Colfax High School Salutatorian: Taylor Meyer
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TAYLOR MEYER
COLFAX — Taylor Meyer, the salutatorian of the Colfax High School Class of 2019, is the daughter of Tim and Doris Meyer.
Taylor plans to attend UW-Eau Claire this fall to pursue a degree in biology.
Here is Taylor’s graduation speech from the 2019 commencement ceremony.
Well, guys, it’s kind of hard to follow up Tate, so bear with me.
Good evening parents, family members, school staff, teachers and all others who have come here tonight to help celebrate the Colfax High School graduating Class of 2019.
I can truly say that all of us wouldn’t be here tonight if it wasn’t for your help — although I do have to say thank you to Google, Wikipedia, copy and paste and caffeine for ensuring that my fellow classmates and I are here tonight as well.
Anyway, if there’s anything I know about you guys after spending 13 years together, it’s that we lack the ability to sit for long periods of time, so I will try to keep this as short and sweet as possible.
Class of 2019, it wasn’t that long ago we were snot-nosed brats crying through our first few days of kindergarten, and yet, here we are today, getting ready to be adults.
Growing up and making our own decisions isn’t going to be easy, but let’s take a couple minutes to realize how far we have all come.
We all have our own special memories that we will always cherish, and I had a couple of requests while writing this speech — some of which probably weren’t very school appropriate — but I would like to share just a few of my favorites.
I, personally, do not remember a lot from elementary school. But there is one thing I have noticed over the years is that this class seems to be very slow at reading analog clocks. Myself included. If you were to ask any one of us what time a class ends, you’d end up getting the standard answer of — “when the big hand gets on the 12.”
In middle school, we had the Grammar Flap in which we were supposed to learn the different parts of the English language through a rap song that Mr. Devine provided for us. In case anyone is wondering, half of this class still doesn’t know the difference between a noun and a verb, and I can guarantee you that none of us know how to rap.
Probably the most memorable trip in middle school was the high ropes course where we learned to face our fears and work together as a team. But I bet none of you guys will forget Trevor screaming like a little girl as he went on the zipline.
And what about the “pacer” in phy. ed. — the fitness test involving a multi-stage aerobic capacity test that progressively gets more difficult as it continues. “The twenty-meter Pacer test will begin in 30 seconds. Line up at the start.”
Yeah. I think we can all agree we never want to hear that again.
I was also not aware of this until a couple of days ago, but a little bird told me that there is supposedly a potato growing in the ceiling of this school and also a very disgusting black hotdog somewhere in the choir room. Don’t ask me why or how both of these things happened, but I think this class definitely left a mark on Colfax High School.
With that being said, though, I think Ben wins as far as leaving a mark on this school, quite literally, by watering the Colfax lawn.
Fortunately, these are not the moments that are going to define us for the rest of our lives, so take the time to look back and smile at all the dumb things that we did along the way.
Next I’d like to say a few thank yous to the people who helped us to be able to walk across this stage tonight.
Thank you to the teachers who pushed us, kicking and screaming, some days, to do our work. I’m not sure if this was because you truly wanted to see us succeed or if you just didn’t want to have us in class again the following year.
Thanks to the cooks for making Michelle Obama’s world a reality here at Colfax High School with our school lunches.
To the janitors for always cleaning up our messes over the years. Trust me. Some of them were not very pretty.
To the office staff for listening to all of our lame excuses as to why we were late to class for the third time this week.
To all of our teachers, Davey in particular, for letting us invade your prep hours so we could sit and tell you about all of our problems.
I truly cannot tell you how many days we have all heard strange, heated conversations coming out of a classroom, and we’d just keep walking because it was assumed someone was going through a high school crisis.
Thank you to Jake for hitting the school bus so we all had to use the same entrance and exit locations in the parking lot.
Unfortunately, this meant we actually had to start getting to school on time because it would take FOREVER to get into the school parking lot in the morning.
In all seriousness, though, the biggest thank you tonight should be going out to our parents. Without your constant support throughout the last 13 years, none of us would be here today. The things such as, “One day you’ll thank me,” or “As long as you live under my roof you live by my rules” might not have made sense at the time, but now I think we can all see why you said the things that you did. I’m sorry the only way we could repay you guys was by giving you additional gray hairs.
Class of 2019 — together we have experienced so many wonderful memories that I hope you never forget.
With that in mind, I also hope you take the time to appreciate the people who have helped you get here tonight. It is now time for us to close the chapter on high school and move on to the next one, whether your path takes you into the workforce or to college or somewhere else, I wish you all the best.
Take the opportunities life gives you and run with them. But never forget where you came from.
Like my grandpa always used to say, “If you can’t dazzle them with your brilliance, baffle them with your BS.”
Thank you. And congratulations!