Today and forever, my fellow Graduates and I all have something in common: we came back and took care of unfinished business. We passed and received our GED diplomas. But beyond that, I imagine everyone one of us has a different story and journey, of how we got here; today I'd like to share my story with you.

In the Fall of 2007, I walked into the doors of my highschool, just the same as I had done so many times before. This time though, it'd be the last time I ever walked through those doors as a student. I signed the papers that morning, and walked out with the official label of "dropout". I think I may have done a little dance in the parking lot, I'm not really sure, but I do know I was relieved and excited.

There were countless reasons behind dropping out; my number one, was to escape. For as long as I can remember, I've been battling my own thoughts. Trying to figure out why I didn't seem to ever really feel apart of anything and looking for an antidote to stop a day to day feeling of pain, that seemed to stem from nowhere. Febuary 2006, the middle of my freshman year, I was diagnosed with BiPolar Disorder. A brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in a person’s mood, energy, and ability to function. Through my research in the past years, I've learned that to many people, the day they were diagnosed with BiPolar, or any mental illness for that matter, see that day as the day they're entire world crumbled before them. To me that day is much different. Febuary 16th, 2006 will forever mark the beginning of my long recovery from insanity to reality.

If highschool wasn't hard enough, stumbling around the halls with a mental illness sometimes made it feel almost unbearable. The last 2 months of my freshman year were spent being homeschooled. By Sophomore year, I sometimes felt paralyzed; I'd lay in bed for days and days, and then sometimes, I couldn't sleep for days and days.. I didn't make one full week. By December I was being homeschooled once again.

I really enjoyed being homeschooled. The one on one attention really helped me catch up, and I could do it from my home where I felt most safe. Almost a year had passed since I had been diagnosed, and I was finally feeling a "normalcy" I hadn't ever really felt in my entire life. By March, I wanted to go back to school and try being a normal high school student once again. I only went half days, and I spent an hour each day in a classroom for the "emotionally unstable". I had never felt so exiled and "weird" in my entire life. (& That's saying a lot seeing as I went for years always feeling that way.) A few weeks passed and I asked to be homeschooled again, the school felt they had already helped enough and I would just have to wait until next fall to start again. Start from the beginning.

To me that wasn't an option. I had worked so hard to stay somewhat caught up, and not to mention my family, friends, and doctors supported me through this for so long and so hard without even being asked. There was no way I was going to accept that. We had all worked too hard to just "start from the beginning"; Repeat sophomore year and graduate at least a year later than I was suppose to. I'm not going to lie, it was a slap in the face.

By September of 2007, I was enrolled in GED classes here at C9. For the first time, I sat in a classroom and felt as though I was an equal. Here I felt as though we were all looked at as students, and we were treated as "present students". We were not judged by our past, not treated differently for our different reasons of being here. Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat, suggested that a society should be measured by whether it has more memories than dreams or more dreams than memories. In other words, are we focusing on the future or struggling to hold onto the past? Societies that focus more on the future are going to, in the end, be much stronger than those that talk constantly of the good ‘ol days. While we need to cherish our history and customs, we need to also recognize today and tomorrow are much more important than yesterday.

We are the dreamers and the doers. Our GED diploma is not only the end to unfinished business, but it is the beginning step to succeeding, and making our dreams a reality. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams". Through these years of struggle, I always had the dream of some how finishing school. I can't even begin to express the gratitude and pride I have for not only myself, but for every individual who's been in my life and helped me through my darkest days. I stand in front of you, not a changed person, but defiantly not the same person. I am an accomplished person, as are all of you.

I'll start attending Ivy Tech this August, starting college one year before I was suppose to even graduate highschool. I want to go on and learn as much as I can, about everything I can. I want to travel and explore, and most importantly help. After Ivy Tech, my current plans are to go on to the IU School of Social Work, and help those with mental illnesses get through life, and become the person they've always dreampt of, just like I have. In the words of an old poet, "Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must first be overcome."