Graduation Speech for Auditions Tomorrow

Millard West says that it strives to impart a "world-class education" to each of its students. Each and every vessel of knowledge that each and every day of four years passes the "Home of the Wildcats" sign- except when you have to park in "Lot E...ven-Worse-Than-The-Dirty-Lot"-, and for four years crosses the threshold, through one of the heavy metal and glass barriers between school and everything that is outside school, ought to receive a "world-class education," according to Millard West's mission statement, which is the first thing you see when you open the Internet Explorer browser on a school computer, the banner on Millard West's home page. Maybe you've never really read it consciously; so I'll recite it for you now: "Millard West High School, a professional learning community dedicated to the process of continuous improvement, will guarantee that all learners achieve a World-Class Education." That sentence says a lot about Millard West and what it is striving for, but I'm going to focus on the fact that Millard West is supposed to guarantee a "world-class education." When I think of world-class, I traditionally think of striving to be among the best in the world, but when it comes to education, and more specifically the commencement of a new path in life in lieu of secondary education, this paradigm does not quite fit.
Looking out from where I'm standing, in Omaha, Nebraska, about to receive my high school diploma, with a house I call home, and a family unafflicted with any terminal illnesses, it is hard for me to imagine calling my life anything less than "world-class" by the definition previously presented. It is easy for me, however, to see the little flaws in my life, I've caught myself complaining about my car's gas mileage, but I have a car to drive. I've caught myself complaining about having to sleep on a hide-a-bed, but I have a bed to sleep in. It's hard from where I stand to imagine a life less than "world-class" by the previous definition, and similarly, it is difficult to imagine an education less than "world-class," with well-qualified staff and administrators (a 16:1 student-teacher ratio), high-quality technology, and a clean and new facility. Millard West visibly attains a "world-class education" in this regard, graduating over 95(?)% of our senior class.
What I purport is to view a "world-class education" in a different way, to see Millard West a starting point for the good we can do in the world. I challenge you as soon-to-be-graduates of this educational establishment put your "world-class education" to use in a very important way: to make the world a better place. We have already begun to do this, starting the Justice League this year to raise awareness for the genocide in Darfur, promoting Amnesty International to shed light on the human rights abuses around the globe, I - personally - have worked together with National Honors Society to raise awareness for the 22-year Ugandan Civil War in efforts to see its end. We - The Millard West Class of 2008 - even prompted our administration to form a committee dedicated to these types of global issues. We have already begun to change the world for the better, and it has only been through the help of Millard West's supportive faculty that we have had these opportunities. I challenge you to fulfill the rule that we learned as youngsters - Leave the world better than you found it. We are well on our way, but we can't stop now - we can't become self-interested as we go on to higher education or careers - instead we must press on, utilizing our "world-class education" to better the world instead of perpetually seeking only to better ourselves, for the only way to truly better ourselves, and to truly understand the world, is to start by trying to better the lives of those who can't do it on their own. As a blessed student body with "world-class" lives, there is no doubt that it is easy to think first about ourselves and spend any left-over time on "good deeds." But to truly meet the obligations of world-class learners, we must make the betterment of our planet, our world a priority.

COMMENTS? I'm auditioning after school, so let me know if something does not zen (is that a verb?) with you. The people that decide if I get to speak at commencement are a panel of teachers and administrators, FYI.