JONATHAN PARK
Honor Essayist
Good Evening, North Reading High School. My name is Jonathan Park, and I live on Park Street. I’m 5’8”, 5’9” on a good day. I’m not proud to admit it, but my greatest weakness is that sometimes I can’t reach the top shelf to grab something. But there is a silver lining. I play tennis. And the last thing they expect is a small Asian kid with a big serve.
Anyway, I was told that I’m supposed to deliver some kind of important message or life lesson to you today. But I don’t feel qualified to give you real advice because I’m not any better, older, or wiser than everyone here. I’ve come to realize that you cannot judge a person by something as trivial as their grades or their criminal record.
I stand here as an “honors scholar” today, but I’m facing you not as any kind of special or superior person. I’d like to speak to you simply as Jonathan Park, a friend and peer. I’d also like to say that I may have looked like a capable student, but I want all of you to know that I was on the same boat as everyone else. As many of you can attest, my signature catch phrase this year was “I’m gonna pass away.” Any time I was drowning under homework, tests, or projects (so basically all the time) I’d be like “Dude, I’m gonna pass away.” One such time was only two weeks ago.
Those of us who took Brit Lit with Mrs. Carmichael will remember a certain assignment called the senior memory book. For this assignment, we had several different prompts corresponding to different time periods in our lives (from elementary to middle to high school), and we wrote about our memories from said periods. One of the prompts was meant for our parents to write a message to their kids before they left for college, which is perfect, since I don’t feel qualified to give advice of my own. Instead, I’d like to deliver a message that was given to me by two people in my life who I love very much: my mom and dad.
“Congratulations on your high school graduation in 2023. Your mom and dad, who have been by your side since you started preschool, where you stumbled through learning English and making friends, and went through elementary school, middle school, and high school, know very well how hard and diligently you have lived. We applaud every moment of your happiness, sadness, and difficulties, as well as your passion, perseverance, and efforts. Your mom and dad are extremely proud of you.
“As you leave home to begin your life as a respectable adult, we want to tell you to become a person with dreams. It doesn’t have to be grand dreams; small dreams are fine too. We hope you achieve them one by one and find joy through them. We hope you become a person who knows how to be grateful, someone who shares their time and talents with those in need and helps them with a compassionate heart. We hope you value the process, not just the results, and become someone who gives their best. While you embark on your own path, we understand that there may be failures and mistakes along the way, but we don’t want you to fear failure. Instead, we hope you learn from those experiences and become a better person.”
I’ve said it before but once again, my standing up here isn’t for myself or anything that I’ve done, it’s for all of you out there today. So with that in mind, I’d like to take a moment to give recognition to:
- Our student officers and members of Student Council who worked tirelessly to represent our class’s interests and advocate for our concerns
- The dedicated captains and members of every sport and club who gave their all to represent NRHS
- The incredibly talented students in Masquers
- Our amazing teachers and parents
- And lastly, to every student sitting here today
I’m so thankful that I got to meet all of you. I’m gonna be honest, there were times when I wasn’t happy, when school and life were so tough I wanted to throw everything away and run far far away. And I’m sure that everyone here has felt the same way at some point, with the challenges of hybrid learning, grinding through SATs and college applications, and balancing our studies with sports and our social lives. But despite all that, I firmly believe that I’m the person I am today because I was surrounded by the absolutely wonderful people at NRHS. With all that, there’s only one thing left for me to say: North Reading High School, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!
Rain showers fail to dampen the resilient spirit of the NRHS Class of 2023
