Below you will find speeches from Neema, Sapna, and Amy as well as two essays written to apply to college.

Neema’s “Speech”
Stafford Class of 2002 President

This is the director’s cut of the class history speech as given by Neema Vedadi.

‘02 Future History:

Every great civilization has it’s distinguished centers for learning. These elite, influential institutions often serve as the cornerstone for a society’s future progress. Ancient Greece had Aristotle and his Academy, England had Oxford, Early America had WestPoint, The Transcendentalists had Brooke Farm, Iceland had Penguins. As you all know, historical patterns rarely fluctuate, and so our society, being great, must have a similar offering. H-Town, Undisputed capital of the dirty souf’ indeed has such an intellectual community, STAFFORD, AMERICA!. We might not have Aristotle, but Mr. Murrell edumacated us real good and we can speak mo’ betta now too. Stafford High School is the epitome of education, we’ve beat every other district school in UIL academics for the past three years, and it is unquestionable that our graduates shall move on to become the successful alumni lesser schools can’t even begin to dream about. Now, in the year of our lord 2002 Stafford has reached its golden age with its most advanced products to date. The Class of omniscient, omnipotent, oohh TWO!. Like Aristotle’s student Alexander the Great, O2 is poised to make history. Yet before one can plan the future one must measure the past, so hear is our 02 history.

I came to Stafford in 9th grade so I don’t feel at liberty to give the history of pre-Vedadi Stafford. Christie, can you break them off?

[Christie Harrison, Vice-President, speaks during this interval.]

High School years are the years in which one begins to mature, and like any good class ‘02 had humble beginnings. As a freshmen just arriving at Stafford I soon realized the diversity of Stafford, and the resulting cultural awareness and open mindedness. In my first day alone, I was able to hear Jimmy Chen make fun of Monica Lewinski, Freestyle rap with Chase Culpepper, Listen to Angel Guevara’s interpretation of Silas Marner, Go to ISS for not having a belt and Hear one of Coach Munoz’s lectures. ‘02 excelled as freshman despite Mrs. Sena’s drive to fail us. She might have followed us through three grades and had test questions asking for the caption for the 4th picture from the right on page 169 verbatim. But where is she now huh? Yet we were ready to move on to bigger and better things.

Sophomore year, we received a new principal and we were ready to take on the TAAS. Mr. Murrell amused us with his dry humor and his love affair with Sandra Cisneros. And Mrs. Crawford boosted our GPA’s with her easy tests.’02 proved itself with the best TAAS scores in the history of the world and received a pool party. And what a pool party where else could we see all our friends and enemies half naked and wet all at the same time. And it has come full circle with our senior pool party. Same bikini clad bodies, different alliances. Of Course Yesterday at the ’02 pool party I think some of us saw a bit more of Jeremy than we had hoped. Yet, personally I believe our class to be the best looking. At academic competitions other schools represent themselves with pocket protectors, and tight pants. While we show up with beanies, Mohawks, Basketball shorts and shirts that say “we so Thoreau-ed in the game”.

When we arrived at school Junior year it was like going to a whole new school, most of the faculty had quit resigned or been fired. The turmoil between the teachers and the administration, and between the parents and the school board caused as tenuous an environment as the presidential election or lack thereof. Quanel-X came with his black panthers and our school seemed like a TV drama. Not Boston Public either, more like Shaft or possibly Dolemite. Yet it was a great year for ’02 in most respects, we showed our resolve and continued academic integrity. Of course on the other hand we do remember a few things that we are not so proud of, like remember when Pokemon wasn’t just a cartoon? Or our drama teacher ms. Baccigalopi listening to Eazy E’s f the police and then flirting with the campus cop in the same day?

Then finally the year we had all been waiting for since the first time we stepped foot in school had arrived. The year 2002. The year of dual credit HCC, the moment of truth deciding where you will spend the next four years, The last few miles in the marathon of public education. And we got through didn’t we? To start off and lead our class, we of course had the coolest class president in the history of class presidents. We also had people like Mrs. Mayfield to teach us not to get a yard stick stuck in our eye and that Smoking is ok if your 18. This was the year when ‘02 showed its survival skillz, our football team survived a riot in Scarborough, and Paullyann Enwere demonstrated the strength of the senior class with a state power lifting championship, she then went on to demonstrate how exclusive we are with her “Hall sweep for one”.

It was also the year for competition. Despite the obvious Literary Criticism State Competition, ‘02 participated in a competition that dominated the classrooms more than any kind of real learning. Of course I’m talking about avalanche, and don’t think this was merely a student thing, Mrs. Hill was on avalanche more than a yodeler in the Himalayas. And Tara would talk to Mr. Lapori more at midnight in an avalanche table than anytime in class. On another hand, it would be a sin to forget the face wars, we’ve taken enough faces to give the plastic surgeon’s in LA a run for their money George Adesina alone has had his face taken more time’s than Michael Jackson. It’s official, Face National Bank is now a member of the FDIC. In Theatre we learned that a Big Director means a big Disqualification. But all told, a popular consensus would probably vote this year as their most fulfilling, a look at Roland, or Cheryl’s senior book will tell you that.

