Valedictorian Address 2009

Chinyere Brown

The Chairman Dr. Noel Woodroffe, Co-Chairman Mr. Marlon Jameson, Director Mrs. Cecile Taylor, Feature Speaker Dr. Terrence Farrell, Madam Chairperson, Specially invited guests, parents, well wishers and graduates, welcome.

I welcome you to an occasion that many may see as an end but at every end there is a new beginning. Yet it isn’t the beginning nor the end that define the journey, it is everything that happens between them, and what a journey it has been. It’s the camaraderie we shared, the lessons that we learnt and the bonds that we have formed – a bond so strong that we became a family.
 
That is what is so special about Northgate, the fact that it is a close knit family.  A family of friends, of teachers that guide us like parents; that clown around with us like older siblings and friends; that listen to us; learn who we are and really show that they care.  And the administrative staff and cafeteria personnel that have come to know us and treat us like extended family.  Think of Mrs. Haywood or “moms as she is popularly known.

I can hardly think of many schools that I have known or heard of with an atmosphere like this.  I mean, principals are supposed to be feared.  No?

But not our principal!  Mrs. Taylor is more loved than feared.  (I mean she is feared in a respectful manner), but this is a principal who like a good parent, talks, and talks and talks to us – but this is because she cares.  Who can forget the Taylorisms – “Don’t be a cuunomunoo, third world bebe”; an exhortation for us to be leaders and to make changes in the world.

Small is beautiful!  This is one of the advantages of being in Northgate in our time, during this historic tenth anniversary.  Almost immediately, new students become known and included into the family – people like Bernard; Danielle; Lenika; Derrianne;  just to name a few … I knew I would be in trouble to start naming persons, but you know what I mean … all of our newcomers have bonded so well.

And the essential foundation, the principles, morals and values that were built within us were extremely significant. We learned life lessons, things that held as much, value as the academic aspect of education that we received. And it seems in this era the importance of these correctly established patterns for life are what makes and breaks our society and our world. We are seeing it all around us.  If we take the financial crisis for example, we can clearly see that some of the factors that caused this meltdown were greed, lack of integrity and transparency and selfishness.

We were taught to be honest, to think of others and that a man’s good name is worth more than all the gold and silver he may seek. Lessons like these helped to craft us, and to mould our growth. Lessons taught by teachers as wonderful and significant as the messages they relay.

For example, nobody can forget Mr. Taylor. He is a teacher that is so important to us all.  I mention him because he is no longer with us as a teacher and we certainly do miss him.  We miss his fun antics and the consistently pleasant mood he exuded, while still teaching us so much.  He had the guiding hand of a father and the listening ear of a big brother and he honestly loved and cared for us.

And this can be said to be true of many of our teachers, past and present.  The impact that they have had is far reaching and ever pertinent.

They help to mould us, from our taste in music and our hobbies to our sense of right and wrong. They are our ‘school’ parents, they are our older siblings and they are our friends. They are always there for us because they make time for what is important to them….us.

And though we have learned a lot from them we have not always been good boys and girls, taking in all that we should.  I am sure we will leave here with fond memories of a bit of mischief making and rebellion too.

For example, no one can forget when the current fifth formers, were split into gender specific classes in form three. We struggled and fought against it, confusion marring the brow of almost every student, defiance was the battle cry and we visited Mrs. Taylor’s office to convince her that she was making a terrible mistake. But slowly and grudgingly, day by day we began to accept our predicament, for what else could we do!

But as a result closer ties were formed.

Boys bonded closely with each other creating unbreakable links, such as the brotherhood.
And girls began to integrate themselves with everyone, not just those they had previously been friends with but other persons that misconceptions had kept them away from.

And we all remember Ms. Smith and Cheyenne. Cheyenne is such a funny, good natured friend and when she began to crack us up in class it seemed that no one could stop laughing. We laughed and laughed and laughed. But of course, there is a season for everything and we were warned by Ms. Smith that the season for laughter… was OVER. But it seemed as if the laughter could not be contained, and it spread like a disease. As a result we all were made to stand and properly enunciate ‘HA HA HA HA HA’ and when we saw the boys peering through their class to…. Well have good laugh at us, a fresh batch of laughter began.

Good times, Good times.

And already as we start looking back at the good times we shared it seems that we can go on forever, remembering when Mr. Taylor, Mr. Soverall and Mr. Williams preformed as the hot new boy band sensation, ‘Oreo’, or when we enjoyed extempo in the hallway, it seems that students from all classes, especially 6th and 5th form came together, simply to have fun. We can never forget the excitement that leads up to sports day, the work the sweat, the bonding. Academic relay, team football, the always entertaining aerobathon and the road race were some of these fun activities. And who can forget Sports day itself, there are so many fun memories. And these fun memories would be nothing, if not punctuated with our own special words.

And so it is time to let you in on a few fifth and sixth formisms from the class of 2009 just some of them; the words that we introduced

Phrase: ‘Weng Peng’
Defenition: Maybe in some other reality but definitely not in this one
Synonym: Shango

Phrase: Epic Fail
Use in a sentence: The words flumpy and dripping were epic fails and will not be included anywhere else in this speech.
Definition: Being extremely lame, or failing your objective diss, joke, action, explanation etc.

Phrase: Mmemeps
Use in a situation: After watching your friend try to lick her elbow for 5 minutes because you told her that if she closed her eyes and tried really hard, she could. You call her a Mmemeps.
Definition/Synonym: Silly Person.

Phrase: Over Icing the cake
Use in a sentence: Chinyere real over icing the cake with this speech, how many minutes have passed already!!
Definition: A milder form of over doing something.

So With that I would like to leave you with some words of wisdom, ‘There is a time and place for everything under the heavens’ and now is the time for going, for staying, now is the time for our impact to be felt, now is the time for change!