Valedictorian Sagelyn Kilts

Valedictorian Sagelyn Kilts presented the valedictory address:

Hello and thank you all for attending the 2022 Graduation ceremony of Dayton High School.

You are looking at the future of the workforce, whether it's doctors, nurses, teachers, architects, or even environmentalists; we are the future. Whatever led us to move to Dayton and attend Dayton High School, we are now graduating seniors and have made it through many ups and downs. We are today celebrating our successes, our achievements, both individually, and as a school, and these have all helped us get to where we are going now.

We have had a great time while at Dayton High School. We had bumps in the road but we have overcome them and are now able to be here graduating today. We have overcome a lot, whether it was writing UW papers the night before or the morning of them being due, or even studying right before the teachers hand us the test. We all have procrastinated assignments and projects, but we were able to ultimately pass our classes and get to today.

Some of us will be going to college, others to trade school and some will go straight into the workforce.

I want to leave you all with this quote from Legally Blonde: "It is with passion, courage of conviction, and strong sense of self that we take our next steps into the world, remembering that first impressions are not always correct. You must always have faith in people. And most importantly, you must always have faith in yourself."

We are now closing a huge chapter of our lives. I know I'm not the only one that is anxious about the next chapter of our lives because, unlike the book, 1984, you can't skip out on reading the next chapter and just read a summary online. We have to forge through the next chapters of our lives. Though the books of our life haven't been fully written out yet, I want to challenge you to think of every day like a new page adding the best story to your book.

Finally, I would like to thank all of the community members, teachers, and parents that have helped us get to where we are today. I would also like to thank those who have given us all the opportunity to go to college, trade school, or other higher education opportunities.

Class of 2022: We did it!