Well folks that’s pretty much our story, none better in Stafford’s 19 years. We’ve laughed, tomorrow we’ll cry and I Know everyone will be pushin’ a big body when they come back for the 10 year reunion.

Sapna’s Speech
Class Salutatorian

Fire provides the spark of life - in the slide show that we just saw, it was easy to see the light of fire in some of the baby’s eyes that showed the inquisitive, playful, and in some cases, mischievous personalities that have developed in us. Whatever we have become now, started with that first spark. I look around and recognize some of the faces that I’ve seen since kindergarten. We’ve come so far since the days of naptime, quit-signs, behavior cards, and eating glue. Gone are the days of the classic game of cone-ball only to be replaced by the latest obsession with avalanche. Each senior has their own story; their own version of what their years in high school were made up of, and what those years meant to them.

For me, as well as for many of you, school isn’t just a place we went to from 7:30 till 3:00. School was basically everything - Classes, homework, sports, and clubs. Some of my favorite memories from the past four years are of tennis tournaments and student council meetings after-school, or cheering at the football games and participating in car washes over the weekend. And most importantly, when I look back to see what has characterized these memories, I think of my friends. It doesn’t matter if we were best buddies, or mere acquaintances who simply waved to each other in the hall - now that we’re graduating, I realize what an important role each one of you have played in my life.

As you look to the future, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the possibility of what lies ahead. There is so much that you can do with what you have been given here. Yet there will always be choices to make along your way. You seize some opportunities, but will be forced to let go of others. Through every challenge that you come across, remember to keep your fire burning. We have spent the past 12 years of our lives building a scaffolding above that spark we were born with. We’ve added the layers of math, of science, of history, and of language. And there have been dedicated teachers along the way who have made sure our sticks are straight and will support a great fire. So many of my teachers have given above and beyond. They’ve stayed after school for hours when I needed extra help, encouraging me to become sure of my own potential. Now we are ready to light that great bonfire of our aspirations. As long as you have that internal flame to succeed, you will not be swayed from your goals. Just as a fire constantly consumes more and more, you must never stay satisfied for long; always ask for more from yourself. Fire is an incredibly powerful tool. Yes, it has the potential to destroy, yet it also has the strength to forge steel. It has the capability to sustain life as well as to burn. We too have been given the power to shape our future; to mold our lives. With that power, comes responsibility to use what we have for the betterment of our world, not its destruction. No matter how widespread a fire may get to be, it always starts at a source. No matter how far away from home you wander, keep your source in mind. Whether that is a person, a place, or a belief, when the pieces of the puzzle just don’t seem to fit, come back to your source, and you will find your way.

I would like to thank God for guiding me through my days; my parents for their unconditional love and support; my sister for giving me advice when I needed it and even sometimes when I didn’t, and especially for listening to me whenever I’d say “Please don’t tell Mom and Dad!”; and last but not least my friends, for laughing with me, crying with me, and turning these past four years of high school into memories that I will cherish forever. Seniors, keep your spirits high and your hearts true - for we are and will forever be, the class of ’02.

Amy’s Speech
Class Valedictorian
(Note: N*Chink requested by Mike, Marines requested by Jose ;-P)

“Are we not drawn onward, we few? Drawn onward to new era?” That’s a palindrome, something that can be read backward and forwards. And so is the year 2002. So, as the palindrome says, today we stand in a class by ourselves, looking back and at the same time looking ahead. A time to appreciate the past and contemplate the future. A time of reflection.

Looking back, many of us, including myself, have gone through the entire Stafford Municipal School System. I remember tetherball, parachutes, Chinese stars, and songs about germs and pizza and black socks. In middle school we had story time, diagramming sentences, and “raising the roof.” As for high school, we donated blood, beat up a car for Red Ribbon Week, and watched the birth of N*Chink.

Through it all, what stands out are our friends. They are our siblings, teachers, parents, peers, God, perhaps even books, songs, and journals. Webster says a friend is “one attached to another by affection.” Yet the word “friend” is larger in feeling. To hear someone say “you are my friend” is to be slammed down and lifted up with a flood of emotions. They help celebrate life as it is but also push and drag us through the muck and grime that life can be. “The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief…who can tolerate not knowing… not healing, and face us with the reality of our powerlessness. That is the friend who cares.” Oh, they see our ugly nasty weaknesses and nitty gritty freakiness, and they tolerate, accept, and forgive them. But it all dims in their eyes because they see more. We see the caterpillar, but they see the absolutely beautiful butterfly.

Hopefully you have found that Friend in the universe who will indeed never let you down, who will stand beside you in the Future. Today is the last time we as a class will be assembled together, so it is sad that I don’t know each of you individually, because I don’t know whom I’m saying goodbye to. But whether you go to college or the Marines or the workforce, I want to leave you with an anonymous poem titled “I Believe in Tomorrow.”

