, as that is what seems to be the frame of all good speeches. To do this, I will call upon the powers of seventh grade and symbolism in literature. The teacher showed us a bunch of pictures that were common symbols and asked us what we thought they were symbols for, so that we could recognize them when we read books with symbolism. There was a heart to symbolize love, a walking cane to symbolize old age, a storm to symbolize a tough decision and emotional turmoil, but then came winter. You know, snow on the ground, hot chocolate everywhere, that sort of winter. The people who spoke said that it was a symbol for death and destruction, on account of the freezing weather, but I saw it as a symbol for beauty, on account of the snowflakes. Both were different, and both could very well be helpful to be familiar with in many books. To generalize it, we could say that we are substituting the term “symbol” for the term “lesson”, and the term “book” for the term “situation”. Then we get the point of this academy anecdote, that is that varying values are helpful for varying people. 

I want to impart to you to think about yourself, and to think about what you have learned. Not about what anyone says about what you should have learned, like one of those crazy “5 Tips to Get Rich Fast” videos that tell you how to go about being successful, but to really just think for 10 seconds and say “Yes. This is what I am taking into my future. This is what has one end that is hydrophilic and one end that is hydrophobic, and will build my bubble well.” (A molecule of soap, the thing that makes bubbles, has one end that is hydrophilic and one end that is hydrophobic.) Sometime in the future, we may all run into the scenario where we start to doubt who we are, or even that we have an identity. I want to suggest that holding on to some “one thing” helps us recognize that we do have an identity, and helps us discover it. 

Some of the things I have learned are from school, and some are from the rest of my life. But, I have been talking about lessons as if having one is the default, and it is not. If all you have learned from middle school is that a squared plus b squared equals c squared, that is totally fantastic. Or even just, “Hey. Three years have gone by and here I am and there are four years ahead of me, and then the rest of my life” is enough because it is true. At this point in writing my speech, I realize that I have to include more “I” voice so I will say that one of my lessons has been that sometimes, if you are in a house of uncomfortableness, you don’t always have to escape. Sometimes you just have to live in it long enough to be able to invite guests over and serve them a brisket that has been smoking for the perfect time for a brisket to smoke, which is twelve hours.

I have been talking about all of this as if it is a journey alone, and I would like to revise that. Don’t get me wrong, I do personally think that choosing a takeaway is a personal thing, but to build that takeaway, there are other people. I certainly could not have done anything in middle school on my own, and not only because of those somehow ever-present group projects. I mean, there is just one group activity right after the last. Sometimes, I needed to be like an intricately carved and jointed marionette puppet held up on the string of relationships with people, controlled by the puppet master that is adenosine triphosphate, the molecule that essentially makes you alive, along with glucose.

Ah, here it is. The final paragraph. So sad that I only have the spotlight for just a few more femtoseconds. I mean, that’s not really true, I have an insane amount of femtoseconds left, but only a few seconds. The final suggestion that I have is to know when your arsenal of responses is outdated. For instance, I have a few key things that I typically do when I am in similar situations, but that all has become outdated since quarantine, and my view has been drastically changed. Just like with the iPhone, a newer model of lessons has come out and I have spent a considerable amount of time familiarizing myself with these new lessons, and I think that was rather helpful. In this case, not in the case of the iPhone. I am so grateful to be a part of this school. I hope that this is not the last that I see of this community, but because it is the end of a speech I feel obligated to use the phrase, “Thank you, and goodnight.”

  “You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the one who’ll decide where to go.” Dr. Seuss

   Google said it was good to start a speech with a quote so I decided to do just that. I find it funny that I was willing to write a speech. I mean not that it doesn’t interest me but the fact I was willing to do some extra writing. I have always been the type of student who never has an Independent Reading Book, accidentally leaves her homework at home, completely zones out during class, and has way too much energy at the wrong time. But I now realized that this is probably the last time we’re all here together so let’s talk about something important, a journey more specifically my journey. 

