Rural Hill Primary School Graduation Speaking Engagement—-July 5, 2017 Rural Hill, Portland.

                                                      “Excellence while adjusting to change”

 

Madam Chairperson, Special Invited guests,, Board Chairman, Principal, Teachers, Staff, parents and families, boys and girls. Good afternoon and welcome to the Rural Hill Primary School Graduation for the class of 2017.

Let me steal a few minutes from your special day Grade 6, to say how thankful I am to all of you students, your parents, the wonderful principal and teachers of Rural Hill Primary School, as well as all the communities that this school serves— Thank you for embracing me into your lives. You have infected me with your laughter, your style and wit. The intersecting of our lives has forever changed the fabric, the tapestry of my life for the better, and I thank you. Mi nuh stop laugh fram mi come ya. That goes to show you, I am having a grand time in your company.

Anyway, Enough about me!

Grade 6, Your big day has arrived. Unu reach!!!!! My son Raja would say, “Oh how sweet it is!”

You have accomplished the second milestone in your life, your second graduation, and I believe I speak for all adults in attendance, We proud a unu!

 Give yourselves and your parents and families a loud and grand round of applause. No man, what kind of fenke fenke clap is that? Unu clap loud man!!!. Now, give your teachers, principal and school staff a round of applause as well. Give one final round of applause for the people who decorated this space today so unu picture can look good.

Students you look beautiful, handsome, fancy, stylish and happy.

Parents, you look beautiful, stylish, fabulous and proud.

That you all look so proud and happy makes my happy to be here to give today’s commencement address on Excellence while adjusting to change.

Now I don’t want to take up a lot of time Grade 6, but I want to get a little serious and talk to you personally today, since I probably wont get to speak with you, except in passing after today.

  Come September, you will encounter new groups of people, friends, teachers, enemies even, opportunities and encounters with people with whom you may have little to no history at all. It will all be new even if you know a few people (I know some of you will be going to the same school).

High school is a totally different kettle of fish from primary school. From the large size of the school, to the large amount of students, to the quantity of work required, to the moving between classes, all will be new; a change–not a bad change –but a change nonetheless. You thought the work at Rural Hill was hard, wait til yuh reach high school. I don’t want to scare you, but I want you to know the real meaning of today.

You will have pressures, struggles and challenges that may sometimes make you feel overburdened, like life is becoming too hard for you to bear. For just these times, I offer some advice that I hope you will remember. (Not just in school related situations but in others as well.)

You see the wind that blows outside, sometimes it cools us off from the heat, and sometimes it tear off wi house top? Right? We cannot direct/control the winds, only God can do that. But God gave us intelligence, smarts and all of us got a fair dose, so that we can, like sailboats navigating rough waters, adjust ‘our sails’ during challenging situations, so we make it through. Just like our community fisherman on the water that we are blessed to see everyday, and that we know can be very dangerous– our fisherman study the water, the sun, the moon, and know just how to adjust their sails to make it back home safely to take their fish to market.

Let’s say we are in a sailboat on the sea out there, and the breeze starts to blow, what would we do to get back off the water safely? Open up the sail and move them right? Yes, God gave us the smarts to adjust our ‘sails, on ‘rough waters,’ and through the winds of change in our lives, in just the same way.

As graduates you are about to face many uncertainties in both the immediate and distant future. Changes in your bodies, emotions, changes in teaching style, format, subject matter and educational structure, discipline structure, and for some of you, changes in the family and home environment. Remember life is like a sailboat, simply adjust your sails so you can come through the rough waters safely.

 The safety net/blanket that Ms. McDonald, Mrs. Doyley, Mrs. Wilson, Mr. Jones and Mrs. Baugh have had underneath you, shielding and protecting you, nurturing you even–when you didn’t like it or didn’t know it –that blanket stays at Rural Hill, you leave it here when you walk out of these doors today.

 I want you to hold on to this fact: Uncertainty and change is another word for time and opportunity. Remember that only one thing is certain and that is that everything in life is temporary, and will pass in time.

 So every bad thing that happens, will pass in time, you will become comfortable with every change, new people will become familiar. So Give yourself a break every now and then, no one’s life is perfect. Just don’t go on too long of a break.