I believe in tomorrow. I believe in it because it has not yet come. And I am young, and youth always believes that tomorrow will be better than today. I believe that I will do tomorrow what I failed to do today, and be then what I have not yet been.

I trust the future. Youth is always glorious because it trusts the future. Youth will attempt the impossible, scale the mountain that is supposed to be inaccessible, and dare the thing that age will fear.

I believe in tomorrow because it is unspoiled. I have not, nor has anyone, yet written on it with grimy finger or folly or selfishness or sin. No wars have been fought in tomorrow. No lie has been told, or dishonest deed done in tomorrow. No man has treacherously failed a friend in tomorrow.

Tomorrow is one clean, beautiful day, the day on which dreams come true, on which the impossible things will yet be done, on which I shall have the nerve and the will to be and to do that which was too much for me in the grim battle of today.

I believe in tomorrow.

Experience that has influenced your goals. (50 lines maximum)

           “And what do you want to be when you grow up?” “Why, I don’t know,” I force out of my plastered smile. Argh! It doesn’t seem to get any easier. That question has haunted me since my elementary years. I remember filling out an enlarged worksheet in fourth grade, drawing the occupation that I anticipate performing in my adult years. I sketched out a person and scrawled “artist” because I knew my classmates would expect nothing else. I really had no idea, but to get the completion grade, I could not leave the box blank. As the years rolled by, I have toyed with the idea of being a teacher, a childcare worker, an interior designer, a librarian. Nothing fits. That’s because I have no academic interests.
           Wait, maybe that’s a bit extreme. I have too many academic interests. When I finally adjusted to the transition into high school, I took six honor courses in my sophomore year and joined four clubs. My grades can speak for themselves, and I faithfully attended almost every single club meeting and event. I was so worn out that the next year I dropped two of the clubs. I stayed in the Christian Club and the Science Club, which I felt did the most to help its community with the most enthusiasm. Although I did become the president of the Science Club and the historian of NHS, I am still interested in the other clubs. It’s just that none of my interests are stuffed with enough passion to guide my future. I learn a little from every experience, and they are all swamped in my memory, with a faint shadow wafting up here and there. Not enough to form the full-blooded experience that rips out a brilliant masterpiece of an essay.
           Still, whatever career I end up with, I seek to follow the “abundant” life. To germinate under the melancholy lamplight of stuffy dorm rooms, but to also sit in a heavenbound tree and contemplate the stars. To walk through the coils and folds of hard-core biology, but to also play forty-five heart-shoving minutes of mud football. Whenever I get out, whether that be four years, five, or six, I hope my life ends with a happy job, a happy family, a happy body, and a happy soul. Every feel-good quote ever said reflects some aspect of my goal.
           The academic programs will definitely be a challenge, but I know they will help me to reach my objective. Colorful college flags with their respective symbols hang from poles across the stage. Such a variety of student programs will keep my options open as I continue to search for my calling. I have also “tasted” the desire to learn. While ice cream satisfied the taste buds, students tried to satisfy their hunger for learning with responses from the faculty. From students and professors alike, I have “heard” of the innate disposition to have fun in that process. Shocks of sound from bursting balloons began an explanation of the chemical reaction that occurred. Whatever I end up doing, [this college] has the heart and energy to get me there. There’s so much to do, and not enough life to do it. I just need to find that one “do” and stick with it.

Example of your leadership. (28 lines maximum)

           lead-er (n.) 1. One who inspires. 2. One who has authority. 3. One who heads an organization. What always comes to mind when I hear “leader” is “president.” So I went and became one. But instead, “one who inspires” is the most common meaning. So actually, before I became the “leader” of the Science Club, I was a “leader” to my friends and peers.
           I remember my junior year. I was confused on why I was depressed, but it was horrible. I cried. I whimpered. I suppressed it so my parents wouldn’t know. Their comforting only made me angrier, more frustrated–just plain worse. I didn’t want to burden anyone either, so I spent my time putting some thought into the interests of my friends and peers. I made cards, clipped articles, sent email, cut out comics, and gave little gifts. Basically I just forced myself to be extra nice and sensitive.
           Somehow, I got out of that hole. What’s more, my example that year sparked so much more output than my input. A friend sent a note saying, “I’m starting to learn from your example to think more of others than just walking around blank on the mind.” An email read, “i see you trying so hard to be a servant for God, and i’m sitting here, struggling over the littlest things…something really convicted me. you opened my eyes to what i’ve been doing, or not doing. i’ve been in denile for quite a while (i’m a poet!) but i can’t really hide from it forever huh?” Still another: “your always so sweet and optimistic! i think i need to be more understanding and thankful for what my parents go through to give us what we have!” I even got surprises from people I barely knew: “I want to thank u for ALWAYZ being there 4 me even when you didn’t realize you were,” and “school has only been in session for a month but you’re already helped me out SO MUCH!” So as the president of a club, a senior, and an older sister, I may “head an organization” and “have authority,” but I have truly filled the position of leadership by being “one who inspires.”