Honourable chief guest, distinguished parents, teachers, and most importantly the monsters of the class of 2017. I’m Chimmi Lhamo (one of the monsters) and I am honoured to speak as a Valedictorian today.
First of all, I think I speak on behalf of all of us when I say I am still shocked as to how we managed to take third positon within the whole country! I’m sure it wasn’t only me who couldn’t believe it when I saw the news. Nevertheless, congratulations! To both the students and the teachers. We got through the hell of class ten.
I would firstly like to thank the teachers for all their hard work and for believing in us. Now if I start to list everything you did for us, the list would go on and on for who-knows-long.
So thank you teachers, especially Madam Sonika who is actually one of a kind. I mean, you don’t always see a teacher give her students a mini tea party because they’re tired from working. You don’t always see a teacher give her students a chocolate each with a supportive message. You don’t always see a teacher giving her twenty six students a pen refill and a pencil each with their name on it. Thank you mam, for being not only a biology teacher, but a parent, a sister, a friend… To us, you are the world’s best class teacher and will always be. I don’t think I can imagine life at school without you to support us all the way.
Even if we were so demotivated and difficult to deal with, you never gave up on us and it is thanks to you that we are here today as proud graduates.
Okay, I’ve thanked the teachers. But honestly? The most important people we have to thank are each other. From all the times we got into trouble to all the crazily funny moments, all the tests we forgot to study for and all the homework we didn’t do. All the rules we’d “bend”. We went through everything together. We didn’t exactly have that sense of unity back then, but when you look back on the memories, you’ll realize that stuff is more important in life than all we’ve learnt from books and tests. After all, it is the lessons we learn through memories that actually shapes our lives in the future.
On that note, remember when the entire class got a punishment just because Tenpa played with a snowball? We were deprived of our HPE class and everyone was so mad, but then later mam Sonika felt sorry and forgave us.
Remember all the nicknames we had for each other? No one in the class was left behind. We got used to some of our nicknames so much that the person’s real name started to sound weird after a while.
Remember the farewell thrown by the same people who threw our graduation ceremony today? When the chicken song suddeny started playing and all of us laughed because we got the joke, but then some teachers didn’t and they looked so blank it was even funnier.
Thank you for all the memories. Even if we didn’t go for the trip to Laya or the annual class tens’ camping trip, we still managed to make the year pretty meaningful. No, scratch that. It was really meaningful.
Nine years ago I was excited for my first day here at Druk School but I had no idea about the implications of the journey I was about to begin. I had no idea that after first grade there would be a second grade and third grade and so on. I was just excited to be in first grade.
Today, I know that I am standing on the brink of my future- the first day of the rest of my life.
Some of us here today, including our parents, are wondering how our lives are going to turn out. It is okay to wonder but, I also think it is important to realize that our future is not just something that happens to us, It is up to us to create.
So, fellow graduates, I urge you today to embrace the opportunity before you. Take what you have learned, not only through books, throughout the last eleven years and put it to good use.
Bring forward with you the lessons that will be the working parts of your greatest invention ever- your life! Congratulations!
