Saugus High School graduation 2025 – The Valedictorian Address

By Victor Phan

Hello everyone. My name is Victor Phan, and I’m honored to stand here as valedictorian of Saugus’s 2025 graduating class. Family, friends, and administrators, thank you all for coming out on this wonderful evening to celebrate our class’s first steps into adulthood.

First, I want to give a huge thank you to all the teachers, administration, and faculty members who keep this school orderly and afloat. They have to deal with crazy stuff every day here, and I can’t thank them enough for all the patience, care, and compassion they give to students at this school. I also want to thank all the custodians who clean up after us every day and keep the school building nice and tidy. You guys are awesome, and the Class of 2025 thanks you for all the hard work you do. Please, give them all a round of applause, because without them, our school would look like an absolute dumpster fire.

Class of 2025, we did it. We’ve finally made it to the finish line. Congratulations! We went through lots of ups and downs during these four years, but what matters is that we got here together, as a unified class. And throughout our four years here, we’ve made countless memories together. Some were good, like our efforts to win Color Day every year or our recent trip to Nahant Beach. Others were not so good, like spending 12 hours on Font’s essay sets every weekend, or seeing that Dr. Clifford posted a new Spanish assignment even though there’s a sub in her class.

Now, I could go on about our memories here at SMHS, but I bring them to light today because I want to talk a little bit about perspective. More specifically, our unique perspectives on life and what we bring to the table. We’ve all experienced our fair share, both good and bad, and most of us may want to suppress those bad moments of our lives and focus only on the good. I mean, it feels much better to win than it does to lose, right? But every memory is an integral part of your perspective, an important part of your identity as a growing individual. Each moment you’ve lived through, every tear, every laugh, every bit of emotion, plays a role in how you treat others, approach life, and ultimately carry yourself as a person. I’m Buddhist, and in Buddhism, we focus a lot on karma and balance. The good must always balance out the bad and vice versa, as that is simply the nature of the universe. You cannot have only one or the other. I believe this also applies to our identities as individuals. Your soul cannot be in balance without accepting both your good and bad memories. If you don’t accept both, your soul is imbalanced, fragmented by missing a piece of yourself. And if your soul isn’t whole, are you really being your true self? No. In my eyes, you aren’t living until you start embracing all parts of yourself. Only then will you have found your true self.

So, as we enter this next chapter of our lives, I want to give you one piece of advice, Class of 25. Not from valedictorian to classmate, but from one human to another. Take pride in your unique perspective, as that is what makes up your identity. After this, many of us will be taking our own path to success. Some will be entering the workforce. Others will be continuing their education. Some will take a gap year for themselves. And some of us will even enter the military. But regardless of the path we take, one thing is for certain: Nobody will be there to guide us through our future. Sure, you may have your friends, family, and ChatGPT, but you are the only one who can steer your own ship. Nobody can live your life for you because nobody’s experienced life the way you have. Nobody can be you except for you. So be proud of that. Be proud of your accomplishments and failures. Be proud of your past, whether it was smooth or tumultuous. Be proud of your ups, downs, lefts, rights, whatever. Be proud of your identity and perspective. Because as soon as you accept your identity to the fullest, I promise you that, no matter what life throws at you, you’ll conquer it with strength, confidence, and determination, all while knowing that you haven’t lost yourself along the way. I believe in all of you, Class of 2025. Now go out there and change the world!