10 • GRADUATION 2020 • CLARKDALE HIGH SCHOOL • THE MERIDIAN STAR
JODEE CRANE
Valedictorian
Since the 5th grade, it has been my goal to be able to
stand before you today and give this speech, and over
the past seven years there have been many different
variations of it in my head. But as I sat down to write, I was
at a loss for words (and you know that does not happen
often). What do you say to the people you have gone to
school with since kindergarten, the teachers who helped
raise you, or the lunch ladies who only ever saw you on
chicken nugget day? What do you say to your mentor kids,
your FCA family, or your locker buddies? What do you say
to your classmates that you never got close to or the ones
that you got the closest to? Your seventh grade boyfriend
or your biology partner? What do you say to your family or
your best friend? What do you say to yourself? How do we
adequately sum up this chapter of our lives before turning
the page?
We say thank you. Thank you to mom and dad for setting
the best example for me. I carried you both with me
everyday down the hallways of Clarkdale just as I will
into life. Thank you to Troy Dukes for always entertaining
us with lunch time polls and dr pepper trails. Thank you
to the sidewalk paw prints for harbouring our path from
elementary to middle to high. Thank you to Garrett Evans
for always holding the door for everyone after lunch. Thank
you to our teachers for stopping to give life lessons,
listening to our problems, and even pranking us.
Thank you to middle school drama for bringing me my
lifelong best friend. Thank you to everyone here who
has poured your love and support into me and my fellow
classmates for the last thirteen years of our lives. We
take that encouragement into a world filled with endless
possibilities. None of us have reached our full potential,
but all of us can use the tools we got from this school to
get there. Many of us will walk out of here today and never
use the pythagorean theorem again. Some of us never
used it in the first place. But we will take with us English
Smith’s sarcasm and Math Smith’s patience. We will
remember the lessons learned from our fondest teachers
and friends and impart their wisdom upon new people.
Our classmates names and faces may fade, but pictures of friday night sunsets over Chris Mabry Field and the artwork
displayed in Miss Rawsons room will never leave our memory.
Underclassmen, my advice to you is simple. Take a breath, get involved, and write down your favorite memory everyday. High
School is filled with so many fleeting moments that you will forget if you do not take the time to appreciate them. So when you
break your thumb on homecoming day, switch places with someone in class, get married in the hallway, or even hear a good
joke, take the time to savor it.
Clarkdale community, you are the best. Our time at Clarkdale was very obviously cut short, but you all banded together in so
many ways to recognize us and make us feel special and we are all so thankful for it.
Class of 2020, our future is bright, but if there is one thing that we learned over the past few months, it is that our expectation
of the future is not guaranteed. So from here on out, we will live each day as if tomorrow is not promised. We will count our
blessings. We will pour love into others as love has been poured into us. We will see with clear vision how beautiful life can
be as long as we have the right perspective. And when people ask about our highschool experience, we will look back fondly
because although we all went through hardships, everyone knows that Clarkdale is a special place.
Clarkdale has watched us grow up. We learned how to tie our shoes and play our favorite sports. We planned our weddings and
met some of our bridesmaids and groomsmen. We laughed and cried. And now we say goodbye.
Thank you for an awesome twelve and three quarters of a year.
Now in the words of the great Elle Woods, “we did it!”
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