Senior Speech
The senior speech is a speech all seniors make at my school. It can really about anything but the prompt is "I believe..." This was mine. ^^
Hello. My name is Emma and I like Star Wars. This is how I have often introduced myself over the past several years. I have never been ashamed of my strange love for these films even if I might embarrass those who make the bad decision to associate themselves with me. Despite this, there were times when I felt like I got the short end of the stick. You see, I first saw these wonderful films at the end of 5th grade, also known as the year before the summer where those of us who are lucky receive their Hogwarts acceptance letters.
I owe it to the admissions committee at Hogwarts and other magical schools that I fully embraced my Jedi self. That summer I did not receive my Hogwarts acceptance letter and instead, enrolled in the Jedi Academy after they discovered my high midi-chlorian count. Midi-chlorians are defined as “intelligent microscopic life forms that live symbiotically inside the cells of all living things. When present in sufficient numbers, they allow their symbiont to detect the pervasive energy field known as the Force.” In other words, if you have a high midi-chlorian count, you are qualified to begin Jedi training.
Seeing as Force-sensitive tweens weren’t classified by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures as wizards, goblins, vampires, hags, giants, house-elves, veela, or werewolves in human form, I was left to just assume that according to the magical community, us Force-sensitive folk fell under the category of “muggle.”
A muggle? Is that really all I amounted up to? I was infuriated, confused, and disillusioned. I blamed it all on Albus Dumbledore without knowing that the man had actually died quite some time ago but no one actually knew that at the time. I assumed he was obviously angered by my new obsession with Star Wars seeing as I had gone the entire summer without watching any of the Harry Potter movies or reading the books. Still I thought it was unfair that someone as amazing as a future Jedi Knight could not be considered some type of magical being. I had the ability to move things and choke people with my mind, cling onto surfaces like Spiderman, and sometimes even see into the future. Does this not seem magical to you? Just because I can’t just wave a stick and have it do stuff for me doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be considered at least some form of a magical being.
After going through this minor identity crisis, I soon began dressing in all black, looking up “emo” bands, and glaring at anyone that came within two feet of me. Oh middle school. Although I still dress in black a lot of the time, I soon began realizing the perks of being a Jedi-in-training (more commonly referred to as a Padawan learner). Take for example: I’m standing in the hallway and sense a disturbance in the Force that tells me to hide. Not two seconds later Mr. Stein comes walking down the hallway but I am already gone so he can’t ask me about that lab report that was due three weeks ago that I still hadn’t handed in. Safe. I do, however, struggle with drawing free-body diagrams in physics. On the other hand, I often struggle with free-body diagrams in physics. I’m sorry Mr. Baumberger, I don’t understand when you say to draw vectors for all the forces acting on a 4.5kg ball. There is only one force and it is THE Force. (That’s how I answered my webassign last night). Of course I do feel like I’m discriminating against those who are not strong with the Force. Many of my witch, vampire, and non-Jedi muggle classmates often look for temporary romantic connections up at the “Willow Grove Campus” but I just wrinkle my nose at the lot of them because unbeknownst to my peers, I only seek out Force-sensitive partners, 90% of whom live in Japan or South Korea and may or may not be in an Asian pop boy band. Yummy.
In fact, now that I look back on it, I don’t think I would’ve excelled as well at Hogwarts as I have at the Jedi Academy. Compared to most institutions, Hogwarts has a rather high mortality rate, so high that I don’t think I could’ve survived all seven years because there are simply too many ways to die like finding yourself on that awkward moving staircase that just happens to stop at the third floor corridor on the right hand side, ending up at the base of the wrong tree multiple times despite its seemingly out-of-the-way location, picking up various cursed possessions of dark wizards, going to the bathroom when the plumbing hasn’t been checked, or simply befriending the chosen one. Yes, it is far easier to survive at the Jedi Temple. The only time you have to worry about being killed there is when a random a Sith Lord backed up by a legion of Clone troopers march through the front door and even then it’s everyone that dies so it’s not as awkward.
I believe that it’s ok to be a muggle, but in a broader sense I guess I should say: Don’t deny who you are because it will most likely come back to haunt you. For example: a young wizard named Cedric Diggory wanted to be a vampire and… well… Of course if you’re working as a spy you probably shouldn’t reveal that to the world, but there will be moments in all of our lives when we have to make tough decisions or drag our way through a series of unfortunate events (no pun intended) and knowing and accepting who you are will, in my opinion, make these rocky moments in life at least a little less overwhelming.
