2008+Valedictory+Address

given by Kirstin Early ** Imagine the ideal girl. She is engaging, bold, reliable, compassionate, and resourceful. She has a commanding presence, a sharp wit, a friendly smile, and an open mind. She competes in all kinds of athletic contests with strength and agility, she dances with grace and flexibility, she pays attention to the details overlooked by others, and she speaks her mind without self-consciousness or worry. She makes mistakes, but she learns from them. She defies stereotypes and the commonplace. She thoroughly enjoys herself and her life. Everyone respects her, looks up to her, and feels good around her.  It is not difficult to imagine such a girl when she’s sitting right beside you or in front of you. This ideal girl is the girl whom GPS strives to develop and has succeeded. We, the class of 2008, are this girl, a conglomeration of our best attributes. Throughout the past seven years, we’ve grown not only in height and shoe size but also in abstract qualities such as honor, character, responsibility, and integrity. We are dancers, artists, athletes, math whizzes, musicians, writers, friends, role models, and people who like to list things. In the future we will be… who knows what?  We are better, closer to this ideal, because of GPS, and GPS is better because of us. GPS has made a lasting impression on us, and we have left our mark on the school’s future as well, most notably through our demonstrating to younger students the characteristics of the ideal GPS girl into whom they also will mature during their remaining years here.  The traditions of GPS embody the school’s commitment to cultivating and bringing forth the ideal in every student, and I think that the most tangible of these traditions is the unique, comfortable, and well-known GPS uniform, with its bow, belt, buttons, pockets, and pleats. Thousands of girls before us have worn this dress as they grew in intellect, character, and relationships at GPS. Reflecting on past and future generations of students who have worn or who will wear this uniform, I chose to wear my white traditional uniform today, even though Mrs. Pierce instructed us only not to wear red polka dots. My classmates and I have worn this dress on so many significant occasions marking the milestones of our journey to becoming the ideal GPS girl: the sixth grade mother-daughter tea, eighth grade commencement, the maypole dance, various inductions, chapel talks, and class day. Each member of the class of 2008 exemplifies multiple traits of the ideal girl and inspires me to strengthen my own character and personality in those areas.  Even though some of us may not want to leave the concentrated wonderfulness of GPS, I suppose it is time for the ninety-nine versions of the ideal to disperse in order to spread our talents across the country. Although we will no longer wear a GPS uniform, we will maintain our devotion to the GPS ideal and through this vision improve ourselves, our communities, and our world.
 * 2008 Valedictory Address