I started 6th grade very nervous because I went from being the coolest kid in elementary to not knowing where I would sit at lunch. At the start of the year I thought  8th graders were terrifying little did I know at that time I was correct. I went along with the year acknowledging that groups were formed and all of a sudden my Justice t-shirt was not good enough. While group’s started from and titles followed them creating tension between people. Teachers tried to connect all of us by playing name games but little did they know it would take a lot more than just that to deny stereotypical groups from being formed. I have always been quite a weird child and I get called that more than you may think, but since my interests are not out of the ordinary people found my crazy side entertaining and found a way to enjoy it. I thought I found my group of people at that time would stick by my side till the day I got married. Well, let me tell you I was very very very wrong.  Drama was created and friends were dropping like flies. I thought the world was going to end and nothing would stay the same but little did I know the next morning everyone was friends again as if nothing had happened. That was the biggest thing I learned from that year. Middle school drama requires as frequently as getting homework. It happens all the time but it only becomes more pointless as it continues. I thought that putting myself in a position where I was part of the drama would make me be more relevant and popular, but little me was not the brightest in this type of social environment leaving me with plenty of embarrassing moments that I would not mind forgetting. I wish by this point I learned that sometimes being on your own and prioritizing yourself is more important than proving yourself to those who really don’t care about you. But don’t worry I come around to that just give me a couple more years. 

            7th grade: let’s just say it was not my peak. That year contains memories of me making some of the stupidest decisions. Let’s start off with one of my favorites. You have all probably heard of the girl who got stuck in a locker one bright Monday morning. Spoiler alert that girl is me. Let’s just say going in someone’s lock to surprise them in the morning is not the best use of your time. See at this point in my life I was so vulnerable that I would do anything someone would tell me. And that brings us the right to embarrassing memory in 7th-grade #2: throwing up during cross country. By this point, most people would have learned that you won’t miss much if you don’t go to one practice but once again I felt the need to be there even when I felt sick to my stomach. Looking back the only thing I missed out on was running a couple of miles which I would have been totally fine missing. Shout out to Ian for telling me and I quote, “Nadia, throw up farther in the forest, I am running here.” Thanks, Ian, I really appreciate the sympathy. Now, these may sound like fun stories and that is what I used to call them but one day that all changed. I was once again trying too hard to gain attention and  Mr. Lindner said to me “Nadia just do less” and that is when it really hit me. Those shouldn’t be fun stories because if I was just focusing on myself they would not have happened in the first place. I took away some big messages from those days. First, never run while sick, it never ends well. But seriously, I was willing to put myself in pretty awful situations just to prove to myself that I could be the center of attention of everyone’s day. I hate myself for wanting that, but deep down inside, the majority of what I did was to attract attention and popularity from others. Like I said before, it was going to take another year until I would acknowledge that the energy I put into pleasing others, could be reversed so I could please myself.

8th grade I finally recognized how toxic it was to want to be in drama whether it was to help someone or if I am the problem. I never wanted to be in it again. I settled down with real friends who don’t use me or talk behind my back. I branched out of my group and made friends with people I never knew much about. Now I’m not saying the year was perfect you can ask anyone who saw me running down the hallway like a psychopath or slipping down the stairs. There were plenty of embarrassing moments and drama I went through but for the first time didn’t feel sick to my stomach when I thought back to them. I truly got the message through my head that I am the one who dictates my future and you don’t get any credit for being popular or acceptable in anyone’s mind. But you might be okay with yourself when you are confident in your own body and that should mean more to you than anything else.

Now the past three years have been an amazing journey where I learned more than ever but just as the quote says “You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the one who’ll decide where to go.”  So just remember not to lose yourself to fit others’ expectations because no one is perfect and the sooner you learn that the more it will benefit you. I can vouch by that by finding yourself your future will become more clear and you will find yourself enjoying the time you have with others. Drama is totally overrated and can drain life and happiness out of you. So focus on the good in yourself and how it can help others because time goes faster than you realize. I mean look at us--we are going into high school and I still have a baby face, so let’s just say many more embarrassing moments are to follow me. 

But I have learned that it is important to have people around you that are laughing with you instead of at you. And since this is my journey, I am so happy and grateful to end it by saying thank you to my psycho and amazing bus buddies, a very loud but fun extension table, supportive teachers that I gossip to as if they were my best friends, a friend that feels the need to take a video every laugh we share together, and the people who have stuck with me since the beginning. Next year I may find myself right back at square one and some of you guys might have not made it past square yet but just know even if it takes you the next four years,  find yourself and love yourself because without that life will be not so good.  

So keep this quote with and remember: you will find a place where you fit in and you are enough and never let anyone tell you otherwise.

Congratulations Graduates!

From the very moment we first entered through those double doors and into Brown Middle School, life changed for all of us. In the beginning, we faced those mazes of looming hallways that seemed to stretch on forever. Suddenly, we were confronted with a whole array of new challenges and wondered about more questions than there were answers for. However, through our three years at Brown, each of us learned how to adapt to new environments, and most importantly how to persevere in the face of challenges.

