Senior Moments: Saying hello and goodbye

Class of 2010, we did it. We are now alumni of our schools! On May 21, I graduated as salutatorian of my class at Perryville High School, and I want to share with you some of the words from my speech. Know that the same things I hope for the people I have grown up with, I hope for you, too.

Class of 2010, think back to when we were saying hello for the first time. That first hello resembles graduation in so many ways. It, too, was an end -- a goodbye -- to some part of our lives, even if it was just an end to life without knowing each other. Even though graduation may seem like goodbye to so many familiar things and great memories, it is also a hello to the brilliant future ahead of us.

God, the creator of the universe, once said, "I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for." This is so comforting to me. Despite all of the fear and uncertainty life after high school brings, we can say hello to hope and security because God doesn't break promises.

Each of us has been placed in this exact moment in history for a reason, and I hope each of us has the courage to say hello to dreaming big dreams, even if that means working harder than most, waiting longer than others and believing in those dreams when no one else does. I hope each of us has the courage to say goodbye to mediocrity, and instead set our eyes on abundant life. I hope each of us says hello to the future we hope for.

Throughout the past 18 years of our lives, we have learned how to say hello and how to say goodbye. Saying hello can be scary -- it requires making yourself vulnerable to rejection and failure. Despite this, we have said hello to life through so many firsts -- formal dances, loves, new friends. We have also learned how to say goodbye. Goodbye to someone we love through the loss of a classmate. Goodbye to resentment through forgiving friends who hurt us, and to insecurities by becoming ourselves. Each time we have said goodbye, we have found the courage to say hello to a new beginning.

My biggest hope for us is that each day we wake up and choose to say hello to the new day. I hope we choose to say hello to each opportunity the day presents and each person it brings into our lives. When we make mistakes or are faced with another goodbye, I hope each of us has the courage to say hello to forgiveness, hello to making ourselves a better person, hello to a new beginning.

Class of 2010, congratulations not only on graduation, but also every day that you live life abundantly. Although graduation marks the end of our high school days, this isn't goodbye, but, rather, hello.

Senior Mia Pohlman has been writing a monthly column chronicling her final year at Perryville High School and will continue her column through the summer and into her first year at Truman State University.