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Pair Perseverance with Support
Take a second to think about one similarity that everyone has in the room. No, it’s not the fact that we are all in spirit dress today or that most of us have class next period, it’s that fact that we all have persevered through hard times. You might not realize you have done this, but perseverance is the reason why we are all here today. Here at Stanstead College, we are always busy and faced with new challenges and have high expectations from our teachers and coaches. None of us would have made it this far without grit and determination.
We all know what perseverance means: never giving up and getting up from our falls. But something else I have discovered in the last few years is that perseverance goes hand in hand with accepting help from others. Before coming to Stanstead, I was at a school that was extremely competitive. The students would be compared to and pitted against each other. Independence was a big value at this school, and for a very long time I believed that doing everything by myself, never making mistakes and never asking for help was the only way that I could succeed in life. Since then, I’ve realized that yes, independence is important, but accepting support is also crucial. Sometimes you need to depend on others and that’s okay.
We are only at the start of our journeys, mistakes will happen. Some days everything seems to be going wrong and you may be tempted to just give up, but our failures are really just necessary steps to our future success.
My humble advice is to never give up and work as hard as you can to achieve your goals but also to look around you. We are so lucky to be surrounded by a community that is like a family. True success can only come from hard work with the support of others. Don’t try to always do it on your own; you will be more successful and happier if you occasionally reach out and accept support. And just remember that the person beside you probably has gone through their fair share of obstacles, so maybe now it’s your turn to help them out.
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