Hello. My name is Emma and I like Star Wars. This is how I have often introduced myself over the past several years. I have never been ashamed of my strange love for these films even if I might embarrass those who make the bad decision to associate themselves with me. Despite this, there were times when I felt like I got the short end of the stick. You see, I first saw these wonderful films at the end of 5th grade, also known as the year before the summer where those of us who are lucky receive their Hogwarts acceptance letters.
I owe it to the admissions committee at Hogwarts and other magical schools that I fully embraced my Jedi self. That summer I did not receive my Hogwarts acceptance letter and instead, enrolled in the Jedi Academy after they discovered my high midi-chlorian count. Midi-chlorians are defined as “intelligent microscopic life forms that live symbiotically inside the cells of all living things. When present in sufficient numbers, they allow their symbiont to detect the pervasive energy field known as the Force.” In other words, if you have a high midi-chlorian count, you are qualified to begin Jedi training.
Seeing as Force-sensitive tweens weren’t classified by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures as wizards, goblins, vampires, hags, giants, house-elves, veela, or werewolves in human form, I was left to just assume that according to the magical community, us Force-sensitive folk fell under the category of “muggle.”
A muggle? Is that really all I amounted up to? I was infuriated, confused, and disillusioned. I blamed it all on Albus Dumbledore without knowing that the man had actually died quite some time ago but no one actually knew that at the time. I assumed he was obviously angered by my new obsession with Star Wars seeing as I had gone the entire summer without watching any of the Harry Potter movies or reading the books. Still I thought it was unfair that someone as amazing as a future Jedi Knight could not be considered some type of magical being. I had the ability to move things and choke people with my mind, cling onto surfaces like Spiderman, and sometimes even see into the future. Does this not seem magical to you? Just because I can’t just wave a stick and have it do stuff for me doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be considered at least some form of a magical being.
After going through this minor identity crisis, I soon began dressing in all black, looking up “emo” bands, and glaring at anyone that came within two feet of me. Oh middle school. Although I still dress in black a lot of the time, I soon began realizing the perks of being a Jedi-in-training (more commonly referred to as a Padawan learner). Take for example: I’m standing in the hallway and sense a disturbance in the Force that tells me to hide. Not two seconds later Mr. Stein comes walking down the hallway but I am already gone so he can’t ask me about that lab report that was due three weeks ago that I still hadn’t handed in. Safe. I do, however, struggle with drawing free-body diagrams in physics. On the other hand, I often struggle with free-body diagrams in physics. I’m sorry Mr. Baumberger, I don’t understand when you say to draw vectors for all the forces acting on a 4.5kg ball. There is only one force and it is THE Force. (That’s how I answered my webassign last night). Of course I do feel like I’m discriminating against those who are not strong with the Force. Many of my witch, vampire, and non-Jedi muggle classmates often look for temporary romantic connections up at the “Willow Grove Campus” but I just wrinkle my nose at the lot of them because unbeknownst to my peers, I only seek out Force-sensitive partners, 90% of whom live in Japan or South Korea and may or may not be in an Asian pop boy band. Yummy.
In fact, now that I look back on it, I don’t think I would’ve excelled as well at Hogwarts as I have at the Jedi Academy. Compared to most institutions, Hogwarts has a rather high mortality rate, so high that I don’t think I could’ve survived all seven years because there are simply too many ways to die like finding yourself on that awkward moving staircase that just happens to stop at the third floor corridor on the right hand side, ending up at the base of the wrong tree multiple times despite its seemingly out-of-the-way location, picking up various cursed possessions of dark wizards, going to the bathroom when the plumbing hasn’t been checked, or simply befriending the chosen one. Yes, it is far easier to survive at the Jedi Temple. The only time you have to worry about being killed there is when a random a Sith Lord backed up by a legion of Clone troopers march through the front door and even then it’s everyone that dies so it’s not as awkward.
I believe that it’s ok to be a muggle, but in a broader sense I guess I should say: Don’t deny who you are because it will most likely come back to haunt you. For example: a young wizard named Cedric Diggory wanted to be a vampire and… well… Of course if you’re working as a spy you probably shouldn’t reveal that to the world, but there will be moments in all of our lives when we have to make tough decisions or drag our way through a series of unfortunate events (no pun intended) and knowing and accepting who you are will, in my opinion, make these rocky moments in life at least a little less overwhelming.