The Class of 2020 is grappling with the loss of their final moments with classmates and teachers. But Yeongseo Son — who also goes by Julia — is taking the opportunity to reflect on the people who made her time worthwhile at Murfreesboro’s Central Magnet School.
She moved from South Korea in grade school. As part of the WPLN News series of 2020 valedictorian speeches, she shares how friends, teachers and faculty made her feel “absolutely at home.”
Listen to her speech above or read the transcript below:
When I first moved to America, I used to stand outside my apartment most nights just to stare at that Tennessee night sky above me. To marvel at the painting of little specks of light sparkling from far away. I was familiar with the city smog and dust back then, and couldn’t believe that stars were something I could so easily, so vividly see from down here without any special equipment.
About eight years have passed and I’m no longer the girl that can’t speak English, or the girl that can’t spell her name on an assignment. I’ve been to Donut Country and Chipotle. I’ve grown up listening to Taylor Swift and One Direction. And I’ve also had the privilege of attending Central Magnet School.
It was a place that made someone like me feel absolutely at home. So when Virginia Woolf said, “When you consider things like the stars, our affairs don’t seem to matter very much,” I couldn’t agree. I had considered the stars, and yet nothing feels more important or sublime or infinitely beautiful than the years I’ve spent at Central Magnet.
As we scatter across the nation like stardust, I will never forget Central, especially the people that made this day worthwhile. As rigorous as it was, as stressed as we all felt at some point, we were never truly alone. Because there were teachers like Ms. Royal who made pancakes for her students and Mr. Nichols who grilled patties under the sweltering heat. There were writing lab tutors outside of Ms. Esberger’s room and friends who cried with you through midterms. Support and laughter and cheer were not light years away: they were a door over. They were hidden in a smile shared in the hallways. They were in endless lunch debates and after school meetings.
Now what lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Being at Central surrounded by such brilliant peers and supportive faculty have taught me that the stars I see at night are in fact reachable. That every one of us is capable of that and so much more with grit and passion.
There is no hurry for the finish line. There is no race to the end in life, but there’s also no denying the bright flame burning in all of us. I cannot believe that I had the privilege to be a part of this class of 2020. I would have never imagined that I could call these awe-inspiring people my classmates, my friends, my family. We’ve got so many more places left to explore, dreams to translate into reality, people to meet. But we will also always have each other. Congratulations, Central’s Class of 2020.
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