Draft -- Promotion Speech

For posterity's sake, here is the last draft of the promotion speech I gave to the class of 2009 last June. I departed rather significantly from certain parts of the text, using it as a guide, but the spirit is the same.

Gracias. Buenas tardes. Quiero comenzar diciendo felicidades a todas las familias de nuestros alumnos. Estamos aquí a celebrarles en este dia muy especial, y por eso, quiero expresarme bien mis pensamientos y sentimientos. Y, por necesidad, hablaré en ingles. Espero que todos puedan entender el sentimiento de mis palabras, si no las palabras si mismos.

YES WE CAN.

I am deeply honored to represent my colleagues and to have the opportunity to speak to YOU today, Centennial’s first 8th grade class, the class of ’09!

When people find out that I’m a teacher, they always ask me where I teach. When I tell them I teach in Huntington Park, they will usually say, “Huntington Park? You teach 8th graders in Huntington Park?” And they’ll look at me like I’m a little crazy.

But then I tell them about you, the smart and beautiful students that make my day, every day.

I tell them about young people like Jenny Valle. In our writing snapshot a few weeks ago, you were asked to agree or disagree with the idea that this community is one of the worst places for teens to live. Jenny Valle wrote,

"I know that Los Angeles is not that bad because I live here."

I tell them about students like Karen Lares who wrote,

"Yes, you might say our community is ghetto, but we are strong enough that we are trying to make a difference to the area we live in."

This community is an amazing community. It’s a tough place, a tough place to grow up in, but there is a lot of good here in this community and some of the very best of it is sitting right here in front of me.

You are giving people something positive to say about Huntington Park. You are showing the state of California and the entire United States what the sons and daughters of immigrants can do.

I say YOU because YOU are the ones who have made this school by far the best in Huntington Park.

Arthur Vega wrote,

"There is one school in HP that does care. That school is called Centennial College Preparatory Academy. Every teacher in that school cares about their students. Now if every parent were to protest for more schools like this one, every student would get to actually learn something."

Arthur’s right, all of us teachers at Centennial, we do care about our students. We can’t stop talking about you. Seriously – we go to ER for dinner together and within five minutes all we’re talking about is you. Who likes who, who said what, who said something funny in class, etc.
 
But the teachers are not why this school is the best. This school is the best because of YOU.

YOU are the ones who made us improve 79 points on the CST last year, a better improvement than any of the other Aspire secondary schools.

YES WE CAN.

YOU are the ones who put our school in the top ten percent of all similar schools in the entire state of California.

YES WE CAN.

YOU are the ones who got Centennial the EPIC award that was given to only twenty-one schools in the entire country.

YES WE CAN.

The class of ’09 DOES shine.

YES WE CAN AND YES WE DID.

As Steph Palma says,

"I want people to come down here to see that we’re more than just gangs and drug dealing. Huntington Park has MORE to offer. For example, smart kids that want to go to college, teenagers that see a future for themselves. I mean, yeah, it’s real easy to judge a book by its cover, but why don’t you take some time and read it."

That’s a good point, Steph.

YES WE CAN.

E pluribus unum.

It’s Latin for “out of many, one.”

From the many elementary schools in our community, you helped create one amazing middle school.

And now, for some of us, it is time to separate again.

Whether you stay with us, go to Alliance, to Green Dot, to HP, or whatever high school you may end up at, you can know that you’ve done something great here. You’ve created not just a school, but a community. And you’re welcome back any time.

When people ask me about Huntington Park, I tell them that it is home to a bunch of young people that I love very dearly. As your teacher, I’m very proud of you. IF I WAS YOUR FATHER, I’d also be very proud of you. Being your teacher these past two years has been the great honor of my life.