You will fail sometimes, but then you will also pass; you will lose sometimes, but then you will win sometimes; sometimes you wake up feeling on top of the world, and sometimes you will wake up feeling down in the dumps; you will be on time, and you will be late; you will learn from some things and others will pass you by. Remember, life is like a sailboat, Simply adjust your sails so you can make it through the rough waters.

Living legends, alive today, Usain Bolt, Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce, Chronixx, JayZ, Tanya Stephens, Minister Marion Hall/Lady Saw, Bill Gates, the creator of the system that most of your computers operate on; and those deceased, Albert Einstein, the creator of the iPhone, all share the same thing in common……, they have all lost and failed before they won and succeeded. They adjusted their sails and made it through the dark storms of uncertainty in their lives.

  Parents this is a message for you as well. Your children are relying on you to adjust your sails so you can be here and present for them in the different moments of their lives.

Students, whatever and however you did at Rural Hill Primary is behind you, and you now have a new opportunity, a clean slate to paint a new picture, write a new story, be whom you choose to be. In your choosing, choose to be positive over negative; focus on your education over being idle and wasting time; proceed in everything you do with fierce determination and finish all tasks to the best of your abilities. Choose friends wisely, at your age friendships are absolutely important – do make sure you shop for the right ones who will help you to be focused and positive and successful….who will help you to adjust your sails in rough times, not be the cause of your rough times.

At the end of each day, I want you to be proud of the person you were that day….I want you to smile and be pleased at how you behaved in situations, the choices you made; I want you to like yourself a little better everyday, until you see yourself become the star that you are destined to be. Parents, your children are a rare prize, there is none other like each and every one of them. They are like rough diamonds, needing to be cut, shaped, and polished until they shine brilliantly. Please help them daily to see the diamond in themselves by complementing them, telling them how proud you are of them, how beautiful or handsome, how brilliant, how helpful, how much you appreciate them. Our communities, our society, Jamaica -the future, is counting on you to prepare them to lead our future.

Now, I am almost done. I just beg you a little more time to add a few kernels of knowledge that I promised at the beginning of these proceedings that I want our graduates to take with them. (and these apply to you too parents):

1. My mother used to say, Procrastination is the thief of time. It is true. Putting things off or Procrastination, is not your friend, it is a robber of time and opportunity. Complete your tasks on time. “Strike while the iron is hot”. Don’t put off for tomorrow, what you can do today. “A bird in hand is worth 2 in the bush”

2. You, as you stand here today, are works in progress. Don’t expect to get everything right every time. None of us did because no one ever does–give yourself a break– be kind to yourself. Your self-esteem and ego the things that drive you to greatness- need stroking/nurturing/love to propel you to excellence-

To give you the bravado and the courage to try something, to be the first to do something, to create something, to start something.

3. Parents are smarter than they appear and more than you think. You will no doubt, in the future, know more than your parents about some things. Don’t be mistaken however, you can never surpass their life experience. Dem de ya long before unu. Be respectful and helpful. Your parents want the best for you and will sacrifice life and limb to see you succeed. Show them you appreciate them and you will get much more from them than you ever expect.

4. Graduating from Primary school is a big deal. You are a big deal. You are today standing at the gateway to the rest of your lives. Notice I said gateway, you still need to pave the path. To make it in the real 21st Century world, whether you are in Jamaica or somewhere else in the world, you will need more— More schooling, more exposure, more socializing, more experience, more parenting, more teaching, more discipline, more self control, more God. So wherever your genius takes you in life, never stop learning. I am still learning, so are your parents, teachers and others.

5. No one can hold you back, not friends, not enemies, not the Obeah man, not the bad-minded people, not bad teachers, poor parents, bad government, not poverty. You are the only one who can put limits on yourself. Never do that!! Remember life is like being on a sailboat, Simply adjust your sails through the rough waters and you will make it through.

Class of 2017, Embrace all the changes that life will bring your way. Go forward, work hard, study, prepare, and attain excellence. The kind of excellence that makes dreams become reality. Disturb the universe with your unique genius! Do something with your lives that will shock those who dare say you couldn’t do a thing. Make them stand at attention and in awe at what you have become. Prove them wrong! Adjust your sails through the rough stormy waters of change, for Excellence and success awaits you on the other side. Congratulations to all of you, parents and family, teachers, and students. Thank you.