About a month ago, we had senior activities day. Once it was over, I saw some people crying, and I laughed. Live in the present, I thought. There’s still a month left of school. Forget that emotional reflective stuff. But sure enough, as graduation neared, I had become the type of person that I was laughing at. I was the one going around and embracing, kind of sadly, my friends—at the start of our last Monday snack, and at the end of it; at the start of our last lunch, and at the end of it. I was the one toasting to my last spicy chicken sandwich at Glendale High. And so on.

And now that it is our last day at GHS, it is, if you haven’t done so already, time to reflect. Many years from now, memories might be all that’s left from your time as a nitro. Now, while I wasn’t apart of everything that happened here --I wasn’t at every event, I didn’t get to all the games -- I do remember some pretty fond, and sometimes pretty funny moments that I think we all, for the most part, shared in, and so I’m going to retell a couple of them.

I’ll keep it to senior year, because that’s freshest in our memories. And then…I guess I’ll begin with my good buddy Suren Aydinian. He really gave it his all for the senior class at the last rally. That’s gotta be the first time I remember the seniors ever having gotten fourth place in a rally game. Before that, the worst they ever got was like second place. Way to go, pal. But we turned it around after snack; seniors got first place. That’s more like it.

Just a couple of weeks ago, we had the senior luau. I remember Edwin Telemi getting a clothing delivery…over the megaphone. And that was after he almost pulled the water polo goal into the pool as he tried to grab something to keep from being pulled in himself. Wow.

At that same luau, I was thrown into the pool. I got out, and was thrown back in again. It’s alright. I’m not so anti-water as Edwin; actually, I thought it might make for a good Facebook profile picture or something, but too bad, nobody got a shot of it. But thanks, not just to those who through me in, but to those who threw everybody in. We needed to get wet.

What next? Again, we just had that senior activities day. That’s where I first found out that some spiderman gymnast went to our school. Pretty insane stuff. But still, I rooted for Ramon to win the talent contest. Kicking yourself in the head wins first place in my book, every time. … Maybe not now, but once this is over, can we have an encore?

Now, I can’t get into all the sports, because people would be left out, and because this speech would then be too long, but I think we should give it up for football. They started off 10 and 0 their freshman year, they had two solid years after that, and then they capped it off with the first winning varsity season in some fifteen years. Makes me proud to be a Glendaleian.

I’ll finish by remembering the best senior prank I’ve seen in my four years here. GHS administration, consider it our class gift.

This is just a small part of what Glendale High was for me. But this isn’t just my story; everybody whose name I mentioned—it’s their story. All those who were involved in these activities, or who saw them, or who had similar experiences—it’s their story too. This is your story, Glendale High. This is our story. Remember it, class of ’09. Thank you.