MADISON DAIGLE
Valedictory Address
By MADISON DAIGLE
Valedictorian
Good evening everyone. I would like to begin by thanking all of the people who have made this night possible. Parents and loved ones, your unconditional support and hours of hard work have made this week and our entire senior year so memorable and special, and we thank you.
To our teachers, because we quite literally would not be sitting here without your advising.
And of course, a very special thank you to Mr. Cleary. Throughout my high school experience, I have viewed Mr. Cleary as someone kind, approachable, understanding, but also commanding of respect. I still remember the first time I met Mr. Cleary at Freshmen Orientation. After sitting through the assembly, my mom and I walked out and the first thing she said was how personable and rational my new principal was, and I nodded in agreement. And Mr. Cleary has never failed in that regard.
Mr. Cleary, I am sure I speak for my classmates when I say I am so grateful to be a part of this graduating class, because I cannot imagine Lynnfield High School without your presence. We wish you the best in retirement and thank you for making Lynnfield High School an academic, but still enjoyable and safe environment for us all.
But as much as Mr. Cleary has emphasized relationships and made us laugh with his usual appearances in our classes, we did all have to come to school to learn.
One of the biggest lessons I learned played out literally on our soccer field at the start of our sophomore year.
It was August of 2020, the first time I was able to step on a field and play a game since lockdown. Beyond seeing you all every day, team sports were one of the activities I missed most during the pandemic. Running alone around my neighborhood or passing in the backyard with my dad was just never the same. Maybe for you, it was rehearsing lines alone for the play or trying to practice chorus through Zoom.
Not even five minutes into the game, and I heard a crack and a swear from my dad in the stands, and I knew something was torn. I still cannot believe I walked off the field, especially when, a few days later, the doctor looked at the scans and told me I hadn’t just torn my ACL; it was entirely gone, and with that, my entire sophomore year of sports.
I was devastated. Sports have always been my social life and how I deal with school stress. However, in the end, this experience taught me a lot, and specifically two lessons that feel especially relevant today as we celebrate our graduation and look ahead to our future.
My whole life, I have always been someone who has been almost exclusively focused on the future. I like creating goals and challenging myself to achieve them. My mom tells me that even from the age of five, whenever we went hiking, I always raced ahead to the summit ahead of my brother and parents.
I think it is partly because, if I am honest, I have never liked to look back. History is actually my least favorite subject in school. I have never been as riveted by the American Revolution or some war as I have been about science, which has always just clicked. I love learning about cells, and who knows why, but I can name each part of the electron transport chain and describe chemiosmosis, but I can never remember dates and could not even begin to tell you what happened in 1812.
Although some may label me as ambitious, which I am, tearing my ACL also taught me that being exclusively focused on the future can be isolating. After my surgery, I convinced myself that if I just did enough PT and worked hard enough, I could be back on the field sooner.
In my tunnel vision, I spent months choosing to work out instead of spending more time with family and friends, which is ironic given we had just spent the past half-year social distancing. The desire to speed toward the future lost me nine months to anger and frustration.
This experience reminded me that looking at history offers us a lot, especially the gift of appreciating the big and small moments in life. It is why I am honored to celebrate these moments with all of you tonight and I am incredibly thankful for the memories we have created together.
For most of us, this is our eighth year together — for some, even the 13th. And even from an early age, we faced more significant tragedies than a torn ACL, including the tragic loss of our classmate Sonny, but we found unity and solace within each other and a way to carry his spirit with us.
And coming out of COVID, we have all learned to appreciate the value of any minute spent with each other and to embrace all the opportunities our senior year could offer. I will never forget packing the stands for Friday night football games or the rush from finally winning that exhausting game against North Reading, or our ridiculously large senior trip to Aruba, as I am sure some of you will never forget the band trip to Nashville or warming up before an opening night of the play.
But I also loved joking around during cafe studies and cramming during the 10 minutes before a test or our quick chats in the bathroom between classes. Even these seemingly trivial acts shaped our high school experience. I cherish all of those memories, and maybe even more because I lost some during those nine months of physical therapy and online school.
Tearing my ACL also reminded me that while we can look ahead and work towards goals, we must be prepared that the journey may be different than we imagined and rather than linger in frustration and disappointment, we can be open to new opportunities and discover new passions.
Want to know something ironic and maybe even funny? While I was devastated not to be able to play sports for nine months, I actually never really loved soccer. It was just a sport I did because I always had, and it was easier for me to continue than to learn a new sport as a freshman. My injury forced me to not only walk off the field, but to reflect on how I wanted to spend my time.
Nonetheless, I did love the camaraderie on the bus and sidelines, and of course pasta parties, and I know in the future, I will make sure to choose things that provide that same sense of community but also joy in the activity itself. And, I wish the same for you — to use this period of change to reflect on where you want to dedicate your time and not just force yourself to do something because you always have.
I could not be more grateful to have shared these past eight years with you, and I am filled with pride to stand here today to represent us and our achievements. Congratulations to all of you, for all our past adventures together and those to come.
