Salutatorian Meika Nadeau: “live in the present, cherish the moment!”

by Dan McClelland

Salutatorian Meika Nadeau began her presentation Thursday evening at Tupper Lake High School graduation by first thanking the elementary school and middle/high school teachers, on behalf of her fellow graduates. Meika, the daughter of Lynn and Nadeau, was this year’s class vice president.

“We truly wouldn’t be here today without their lessons and instructions from pre-K to the end of high school.

On behalf of her classmates she also thanked “all their amazing families for their help and support over the years and for always going above and beyond for us. -And a special thanks to my mom and dad. I wouldn’t be here today without the love and guidance they have showered me with over the years and I will always be grateful. People always say ‘reach for the stars’ but my parents always pushed me to reach farther than the stars and cheered me on every step of the way!”

Meika also offered a special thanks to student Ava Lilley for designing what she called the school’s “amazing yearbook cover” this year. “She also designed our senior shirts and made art work for multiple other random projects for the class. Thank you, Ava, for always being willing to help us out and doing it beautifully!”

“It’s been a long time coming but the Class of 2023 members are finally here and just moments from graduation.

“We have all worked extremely hard for years and it’s paying off. For me and I’m sure for the rest of you,” she told her classmates, this day could not come any faster.

“After today we will never have to deal with random hallways that reek of body odor, crazy middle-schoolers, random screaming in the cafeteria and the hallways and basically every other annoying thing that happens in high school.

“Even though high school is extremely annoying, stressful, stinky and hectic, high school is also an experience we will never be able to replicate and now we have so many great memories and hilarious stories we’ll all still be telling years from now.

“With that being said, I’m not going to stand up here and preach advice to you all like I know what I’m talking about, because I certainly don’t. But I can repeat something someone told me last winter. “Last year, our junior year and days before the big musical, I was talking with Mrs. Savage after class. I don’t remember what I was asking her about. It may have been I was just over-thinking another English project. After telling me to chill out and keep things simple, she told me something that has stuck with me all of senior year and I thought I’d share it with you.

“She told me to soak everything in. She told me to enjoy every moment I can because time moves faster than you think. I knew she was right, but I brushed it off. Sorry, Mrs. Savage. It was only the middle of my junior year and I had a whole year to think about graduation, and I have plenty of time, at least I thought.

“She was right. I did need to soak it all in, because before I knew it I was standing up here on this podium. A year seems like a lot of time but in reality, it’s really not. All of a sudden we’re just moments away from a new chapters in our lives with some many exciting, first-time experiences before us.

“Whether or not that’s eight hours away at college or interviewing for a new job, we’re all stepping into unknown territories that can be very scary. They can also be very exciting.

“So as we sit together one last time, let’s make sure we appreciate every little detail of this day and all of the other good parts of high school.

“We should appreciate Spirit Weeks, homecomings, coming into school and seeing the students and faculty decked out in red and black, or whatever the crazy theme was that day, going to football games in the fall and freezing our butts off in the bleachers, senior nights and the final moments playing the sports we loved, getting our teachers to talk for half the class so we could avoid our school work, talking with friends at our lockers for so long we were late for class and so many memories and moments that we should appreciate.

“There are also so many more things to cherish in our last moments together.

“There were a lot of bad parts of high school but there were so many good parts. We hold so many memories we should always appreciate and always remember. We will never have another high school graduation, and so let’s cherish the last time we sit together as one group and soak it in!”

“Look around and capture everything around you. Let’s no worry about how much debt we are going to be in after college. Let’s not worry about if our roommates will hate us or if the food will be gross on campus, or if we’ll fall victim to the ‘freshman 15.’ All we can do is live in the present and cherish the moment!

“Here’s to a new, exciting, scary, unknown stage of our lives. Let’s enjoy it, relax and have fun!”

“So to Class of 2023: I’m so proud of each and everyone one of you. It’s been a pleasure to grow up with you!”