The Arrow Spring 2018

A Word to the Class of 2019 – Mikun Adewole

I continued to get more involved in this new com munity and tried to do as much service as I could for others. As the days went by, I noticed that many announcements in homeroom had been made con cerning leadership opportunities and off-campus trips such as Lamb’s Table and Feed America, ac tivities that gave an opportunity to help people who are less fortunate than me. I delved into these activi ties and found myself feeling more purposeful than I had prior to my arrival on “the hill.” The feeling of making a difference and being involved in the com munity made me hungry for more and I took advan tage of any opportunity to contribute positively to the community. I ended up being selected for stu dent leadership organizations and achieved a lot of things during my time here. Becoming involved in the community and doing all that you can to be a leader among your peers will help shape you into the student you want to see yourself become and that you want your family to be proud of. Don’t feel scared to pursue leadership opportunities and make an impact on the campus. It will not be simple and may be overwhelming at times, but when you look back at all your achievements, I promise it will be worth it. Nonetheless, disappointment remains a part of life and things will not always go according to plan. Yet, your ability to overcome disappointment and how you react to it will determine what caliber of stu dent and adult you will become. I have always seen myself as a “smart” guy and always thought I was capable of attending Stanford University, my dream school. I applied and along with 40,029 others, I got rejected. This “foreseeable” rejection actually sur prised me and I felt severely disappointed in myself and my lack of ability to achieve my goals. I was probably the most crushed I had been in a long time and honestly, I still haven’t completely gotten over the rejection. But, my father told me “you should not let the disappointment that comes out of something you cannot control make you forget about the good that could come out of the things you can control.” I then remembered that my work ethic and desire to do better is what matters and not the college I at tend. Accordingly, I was able to move past my frus tration and be admitted to Virginia Tech’s Class of 2022. Remember that you must focus on the good in every situation and concentrate on the things you are good at, not allowing yourself to get discouraged when dissatisfaction happens, because trust me it will. Good can always come out of the bad in your life, but only when you let it. Students in the Class of 2019, I encourage you all to start your own stories and determine what kind of student you need to be. I hope every person in this gymnasium has a joy-filled day. Congratulations to the Class of 2018, we did it! Thank you.

G ood morning families of the graduating class, faculty and staff, the Class of 2018 and my main audience for today, the Cclass of 2019. If I ever told any one of you that my road to graduating was an easy one, I am sorry to inform you that I lied. Believe it or not, my time at Oak Hill was full of challenges that I had to overcome in order to succeed and was every thing but easy. When I first arrived at Oak Hill, I did not know what to expect and more-or-less took a shot in the dark. I knew a few people before arriving on campus and quickly made friends. Howev er, I still did not fully understand the dynamic of the school and how things worked. I had a hard time making it to places on time and often got frustrated with the short lunches and copi ous amount of mandatory events. Nonetheless, I remained calm, respectful and always asked questions when I got confused. This helped me acclimate myself to the Oak Hill community and allowed me to flourish and become the stu dent I wanted to be, making the most of the sit uation given to me. Therefore, it could be said that the first step to being a successful student on “the Hill” is to never lose your composure and to remain cool in the face of a challenge. This will always work for your benefit and has been a dominant factor in the formation of my personality.