Salutatorian Kevin Behrendt: 'Keep your options open'

Hello everyone, I know some of you are excited to be here, and the rest of you want me to stop talking already so you can get out of the heat.

I didn’t think I would be here. In fact, I was considering skipping graduation until they told me I had to make a speech. For the 30% of you who are actually listening, I hope you will find my words meaningful.

The transition from high school to adulthood is very uncertain. Many of you might have figured out your immediate plans. Some are going to college, some might be taking a gap year, others might be entering the workforce, and there are many other options. With so many choices, it’s easy to second-guess yourself about which path is right.

There’s a lot of pressure on seniors, especially, to know exactly what we’re going to do for a living. I worry that I’m going to get a degree, get a job and then realize that I can’t stand the career I’ve chosen. There are people who feel overwhelmed by the pressure of their decision, that they can’t change it, that they have to decide the rest of their life right now, and it’s scary.

It’s unreasonable to ask someone who is 18, even someone who is 25, to decide how the rest of their life will look.

The truth is that you don’t have to, and that even if you have a rigid plan for how your life will look at 50, something will inevitably throw you off.

The best way to make sure that you don’t get stuck doing something you hate is not to decide right away. Keep your options open. You might find that along the way, you find an even better path.

It’s OK to change your goals, even if they end up different from what they are right now. If you think there’s only one path that could possibly make you happy, it’s very easy to become caught up in it, and you’ll stress yourself out quickly. You become so focused on what you want to happen that you stop paying attention to what is happening. If you can’t find a way to manage that pressure, then life will pass you by.

It is just as important to relax as it is to study. Make new friends, try new things, keep working hard, but never stop living. And it is in the spirit of that sentiment that I will leave you with this question, inspired by my family: If you had a pet giraffe, how would it react to guacamole?