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CTK King of Hearts 2020 - Eleanor '20

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Ladies and Gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Eleanor. Good evening ladies and gentlemen my name is Eleanor I am a senior at Christ the King and I have worked in the human resources department at Ryan Specialty Group for the past four years. thank you all for being here to support my classmates and me although we can never really repay you, we work hard every single day to make you proud as we study in class, go to work and reach for our dreams after graduation. speaking of graduation mine is coming up soon after graduating from CTK in June this year I plan to attend Columbia College Chicago where I'll major in creative writing and minor in music. My dream is to become an author and poet, a vision for my life that I have developed during my time at CTK. My graduation from 8th grade left me trying to figure out where I would attend high school. leaving my Logan Square roots and spending the next four years of my life on the west side of Chicago seemed very intimidating. I originally wanted to go to Guerin Prep for Holy Trinity High School where I would fit in. I will be surrounded by some of the same friends that I had grown up with I would have been comfortable and in other words I wouldn't have had to change. My mother had another plan for me and my opinion didn't seem to fit anywhere in it. Long story short, I ended up at Christ the King. Even though I dreaded the decision made for me in the beginning, if I had never attended Christ the King my poetic gift may have never blossomed. My first day in summer business training with all of the other incoming freshmen students I remember sitting on one side of the room alone, not because I was incapable of making friends but because I was too afraid. I kept looking at my peers thinking there's no way I'll fit in here I don't talk like them, I don't act like them, this is all way too different way too fast. Little did I know that while the next four years at the school would go by quick with new friends leaving almost as swiftly as they came my time here would also help me embrace change as well as my gift as a writer in ways I never thought possible. I've known I was a writer since I was 5 years old, when I was in first grade my teacher told me and my peers to write about something we wanted deeply. It could have been a good grade, a new pair of shoes or maybe a trip somewhere as long as they displayed a type of passion. Everyone in my class decided they were going to write about a new book they wanted their parents to buy for them or a trip to Disneyland that they wanted to go on. Not me, I wanted a puppy. I've been begging my mother for a puppy since I could speak but she just wouldn't get me one. She claimed they were too much responsibility and I wouldn't be able to take care of it properly. So to prove how passionate I was about having a pet of my own I chose to write about it. I like puppies. Playful puppies, fluffy puppies, cute puppies, funny puppies, any kind of puppies. I like puppies. My classmates at school as well as my mother were entertained by my writing but something inside of me opened up. I had this intense feeling almost as if my heart was glowing but at the time I didn't really know what that was about I figured since I had read the poem right after lunch it may have just been heartburn. I had never felt anything like it before and I may have never felt it again, had it not been for mr. muckley and the CTK Poetry Club. my freshman year a student told me that she had been going there and it has really helped her become a better writer. one day after school she told me I should join her she said it would be good for me since I was so good at public speaking in my classes. when I walked into the room I saw a bunch of my peers. they were older and younger than me and they were people I would see  in the hallways every day. they all seem quiet and shy during school hours but when they came into the room they became poets working on their poems and presenting them with every emotion a human can possibly express. they spoke as if they had been silenced for years and their poetry was the only way that they can say what they really felt. I knew then this was the place for me. my sophomore year my poetry allowed me to become a semifinalist in louder than a bomb, a nationwide poetry competition for teenagers. my junior year I run third place in an oratorical competition at Operation Push this past summer I read two of my original pieces and won first place at the Austin's Got Talent showcase. many of these accomplishments would not have been made possible without the faculty and staff at Christ the King. my teachers encourage me daily to not only show my tasks as a student but to fulfill my dreams by any means necessary sometimes that meant I had to step out of my comfort zone or work with someone I didn't know very well. either way every piece of success that I achieved since I started my high school career has been because CTK pushed me for a change. whenever my peers ask me for advice I always tell them to embrace others perspectives which means changing the way you think which isn't always appealing to everyone. change can be alarming to most people but the truth is if we didn't explore differences and situations or thinking habits none of us will be who we are today I'm sure each of you can think of a scenario that caused you to change the way you view something. we're someone forever now think we should be the person you are that never happened one of the most important things that high school has taught me that life has taught me the most important thing that I have to share with each of you tonight is to embrace change. without it we would all be boring people with narrow mindsets accepting change helps you to become who you really are and when you finally figure out who you are, wear it on your sleeve make the world embrace you for who you are and if you don't fit in the world's box create a world to call your own thank you

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CTK King of Hearts 2020 - Eleanor '20

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