CLASS OF 2026
CLASS OF 2026
Salutatorian | Isabel Mosca
were when we walked in these doors, and the person we are as we walk out. In 2014, Gwen Stacy said this to her graduating class: “Time is luck, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Make yours count for something. Fight for what matters to you, no matter what. Because even if we fall short, what better way is there to live?” Her words are important, not just because of what they ask of us, but because we’re already doing it. I’ve seen this class fight for what matters and experienced the community we’ve built from the ground up, and I couldn’t be prouder. My hope is that we take that with us… that we choose purpose over pressure, and passion over expectation. That we move through the world with intention, lead with kindness even when no one is watching, and work toward the life we want, not the one we feel expected to chase. There are two Latin phrases I want to share that feel especially relevant to this moment: First, “ad astra per aspera,” or, through hardship to the stars. It asks us to keep pushing forward, no matter the obstacles, because we may find ourselves pushing past our limits. And second, “amor fati,” which means to love one’s fate. To accept every detour, every setback, and every unexpected turn not as something to resist, but as something that shapes us into who we are meant to become. I’m grateful for everything I’ve lost. I’ve changed a lot in four years, and even in just one. Because every experience, setback, wrong choice, and mistake allowed me to grow. The things I’m so lucky to have only came to me because life cleared the way for them. I wouldn’t have met my best friends without losing something first, I wouldn’t have worked as hard as I did, and I wouldn’t have learned anything without facing adversity. My mom, who’s probably bawling her eyes out right about now, always says “everything happens for a reason,” and while that’s not always easy to believe, I try to carry that mindset with me every day. I hope the road ahead of me is difficult, I hope it challenges me, and I hope it tests my limits, because that’s exactly how I’ll learn to defy them. In the end, it won’t always be the perfect moments we remember. It will be the times we adapted, the times we persisted, and the people we became in spite of everything we didn’t see coming. Graduates… even though the end is near, this is just the beginning of every chapter we have yet to write. Thank you.
H
ello everyone. I’d like to begin by greeting our honored guests, teachers, staff, admin, and, most importantly, the class of 2026 graduates! If we haven’t met before, my name is Isabel Mosca, and I’m speaking as this year’s Salutatorian. I’m incredibly honored to have been granted this moment in recognition of my academic journey, but in all honesty,
that’s the last thing on my mind tonight. As we close the final chapter of high school and read back the pages of our “coming of age” story, we’ll only remember what was important. What mattered was not any accomplishment, accolade, grade, or expectation, but who we became in between. In time, the details will fade. We’ll forget where we sat in fourth period, the score we got on our final, who was in what club, who was best at what sport, or even who stood at this podium tonight. But what won’t fade are the things that never made it onto a transcript. The friendships we built, the moments we chose to keep going, the effort it took to get here, and the ways we changed each other without even realizing it. We’ll remember the person we
22 DSHS • Class of 2026
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