IG SPRING CHARTER SCHOOL

Good evening family, friends, and faculty. While tonight has been arranged to celebrate the graduating class of 2022, I would like to extend a special “thank you” to the folks who have gotten us here, because without y’all we wouldn’t be here in the first place.

First and foremost, I thank God for the opportunity to be here today, and for allowing me to be a part of this amazing school.

Thank you to our families who have always been so supportive in our many endeavors, be it school, work, athletics, or any of the other hobbies and activities we become involved in. Without your love and support, we would be lost!

It seems like only yesterday was the first day of my 7th grade year here, and now they’re already giving me the boot. However, I think it’s safe to say, that both myself and my fellow classmates have been well prepared for this day. Speaking of my classmates, I don’t know where any of us would be without each other. With each of us always ready to lend a helping hand to the other in any way possible, be it assignments, relationships, or life’s general troubles.

It’s true what they say about our school, we are a family. I have never been closer to another group of people in my life. Family is not strictly defined by blood, but by the love of those who are there for you in every situation and walk of life. Friends can make some of the most mundane situations into memorable experiences.

For example, on my very first driving trip to San Antonio without my dad as an onboard GPS, two of my best friends Nick, and Bryton were with me, waiting on a red light off an exit in the pouring rain in my 1991 Camo Suburban. We were listening to KKYX, an AM radio station that plays classic country, when the song “A Better Man” by Clint Black came on, a song that all three of us knew by heart. All three of us began belting out the lyrics, simultaneously. Memories like these are the ones that stay with you forever.

I would also like to extend my warmest gratitude to Google, Wikipedia, and Larry Tesler, the absolute genius who invented copy and paste.

In all seriousness, I am forever grateful to the wonderful faculty and staff, who have worked tirelessly throughout the years to ensure our successes.

David Boatright

Without your guidance, patience and perseverance, we would not be who we are today. I’ve read that it takes a big heart to teach little minds, so it must have taken an even larger one to put up with us!

And for the classes following behind us, do not be discouraged by obstacles in your path. As Lily Tomlin once said, “The road to success is always under construction.”.

Good afternoon Keystone faculty, staff, families, friends and fellow graduates. I am honored to be speaking today on behalf of the Class of 2022. The last four years weren’t what any of us imagined our high school experience would be like. We missed out on proms, sports and other coveted keystone traditions such as Valentine’s Day and the junior class trip.

It felt like one day we were sophomores, finally starting to get the hang of Mrs. Elizondo’s ruthless reading quizzes and then suddenly we were applying to college and expected to be high school leaders. There was no road map for us, we had to forge our own path.

For example, when COVID forced us to plan a completely virtual Valentine’s Day, we were able to turn it into an opportunity to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, starting a new tradition for Keystone juniors. Despite the lost time and unusual high school experience, we are standing here today as graduates bonded by a sacred quality of perseverance and bound for bright futures.

I entered Keystone in seventh grade as a small, bow-wearing girl who was afraid to talk above a whisper. It is quite ironic that I stand up here giving a speech when I still remember the terror I felt on my first day as I looked at my schedule and realized my first-period class was public speaking, my worst fear. But my worries soon dissipated when I realized that the Keystone community was like a second home. Six years ago, when I stood at the theatre stage for the first time, this day seemed far off in the future. But now that it’s here all the memories in between seem like a blur. There was the 8th grade trip to Yellowstone where I will never forget standing on the outlook of Mount Washburn feeling like we were on top of the world, and then flying back into reality through Hurricane Harvey. Then came freshman year, when many of our classmates joined us to create new memories, from the Spanish II performance at language day, to delivering food to Dr. Armentrout’s world history class, to putting on the most chaotic Halloween skit in existence.

The fall of our sophomore year brought a precursor to the COVID pandemic, Yosemite Flu, and the only competition we ever won: PowderPuff. Then there was a big gap when the world seemed to stop. We all became nothing more than our names on a black background as we watched our teachers tirelessly try to adapt to the dystopian world of virtual learning.

This period of isolation showed me how much of the Keystone experience is made up by the people who sit on this stage. While Keystone continued to provide us with excellent academics during this time, the feeling of being in a classroom or sitting in the fishbowl with my classmates could not be replicated through Zoom.

When we returned to campus in a modified form junior year, it was hard to pick up where we left off, especially with many of our classmates still online. Junior year for most of us consisted of discord game nights and late nights spent reading two chapters of the APUSH textbook at once. It wasn’t the junior year we had envisioned, one full of prom planning and delivering roses and chocolate to the rest of the school. This meant senior year, we had to make up for it, and we did.

The first sense of Keystone normalcy came as we floated above sleeping manatees, sang around a campfire and played on the beach on our senior trip to Florida. But my favorite senior year memories came in the little moments, like making waffles during calculus, laughing at deer memes in political science to fight off senioritis, wading through balloons and bubble wrap on prank day, and watching Jack’s shrimp fried rice skit on Halloween. Our class was never the most involved or spirited, but in the end, we made the best of what life threw at us these last few years.

But we didn’t make it here on our own. Our success is indebted to those who have supported us as we have blossomed from children to adults. I would like to thank Mr. Spedding and Mr. Handmaker for their efforts to keep our traditions and culture alive in the unpredictable last few years. I would also like to thank Mrs. Christiansen and Mrs. Penny who helped us to navigate the ever-changing and challenging world of college admissions.

We would not be here without the support of all the teachers who have imparted their wisdom upon us through

the last four years, whether they are present today or not. While many things make Keystone a special place, one of the most unique things is the quality and passion of the teachers. Whether it was Mr. Howk playing thematic music every morning to match the less, Mrs. Elizondo assigning us an essay on the first day of school, Sr. Boryzcka conducting her infamous shark attacks, Mrs. Hall greeting us every day with kindness despite our morning moodiness, Dr. Caraway telling us fascinating and seemingly unrelated anecdotes, or Mrs. Preston announcing a happy hour quiz minutes after finishing a test – everything the teachers did for us made us better students and people to prepare us for whatever lies ahead.

I also want to extend my thanks to all the parents and mentors. You all have pushed us to become the best versions of ourselves. You have been there to celebrate our greatest achievements and also to lift us up when things didn’t go our way. Thank you for your continual support and all that you have done for us to be here today.

Finally, to my classmates, I know we weren’t the closest class and we have had our differences, but there is no other group of people I would have rather spent the past four years with. As we all go our separate ways next year, I hope we all continue to preserve thorough any challenges we might face and are successful in all endeavors we choose to pursue.

Congratulations Class of 2022, we did it!

Tessa Uvledo