Editor’s note: Eden Prairie High School graduates Raquel Taborga and Lalyn Yu jointly gave this speech during the June 8 EPHS commencement at the 3M Arena at Mariucci. Watch for more commencement speeches from a student and a faculty speaker in the coming weeks.

Did you know that there are 171,476 words in the English language?

No, but now that we’ve rehearsed this [blank] times, I do.

Even with that many, we found it nearly impossible to find the perfect combination to describe the future of the class of 2018.

Oh, but it’s us, so we’re gonna try anyway.

Class of 2018, we were state champs at the Super Bowl stadium!

Marching band was second in state!

We sent countless students to national tournaments.

We dominated at state competitions.

We represented Eden Prairie.

We represented Minnesota.

And we did each other proud.

Oh, we had a ridiculous amount of perfect ACT scores! And it doesn’t matter …

Let’s face it, everyone. All of these anecdotes we threw at you, they’re just mere trophies in a case in hallways you’ll leave behind.

These material accomplishments, while impressive for our “school’s” legacy, are not the highlights of our high school experience.

Everyone, think about your favorite moment of senior year. A single moment.

The point that we’re trying to get at is – we shouldn’t compare our individual high school experiences with our school’s highlights. Those small, everyday nuances are worth more than those larger-than-life moments we are constantly pressured to have.

It’s easy to feel like a small fish in a big pond at a school like EPHS, but it’s important to remember that our significance is not defined by how many awards we’ve earned, but rather how good we are to each other and how happy we were in that moment. Seldom few will remember you as National Spelling Bee Champion, but many will remember you as that person that actually remembered to bring treats to connections.

The truth is, when asked what your favorite moment of these past four years has been, you’ll remember that friend who you could text at 1 a.m. and they’d be there, that teacher who genuinely took the time to ask how your vacation went, those after-school carpool rides with your friends, those Friday nights where you’re all saying you’ll go out and do something but no one knows what to do so you just watch a movie and talk for hours, your parents who woke you up in the morning just to tell you that – miraculously – Eden Prairie had actually called a snow day!

But we digress …

Years from now, these are the small stories that will cross your mind, the lessons you learned from them will carry with you, too.

But years from now, where will you be? High school, while amazing –

Debatable –

Is only the beginning to our personal growth.

Diving head first into life after high school is really intimidating, but, truth is, being lost is the best part of growing up. There is only one thing that is for certain – our futures burn brighter, none like the world has ever seen.

When we look into the crowd, we see a future generation of leaders.

Artists.

Engineers.

Politicians.

Doctors.

Teachers.

Advocates.

And many more professions that “we” will create.

We are the voice of the new wave of thinkers regardless of what anyone says. It’s up to us to create the world we want to live in, so get out there, change the world. Be kind to one another. Or not …

Together: The choice is ours.