guys doing today good all right so I
want you guys to be comfortable as you
can see I’m comfortable too going
barefoot atlas I was wearing heels so
now I’m more comfortable in seventh
grade I didn’t want to go to college at
all when I came to high school I was
surrounded by people striving to go to
Ivy League schools and I immediately
felt intimidated I started to believe
that I had to live up to a standard I
began to grow dark circles around my
eyes and they let the need to eat I I
believe school is the one and only thing
I need to focus on i prioritized it over
my health my friends and my family when
I didn’t see perfect grades i would feel
completely insignificant compared to
others whom strived who easily achieved
what I worked us really for but as I
further thought about my personal motive
for success I asked myself is this
really what I want to do I saw people
around me sacrificing their sleep and
overall health to obtain a four-point-oh
friends of mine are dealing with anxiety
and depression caused by stress and
insecurity and when I asked them why
they make these sacrifices they aren’t
quite sure why or they respond with an
answer that doesn’t involve their
personal motive for working hard up to
the point where they don’t know what
sleep is anymore it seems as if many
people are blindly climbing the ladder
of supposed success without any real
vision for themselves without vision
there’s a lack of passion it really
works to spend time cultivating your
interests around your work even if your
passion is abstract from your daily task
incorporate it in a way that can fulfill
you my friend Darcy wants to become a
fashion designer and he hadn’t drawn any
sketches in months he felt as if the day
by day grind in school wasn’t leading
him to his personal success I told him
that we cannot avoid the schoolwork but
we can make sure we pursue our passion
alongside our education by making a
priority now when he gets home he spends
30 minutes sketching before doing any
homework this is his time to unwind and
remember why he’s working hard after
just 30 minutes of doing what he loves
he gets through his homework encouraged
to finish and start a new sketch
focusing on growing as an individual
candy struck competition lowering our
obsessive need to climb the ladder of
supposed success we have the power to
modify what we’re working towards in our
motive for reaching hard in high school
getting into college has many obstacles
that are impulse and that are impossible
but it isn’t a short checklist when you
have your list and submit it acceptance
can feel like a lottery facing rejection
and any circumstance rather be a job or
specific social circle can affect your
tenacity to try again at this point in
our lives we will face many mountains
finding and pursuing your passion
alongside will make competition with
other things significant staying true to
yourself with will remove you from the
ladder of supposed success and start a
new one that contains purpose that only
includes you as a kid my parents let me
pursue new hobbies and interest often I
explored soccer modeling guitar and many
more I would constantly keep trying new
things and I never conformed to one
hobby so when I was trying to fill out a
resume I didn’t know what to put other
kids were forced to keep their hobbies
and now they were highly skilled in
anger I asked my mom why didn’t you
force me to stick with a hobby but I
realized that was beside the point I
wanted to live for myself not for the
resume when I asked a friend who are you
they replied by stating their occupation
and their accomplishments I asked again
no but who are you really despite the
fact I didn’t have a defined hobby or a
specific College of mine I knew who I
was I knew through my eagerness to try
new things that I was curious sometimes
it feels as if people value what you do
rather than who you are as high
schoolers we are at a time in our lives
when we have to define ourselves which
what type of people are we how have we
give them back to our community and what
matters to us frankly these are the
things they’re going to ask you on
college applications your transcript is
one thing but the personal essay section
is all you I’ve come to believe that we
cannot let our achievements be what
defines us when somebody meets you for
this first time that’s more likely to
remember how you may
Phil rather than what you said they’re
going to remember the first impression
you’ve made I got hired in a workplace
commonly offered to college students but
at the age of 15 I was allowed this
opportunity because of experience hard
work and dedication and that’s not
something I learned from a textbook or
from years of practice it’s been from
trial and error and putting myself out
of my comfort zone from being willing to
try a bunch of new sports from
reflecting after each hobby I tried and
seeing the opportunity to grow of course
i didn’t get everything right the first
time but i walked away with optimism and
confidence to keep exploring new things
for fun not for the resume when you fall
into the trap of defining yourself but
what you do instead of who you are the
experience failure in a more painful way
you are not a failure because you have
failed in life you’re a failure because
of choosing to keep going who you are is
one of the most important things to seek
it will determine what you choose to
pursue and how you handle the feet if
you have failed in life and have seen
the ways to grow from defeat you will
realize failing is a part of finding
what you’re made of I learned this
lesson quite young as I pursued my dream
of becoming a supermodel I remember
countless auditions practicing my
catwalk in my living room and waiting
hear back from agencies when I was 12 I
entered a pageant adds several rounds of
competition starting with regionals to
statewide in the nationwide when the
state pageant came I had given it my all
my whole family was there to support me
and unfortunately I didn’t make it to
the national pageant from this moment in
time I learned that when facing failure
it’s not the end I could have become
insecure and doubting myself instead I
thought what’s next this is not failure
this is a growing moment so when you
feel discouraged by a step back and
begin to doubt your own capabilities you
get up and say what’s next then you take
time to reflect and set a game plan for
what you can do to excel a majority of
it was hard work repetition and balance
everything was was everything else was
believing and knowing that it was at the
end that there are always more and more
ways to grow as long as I was willing to
instead of being so hard on myself I
step back to get a better perspective
if I could have gone in so many
different directions and reacted
negatively but I choose to be positive I
often remind myself and others around me
that we have the ability to choose how
we react attitude and failure makes a
huge difference you could let the
pressure get to you and become easily
overwhelmed by mistake but life’s full
of mistakes is important now to realize
our wrongs and nobody could always come
back from them we could always grow from
that standpoint from that standpoint
Oprah Winfrey survived through a
childhood of severe abuse and poverty
and was also fired from her position as
co-anchor from CBS Nashville but
eventually she created her own network
channel talk show and magazine in high
school Michael Jordan was cut from the
varsity basketball team from that point
forward he imagined the list without his
name on it and it motivated him to train
harder on the top of the basketball I
want to define a vocabulary word in
basketball and assist is attributed to a
player who passes the ball to teammate
in a way that leads to a shot mean I he
or she was assisting in the basket let
us assist each other towards our common
goals these goals can be passing high
school pursuing your dreams or leaving
your mark by working on ways we can grow
together we can achieve these goals and
strengthen our communication skills in
the future you will be able to look back
on all the people who support you and
open your perspective one of my favorite
quotes by author Paulo Coelho says when
we strive to be better than we are
everything around us becomes better too
this brings me to my conclusion and this
is what I want you to take home the
importance of nourishing your personal
motive despite the status quo this
starts with staying true to yourself I
challenge you to reflect on who you are
what you love and think about what it
might look like to use your character
and your gifts to help other people
thank you [Applause]