National Elementary Honor Society

I was asked to speak at a National Elementary Honor Society induction ceremony and I thought I would share my speech. This was the first time that I was ever asked to give a speech and I was very proud and honored to do it.  

Good evening faculty, parents, and our inductees.  It is an honor and a privilege to have been asked to speak at the induction ceremony of the National Elementary Honor Society of 2014.

Being inducted in the National Elementary Honor Society is not only a celebration of your accomplishments in demonstrating Scholarship, Leadership, Character and Service, but recognition for the hard work and determination that has enabled you to be here today. This achievement celebrates who you are and who you have the potential to become. 

Scholarship is to do your best in everything that you do and you have to want to work hard in everything that you do.  School didn’t come easy for me because I learned at a slower pace than the rest of my classmates. I had to work extra hard to get good grades.   To be honest, one of the most difficult grades of my life was fifth grade.  I remember staying up until 11pm or midnight doing homework on long division.  Despite all the academic struggles that I went through, I achieved my goal in getting a Master’s degree in Counseling.  Scholarship isn’t just about getting good grades in a classroom.  Scholarship is about applying what you learned in the classroom to the world that you live in.  We are constantly learning from everything and every person we come in contact with. It is about having an imagination and coming up with ideas that might not have been thought of before.

Character is to make good choices every day. Students with good character are respectful and responsible. I walked differently from the rest of my classmates. I used a walker and in the front it had a basket for books.  As I got older I started using a wheelchair to get around as well.  My classmates didn’t accept me because I was different and I was the only one in the whole school from Kindergarten to senior year of high school that had a disability that you can see. From Kindergarten to the time I went to college, I went from having an aide in school to living on my own and I became more independent and confident in myself.  My family, friends, and teachers supported me through all of the times when I thought I wasn’t good enough. I was very shy when I was younger and I never would have imagined speaking in front of a large group of people. 

Leadership is taking initiative to help make a positive change.  When I was in college, I had the idea of making the bathrooms bigger because I couldn’t fit into the bathroom with my wheelchair. I asked my classmates to sign a petition to make the bathrooms bigger and a few years later, they did make one of the bathrooms bigger.  Leadership could also mean taking the lead on a group project, being a captain on a sports team or being the president of a club.  Leaders need to believe in themselves first before anyone else can believe in them.  A good leader is not only a good communicator, but a good listener.  Leaders need to listen to the ideas and opinions of those around them in order to make a positive change. 

The definition of Service is to help others benefit without taking the credit for it.  It is important to give back to your community because it not only benefits the people you are helping, but it gives you a sense of accomplishment.  One of my biggest passions is helping people and that is one of the reasons why I decided that I want to become a counselor.  You can provide service to others by raising money for a charity or doing something as simple as saying hello. I once went out of my way to say hello to someone and the person said that I was the only person who reached out to them that day. It made them feel good. 

Being in the National Elementary Honor Society is an opportunity to make a positive difference in school and your community, by having these four characteristics.  Part of being in the National Elementary Honor Society is making the right choices and you can help your fellow students make the right choices too. If there is something different about you, use it as an opportunity to stand out and make a positive change and don’t look at it as limitation.  You should all be proud of yourselves because this is a big accomplishment.  

I am going to leave you with a quote that is very special to me. It says, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us” by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Congratulations to the National Elementary Honor Society inductees and may all of your dreams come true.