Valedictorian Speech 2025

Before I begin, I would like to welcome my fellow graduates, teachers, staff, family, and friends. Thank you for attending the graduation ceremony of this year’s graduating class. I am Zechariah Milichichi, and I have attended Central Christian School since I was in kindergarten. Along the way, many people have crossed my path, changed who I am, and encouraged me to be the best that I can be. So, I am so grateful to be the valedictorian of my 2025 graduating class, and thank you friends, for challenging me to do my best, thank you mom and dad for helping me in any and every way you could so I could focus on my school work, and thank you siblings, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces, and nephews for always supporting me in everything that I do. I would also like to thank CCS for providing such a rich and quality education that has caused me to develop a deep understanding of the people, society, and world around me. I especially want to thank my teachers and coaches here at CCS. All of you have been so sincere, authentic, and understanding, I could not imagine a world in which I did not get to experience the love and joy that flows out of each and every one of you.

With such a small class, it was easy to get to know each of my classmates and to cherish moments shared by all of us. Early in our high school career, I remember we would sometimes gather in a circle during our worship time in chapel and share things that we needed prayer for. We became unified in our struggles and sympathetic towards each other. It was during moments like these that our class grew closer and closer together.

I am so proud of this class, all achieving many of our personal goals while playing sports or participating in the arts. Somehow, after what seemed like thousands of rigorous classes, we made it and are moving on to the next step of life. I could not imagine a high school career without this group of people. They have changed who I am, and they have always encouraged me to be better and to do better, no matter the circumstance. So, going forward, I encourage you all not to let negative and discouraging people tear you down. Continue to be you and never change just because someone tells you to. Be who you are, because God has called you to be you, and not anyone else.

Now, I would like to share an experience that has greatly impacted me this year so that you, CCS friends, family, and faculty, may also take something with you when you leave this ceremony.

In our World Literature class, Mrs.Tawzer introduced American novelist and short story writer, David Foster Wallace, and his commencement speech “This is Water” to the Kenyon College graduating class of 2005. In his speech, Wallace tells a few parables that convey a meaningful message. 

The first is about two goldfish. One asks the other, ”How’s the water?” and the other replies confused, asking what water is. Wallace uses the fish that does not know what water is to reveal that most people are unaware of the most obvious and relevant realities. Wallace calls this state of unknowingness or ignorance the “default setting.”

Another parable, that Wallace explains, tells a story that many people know all too well. Living in a default setting, a man wakes up, goes to work, drives home afterward, spends his limited amount of free time doing whatever, and then goes to bed. Rinse and repeat. Eventually, there comes a day when he needs to go to the grocer’s. So on that day, he gets off work, gets in his car, and makes his way toward the store along with everyone else in the world. Already annoyed by the traffic on his way to the store, he walks through the entrance of the building, where yet again, he sees every breathing person on the face of the earth. Forcing his legs to continue into the chaos, the man gathers what is on his grocery list and finds the check-out line that is filled with people in their own little worlds, seeming as though they would rather be anywhere else but here. As he walks up to the line, he too begins to think of the many other places he would rather be, which makes the situation just that much more miserable. 

This is the true reality of the “default setting,” living in a constant state of longing for something different and somehow unaware of the most basic realities that surround us. The default setting is a state that focuses on one’s self. MY time is being wasted. MY fatigue. MY annoyance with you, when quite likely it is YOU that are in others’ way, causing them to be annoyed or irritated themselves. The worst part about this “default setting” is that people do it without their own knowledge, given it is by default that we function this way.

Wallace develops the parable by explaining that instead of dreading every situation and complaining about everything, the man can begin to seek the truth around him and to understand the situations of others that are most relevant. It is likely that many of the people in the same checkout line as the man are also annoyed and exhausted. It is also probable that many of their lives are more difficult and painful than his. For example, the cashier at the register could be facing a fatal illness, or the woman behind him who is grumpy and irritable is only that way because she has been working back-to-back shifts at her job that pays way too little to live off of.

As conscious, thinking people, we can choose what we see in others and in the situations around us, and what we choose to see, is extremely important because we derive meaning from it. So let’s choose not to live in a default setting, and put others before ourselves, and consider what matters: people. How we view them, how we treat them, and what we think about them. 

Although David Foster Wallace was not a Follower of Christ, the message from ”This is Water,” fits well with the Boy’s Volleyball Team’s season verse. As the team’s captain this year, I chose Philippians 2:14-15 as our verse. It says:

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure,“children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky”

This verse outlines what the behavior of a Christian should look like. Doing things respectfully while honoring Christ, and, in doing so, we shall stick out from the crowd because He and His love are within us. But as Uncle Ben once said, “With great power, comes great responsibility.” The power that we Christians have when we shine bright like stars in the sky, shall be used with care, and to help spread God’s love in the things that we do, think, and say. Ultimately, we shall bear God’s image no matter what we do, so that we can share the Gospel with our whole self and not just our words.

Taking David Foster Wallace’s message of selflessness and finding meaning into consideration, along with the message from Philippians 2:14, my deep hope for your lives is this: 

That you will truly consider what I have said and apply it to your lives, and that we may leave this place with a transformed mindset, focused on the basic realities that we face and that we may use this knowledge to transform others and point them to Christ through our thoughts, words, and actions.

So, I hope that we graduates can remember what we have learned from Wallace and Mrs.Tawzer this year, and apply it to our lives as we go off into the real world. I hope this was an impactful way to say goodbye to this amazing class, and to this wonderful CCS community. Thank you again for granting me the honor of being valedictorian, and thank you, Central Christian, for supporting us in all of our endeavors. And I hope that I have also made a lasting impact on all of you.

God Bless, and Congratulations, CCS Class of 2025, Thank you