On Opposites

6/6/2025

It is always very special to share in celebration and community with our students and their families. Step Up & Graduation offers valuable time to offer appreciation and well wishes for what the future holds. These words to our graduates are meant to spark reflection, joy, and hope. Congratulations to our graduates and best wishes!

Step Up & Graduation Speech

June 4, 2025

By: Virginia Paik

Congratulations to the Class of 2025,

To all our students.

We’re at the end of the school year,

Which is the opposite of the beginning-

Like how our shaded guests

Sit opposite those in the sun,

Like how the smiles on your faces

Have taken the place

Of the tears that rolled down

When our graduates walked

Tall and proud

Down our center aisle.

Opposite of when they were small

And proud

And at the beginning

Of Kindergarten 2016

Now they walk away -

Aged thirteen, fourteen -

With a swagger and a friend

To the park,

To JB’s,

To Magic Donuts.

It's time for our afterschool snack please.

We sort our world this way

We’ll split

Young from old

Fast from slow

High from low

Short from long

Hot from cold

Where we end

From where we began.

My brother- he’s the polar opposite of me.

We’re night and day.

We use opposites to distance

Ready from not

Calm from wild

Clear from clouded

Organized from a mess

Wrong from right

And right from wrong

And right from left.

We’re going in opposite ways.

You Go Right right right right

And I’ll Go Left left left left

To get here.

No opposite ways-

I’ll go West then North then East then South

To there

And you Go East then South then West then North

To there

To There

There

There, There.

We’ll meet there.

The deepest roots

Make for the highest leaves.

The driest ground

calls loudest for the rain.

Salted caramel

Floating boats

Starry nights

Jumbo shrimp

I have a scrape on my elbow

Cause my friend, no my enemy,

Knocked me down.

Now my enemy, no my friend,

Has a bandaid and an ice pack

From Janeth

And it’s fixed-

Relief for my pain

Just in time for a new game.

Ready or not here we come.

Do you remember the polar bear swim?

We climbed out from the pool -

Shiver shiver shiver

Shake shake shake.

My towel, wet and cold like me

was the opposite of what I needed.

Warm apple cider

In a cup between our hands

Stills the shake

Before our first sips

Reach our lips.

We’ve been polarized.

The coldest hands

Love the warmest cup.

Opposite from this morning’s sunrise

Will come this evening’s sunset,

Continuing this June day.

As it becomes this June night.

One wonderful

One beautiful

One complete celebration.

Ask a tightrope walker about the pole

They use to balance.

Ask a high jumper about the pole

They use to fly.

Ask a firefighter about Tom–the pole

They use to slide.

Ask a bird in the sky or a fish in the waves

About the Earth’s poles

They use to guide their ways.

Opposites aren’t all for division

And Distinction,

Polarization, Isolation.

They’re for embellishment,

Balance, and elaboration.

Our school year concludes today

With a commencement

That expands us,

That strengthens us,

And That connects us all.

This ending is now our new beginning.

Congratulations and thank you, Live Oak.

Have a happy, healthy summer!

On Opposites

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