Let’s take a moment to zoom in on the past three years we have spent together. Possibly the scariest part of getting started in a new school was the feeling of being surrounded by what seemed to be a completely unknown world. Instead of walking in straight lines, we were given the freedom to roam as we pleased in the hallways. Our little cubbies were replaced with lockers and combination codes as places to keep our belongings. Although these changes seemed so unfamiliar to us in the start, we slowly became more adjusted to our new life at Brown, and quickly realized that we had to be able to become more open-minded in order to understand others and learn better. Little did we know, the lessons we learned would be carried with us for the rest of our years here.

One of the most important lessons I learned throughout my time at Brown is to not dwell too much on regrets, but to look towards the future with a positive outlook. In particular, I remember lying awake in bed, mulling over something I should have done differently, only to find myself sleepy and unprepared to face the next day. As time went on, it quickly dawned on me that focusing too much on the past hindered my performance in the future. From then on, I started to set a resolve and approached life’s challenges in a different way. Whether or not you made the soccer team or got all straight A’s, it’s up to you to decide how you respond to adversity and do better in the future.

Even though three years may not sound like a very long time, all of us have grown significantly from our time and experiences here at Brown Middle School. From the first day of 6th grade to our awesome field trips, and to our final days as 8th graders, we’ve gained more knowledge about ourselves than we could have ever imagined. To this, I owe a huge thank you to all the dedicated teachers and staff who have taught us not only core subjects, but also how to be kind and think outside the box. Furthermore, I would like to recognize all the students and friends I’ve met at Brown-- you’ve taught me to also have lots of fun along the way.

Is finishing middle school the beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning? For many of us, it’s both. We have so much to look forward to as we make the transition to high school. By learning from these past few years, we are able to lead our lives to a brighter destination. Here’s to another four years!

In life, there is no real ending. It’s just the place where you pause the story. It is like the comma in the middle of a sentence or a red light on a road trip.

 Throughout our years at Brown Middle School, we have been changed by every event that happened- whether it be as monumental as forming new friendships or as basic as taking a different way to class. Our class has a unique perspective on life since we have grown up amidst challenging events in our country- the tragic Parkland shooting, the ongoing immigration debate, the rise of mental health problems, continual discrimination and violence, and now Covid-19- just to name a few.

Still, we continue to thrive.

Even if, some of us forget deodorant and wear socks with sandals. Middle school is a fundamental time for learning and growing, for instance, we learn and develop our values and passions which will ultimately affect us for the rest of our lives along with our awkward 6th yearbook photos. But in all seriousness, we have learned how to connect with others and to take risks even though we are incredibly scared to do so.

In our sixth grade play, Grease, we sang and danced on stage for our families wearing leather jackets and poodle skirts. This was the first time many of us have performed on stage, which pushed our boundaries and allowed us to slip into the shoes of someone else. No matter who you are, whether on stage, on the playing field, or in the classroom, your boundaries have been affected in one way or another in Brown.  

In seventh grade, we learned about ancient civilizations and ended the year with a roller-skating field trip with our grade. This experience was completely new for many of us and we learned to fall and get back up again. This moral can be applied anywhere in our lives from being cut from a sports team, or not doing well on a test. Throughout our lives, we will be tested and rejected but what matters is if we get back up again. 

Now our final year, 8th grade. We learned how to be senators, and wore formal clothes and debated, and after, perhaps ransacked a table with free merchandise. 

I know this remote learning and virtual graduation aren’t ideal for anybody but we have to learn to make the best out of it. While writing this I remembered some quotes from some of my teachers like,” Sometimes life presents you with challenges, and it is how you deal with those challenges that define you,” and,” Why on earth are there forks in my ceiling?” These had an impact on me because they taught me something. (Maybe not the fork quote but I thought it was important nonetheless.)

 This year has been a mix of emotions for everyone and this may come to a surprise to those who are close to me, but this has been one of the best years of my life because of the people I met and the experiences I endured. 

My last piece of advice for everyone is that it is going to be okay. Many people, including myself, are here for you and you don’t have to face your challenges alone. You are important and heard. I know that at one point in time, I needed to hear that too. We have learned so much and we have so many things to look forward to, and I know that I will remember these years for the rest of my life. Thank you.