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THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 2025 Page 17 Erta Ismahili, Valedictorian Speech R esidents, Family, Faculty, Elected Offi cials, and most importantly the Class of 2025, I ask you one question: What does it mean to be from Revere? You may think of stillness and boredom when you think of this city. Others may get filled with nostalgia and joy. My biggest fear of all, however, is that when you think of this city, you think of nothing. Now, more than ever, apathy has been woven throughout our generation. Caring too much about a passion, hobby, class, or extracurricular is deemed “doing too much”. But look around you! We are here because someone cared. But what role does care have in success? Many think of the American Dream as wealth, a nice house, and a white picket fence. To me, the American Dream is about uplifting one another in the pursuit of happiness for all. We shouldn’t be building fences, or borders, or cages. We should be building bridges, connections, and change. Look to your left and to your right: these are the people paying the taxes that gave us a free public education and brought us here today. For me, serving you in the Student Council and Student Senate has been the foundation of my education and my pride in this city. I have marched for the future of Revere as we secured a new high school in the face of apathetic elected offi cials. I have fought for a city that protects our vulnerable populations rather than treating them as talking points. As we’ve worked hand-in-hand, I’ve been instilled with pride. Thank you for working with me, fi ghting with me, and for trusting me. In working together, I realized that our strengths come from our numbers. Oftentimes, leaders use our diff erences to divide us. You have often heard in these past few months that we are living in “unprecedented times”. As you scroll through news of deportations and genocide and see how history repeats itself, my hope is that you care. That you go on to keep learning and use your knowledge as a seed to grow new fi elds of action. Systemic inequality feeds off of apathy. People in power want you to be unaware and disaff ected. Your greatest weapon and shield as our world shifts in unexpected ways is your mind. Remember our differences and how they’ve made us stronger. You, like me, will find your pride in this city through our shared challenges. At one Speech & Debate tournament, a private school kid said I had an “urban look” to me (code words for looking poor). Another told me once that I was from “that ratchet school.” Many of us rarely feel as if the world has been made for us, and it hasn’t. But as others grow lazy and judgemental with privilege, I hope you all grow hungry with a need for change. Don’t just fight for your place at the table: reimagine why the table is there in the fi rst place. As you continue to look back at what makes you proud today, remember the people along the way. I’ll remember Mr. Fellowes and Mr. Conway, for teaching me so much about the world, and for believing in my place in it. I’ll remember Ms. DiCenso, my fellow RHS Valedictorian, for showing me the beauty of caring for your community. I’ll remember School Committee member Monterroso for showing me four years ago the power of my voice and grassroots action. I’ll remember the Mayor Patrick Keefe, Jr. Speech G staff members who uplifted us, fed us, and cared for us. I’ll remember my friends, for showing me that I can be understood despite my quirks and differences. I’ll remember my parents who sacrifi ced so much to come from Albania, my brother Ergi, my fi rst ever friend and mentor. And my mother especially, who told me the number one most important thing was my health. Number two was school. A majority of the time, I listened! But now, I view my priorities to go even further: not the almighty and independent “American Dream”, but to reimagine that dream into a diverse future built for us all. Remember Revere, remember this home. I hope that you all learn to revere Revere. Despite my love for this city, it is far from perfect: some have called me “shameful” for my beliefs. But it is because I care that I believe in its vision. People will ostracise you for being outside the box: oftentimes, it is because they built it and stand on it above us all. But together, that box can be broken down. Congratulations and goodbye, Class of 2025, thank you for the ride! Despite your differences amongst one another, you share this unique privilege of being part of the best class in RHS history. Use that privilege to lift others up with you. Remember your roots and remember to care, because nobody, no matter how much they may try, can ever take that away from you. Faleminderit. Thank you. ood evening and welcome: Dr. Kelly, School Committee members, administrators, faculty, staff , families, and, most importantly, graduates of the Revere High School, CityLab, and Coast Collaborative Class of 2025. What a beautiful crowd — Let’s give yourselves a round of applause… Graduates, tonight, we come together not only to honor your achievements, but to remind you of the enduring power of courage. I want to open with a quote from President John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s book Profi les in Courage: “To be courageous, these stories make clear, requires no exceptional qualifi cations, no magic formula, no special combination of time, place and circumstance. It is an opportunity that sooner or later is presented to us all.” At Revere Publ ic Schools, you have had the opportunity to explore your interests, engage with peers, overcome challenging course material, and develop strong relationships with supportive teachers, staff , and administrators who have helped guide you along your journey. You have perhaps learned something about who you are, what you are good at, and what matters most to you. Whatever direction you are headed in — and, oh, all the places you may go — will require courage, from moving off to college, joining the armed forces, learning a new trade, or having the confidence to start a new career. This next chapter of your life is the chance to go out on your own venture. Perhaps you will better define yourself, perhaps you will make a bold, new move, or perhaps go where your family has never gone before, the first of many new opportunities. Regardless of what your future holds, every path is truly diff erent, each of you will come to rely on the resilience instilled by your Reverian roots on this new, exciting journey. And so, graduates, I challenge you with one task as you enter your next chapter, as you write your own book, and the pages become filled with moments, opportunities, challenges, celebrations, setbacks, and glory: I ask each of you to fi nd your courage. Use it every day. Courage comes in many forms: From standing up to your fears, to being willing to take on new challenges, to using your voice when you’re surrounded by silence. Your courage may not be immediately gratifying, but it will defi ne you. It will shape your purpose and, when you refl ect on the paths you’ve chosen and look back to tell your story, your courage will jump off the pages. Your courage will be the legacy you leave. Graduates of the Class of 2025: Be courageous. Be unafraid. Be you. Congratulations to our Class of 2025. May you guide yourself to your defi nition of success courageously. Members of the National Honor Society Rania Abdelhannane Nicolas Aguiar Yassmine Alahyane Afnane Amine Issraa Areslan Fatima Baoussouh Aicha Bellakhdar Catherine Belliveau Isabella Betancur Mejia Sarah Bruno Samuel Cacicio Ava Cassinello Victoria Constantineau Angie Cuchilla Henriquez Nicole Da Silva Lauren Madureira Dos Santos Hind El Khalfaoui Rayan Elmzabi Steven Espinal Blanco Mohamed Fares Nada Fenni Alexa Flores Diana Alessandra Florian Nolasco Anderson Galvez Chacon Biancajayne Gesek Alexa Gracias Kathy Granados Alvarez Farah Habbour Nada Harar Isha Hassan Mikayla Hayes Altona Haziri Nixon Hidalgo Chicas Erta Ismahili Kessily Jacome Ana Kalliavas Ayah Khamis Francoise Kodjo Estefani Landaverde Guillermo Landaverde Orellana Amina Larhzal

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