Graduation Essay

Table of Contents Graduation Essay ...................................................................................................................4

Outline I. Introduction II. Graduation Essay A. Nothing B. Nothing III. Conclusion

IV. Julia Yoon Mrs. Northrop Graduation Speech 29 August 2012 Graduation Essay What did you do for others in your life? Did you ever serve others? In Micah(6:8), there is a verse saying, You have been called to love what is right, to serve for another, and to walk humbly with God! While I was in St. Irenaeus Parish School, I learned the things the verse preaches: how to keep my own belief, serve others, and to work with friends and teachers. In this world, there are many beliefs that disrupt my own and St. I helped me to maintain my beliefs. I am a proud Catholic, but there were times I doubted God. Whenever I doubted God, there Mrs. Northrop and religion classes always aided me to place God in my heart. With the lessons of Mark Hart, I learned history of Catholicism and how people kept turning away from God. The lessons strengthened my faith. Every time I heard how people turned away from God to follow the popular gods, I asked myself, Why are they turning away from God? Why do they stop believing in God? Why am I doubting and turning away God like them? After I asked myself many questions, I decided to hold on to my beliefs and keep it from the other ideas that makes me doubt and confused. From St. I, I learned how to retain my faith in God. Serving others taught me many things; it taught me how to be humble and thank God for everything I was blessed with in life. This year, my class worked four hours each quarter to finish service hours. One of things I did for was to hold a concert for homeless people. The orchestra I attended did many concerts for homeless people, so I was able to perform for the homeless. I learned two things from these concerts: the faith of people in suffering and how lucky I am compared to the homeless. When I saw the homeless people, I was very surprised because they had very deep faith in God despite their condition. I expected them to be defeated and eventually lose their faith in God because of the horrible situation they were in. However, I learned that despite their hardships, they still thanked God for the life that He has given them. This experience taught me a great lesson. I also thanked God for all the things I get to do; I get to eat, study, and sleep properly. The homeless concert taught me great lessons that will be with me throughout my life.

The most valuable thing I obtained from St. I is relationships with friends and teachers. As I went through St. I, I made many precious friends. They all care for each other, and most importantly, they are humble. I learned many things from my friend: honesty, effort, and care. I learned that honesty is important in friendships. We also need to effort to strengthen friendships. And finally, it is important to care for one another, and treat others as I would like to be treated. I came to America when I was in fifth grade, and when I started this school, I was in a bad shape. I did not study nor care about other people, and I was not honest. With the help of my friends, I started to study and care more about others. I do not think I am honest yet, but I know I am changing. My transformation is not only the work of my friends, but also the work of teachers. The teachers worked very hard to teach me in many subjects. Because I came from another country, I was not good at English. I really thank my teachers from fifth grade to eighth grade for teaching me English and all the other subjects. Now I am able to study on my own and I have my teachers at St. I to thank for that. I learned many important values from St. I: holding on to my faith in God, learning from serving others, and working with others. I really thank St. I for helping me to keep my faith, making me realize how serving others is important, and for pushing me to study hard and keep good grades in school. I will never forget what I have learned from St. I, and things I learned from this school will help me for the rest of my life.