Salutatorian Address - Zion Branson

As we sit before you today, soon to be graduates, I can assure you each of us are thinking one thing, this is the start of our futures, the next chapter in our lives, but what will I make of myself?Everything we have done up to this point in our lives, with the help of our teachers and families, has been preparing us for our futures

"Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today." I believe nothing to be truer than how our education we were given at Waitsburg will help each of us graduates be properly prepared for our futureswherever that may take us or have us doing from college to jobs to having families of our own. But how is it that our graduating class can be so prepared for our futures? Each of the members of our graduating class has families that influence them greatly to be as successful as they can be in every aspect of their lives with parents and grandparents showing us how we can be good parents and husbands and wives in the future, as well as preparing us for the great futures we can lead in other aspects of our lives. Our families have always been there for us and we are very thankful for all they have done for us. We also owe a significant amount of what we will accomplish in our lives thanks to the great teacherswe have at Waitsburg. Our teachers have been guiding our education from the first time we walked through the elementary doors up until now, just minutes before we are given our diplomas. Not one time did one of us have doubts about whether or not we could achieve an education beyond high school and achieve any job we could possibly want thanks to our encouraging and kind teachers.We as a class thank you, the teachers of Waitsburg, for all you have done for us.

"Memories are not the key to the past but the future." The memories we have from our parents and teachers should not be forgotten but instead used by us as reminders of how we can ensure our futures follow what we have planned for them. Each of us graduating today have the ability to do amazing things with our lives all we have to do is follow the examples set by our family members and teachers and use the integrity we all have to go out and make our lives what we want them to be.