Sparks: HS Graduation Speech 2024
Hi, thank you so much for having me! When I was six, I put aluminum foil in the microwave, and it caught
on fire. I wasn’t quite sure what was happening, but I found it interesting, so I walked into the other
room where my dad was working and said, “Dad, why is there a fire in the microwave?” “there's a fire?”
“Just a little one”, He then bolted across the room and extinguished the fire promptly. I’ve heard
before that there is no such thing as a dumb question, but like [pause], what does that mean? Clearly,
there are questions that are poorly worded, or some which have obvious answers, but why should the
answers be obvious? Within every subject you can encounter, there are pits with seemingly unending
unknowns, it’s only when we observe the structures from afar and say “yeah that looks about right”
do we feel confident to instantly hit a wall. And thus, a new question is born. I would propose that
the most impactful discoveries in history were made by the dumbest questions, why is the sky blue,
why did the apple fall and hit my head, or redundant questions like "How was your day?” Sometimes it’s
the process of discovery that makes learning rewarding rather than the answer itself, to which Seneca
probably would have said, “take that Lucilius there is a point to knowing whom Sappho wrote about in
her poems.” But to this day, the original question of the debate from thousands of years ago hasn’t
been answered, what are we to learn? While school pushes us to grow in our adaptability, tenacity,
project planning, and decision-making, I’ve seen people apply themselves in unique ways following their
natural curiosity for the world without realizing they’re pursuing knowledge. Through the arts, games,
and books, we find a way to get hooked on things crafted by others, and from there a cycle is born
that ignites interest, leading to creating something yourself, which can then inspire others. In this
sense, learning isn’t an orderly process, it’s chaotic, messy, and almost always leads to a mistake
or two; in Mr. Avery’s algebra class, one day, we were working on a math game called Nerdle; I had
worked every angle of the question and was eventually sure I had a solution! “I’ve got it!” I said
excitedly before hitting the enter key to be met with an incorrect solution; we all had a good laugh;
I figured out what went wrong, and then tried it again, and again until, eventually, I could consistently
find the answer. For a friend like Cash, on the other hand, rather than working on math, he found a
passion for Bass, which very similarly involves numbers for time signatures, note durations, and finger
placements; through trying and and learning he’s now a bass player participating in the music club.
Is math academic? Probably. But is playing an instrument? When we explore knowledge not just as students
of a school, but as students of the world around us, it feels different, doesn’t it? If you’re learning
math to take a more complex math course, is there more value to that than learning skills to work?
How about if you’re learning to draw for your own enjoyment, how should that be factored in? There
seems to be a tendency to avoid questions because they involve admitting to a lack of knowledge on
something, either to yourself or others, we tend to avoid questioning day-to-day things, why the color
of asphalt seems to vary so much for example, because it means we have less ability to control our
immediate environment, but on the flip side it’s proof that you care, out of all the things in the
world you could want to know more about, you’re asking about the floor, right here? Looking around
the audience, I see dreams, passions, and ideas, some of which you may be putting off because you feel
you don’t yet know how to approach them, but regardless of where you want to be it’s what you care
about that matters. Einstein once said, I'm have no special talent, I am only passionately curious.
Every great invention, discovery, and marvel started with a dream and a question by others no different
than us, and yet of all the places we could be right now we’re here together celebrating our work,
challenges, and triumphs, and the efforts of every Teacher who has helped to guide us on our journey.
So while we’re reflecting on how far we’ve come, I want to encourage you all to go build the future
you dream of, go start that drawing, script that film, make that website, and if you don’t know where
to start that’s okay as well, perhaps you could ask a question for that. But, maybe don’t stick aluminum
foil in the microwave.