Valedictorian speech

I extend my warm welcome to the guest of honor, Mr. Ashok Chatterjee; vice president of the Woodstock board of directors, Dr. Prakash Masih, and other board members; parents, relatives and friends; special guests, staff of the school and graduates of the class of 2007.

It has always been interesting to observe people come up here and speak. But it never occurred to me that I too, could ever be standing here, doing the same. This is a most wonderful opportunity that has come my way today, to bid farewell to you all on behalf of the entire senior class. And boy, am I nervous!

This is also a time for some introspection and to share a few of the valuable insights I gained during my stay here at Woodstock. And I know I speak for my class mates as well as myself as we all gear up to shed this cocoon and go in the big world out there. And so, I shall try to articulate our feelings to you all. It is not easy, but I am going to try. For there is "No harm in trying."

"No harm in trying." This is the first lesson that I learned at Woodstock. That there is no harm in trying new things as life is not only about success but is a chain of successes and failures. While I was browsing through the class of 2011-Colorado College on facebook, one of the discussion board topics was a question and answer game. You had to answer to the last posted question and put forward one of your own question for the next person to answer. I decided to answer to the last person's question which was a bad idea. The question got me thinking and made me deeply regret something about myself.

I think most of you can guess this question that got me so depressed. It was "What was something that you tried to do to see whether you were good at it or not but did not succeed at it?" I had no answer. I thought for a good couple of days and still failed to come up with an answer and trust me it was not because I succeed at everything. This simple game made me realize what I had missed in the most precious years of my life. I had never done anything I knew I wouldn't succeed at.

But all is not yet lost. I still have faith in myself. It's never too late and there is no harm in trying new things even if at the end you realize you are terrible at it because there is still an achievement behind this failure and that is of the satisfaction you get in exploring yourself and being flexible with your life.

One such experience I gained in Woodstock was through the MUN (Model United Nations - ed.). It made me realize the serious need for each individual to be able to express his own and his community's thoughts out in the world. Each individual is different and we shouldn't shy away from showing our uniqueness because this is what makes us so special. We need to be proud of our individual cultures because fitting into a new place does not require changing ourselves. However, that also does not mean we straitjacket ourselves with our rigid ideas without realizing their shortcomings. We need to gain a global perspective and we have been fortunate to achieve this in a place like Woodstock where one interacts with friends from diverse backgrounds and cultures.

In Woodstock, I have learned that memories for life do not develop depending on the length of time one spends in a place, but that they develop from the quality of the time spent. I have just spent the two most memorable years of my life here. This has been possible only because I trained myself to listen - listen to my teachers, listen to others, and most of all listen to myself.

One thing I can assure everyone here is that you can never go wrong with following your instincts. Follow your heart and you will never regret it. I am extremely grateful to all our teachers who have guided the shaping of these impressionable and at times confused, young minds. You helped shape our personalities and have formed the basis for our life skills. Today we are going out in a world of absolute freedom and I hope that all of us will make the most of it by discovering our true potential and making the right choices in difficult times. Thank you, everyone, for providing me with this great experience.