STUDENT SPEECH: MICHAEL GREGG (DC PREP CLASS OF 2014)
Hello students, staff, and families. I am Michael Andre Gregg, and welcome to the 2014 8th
grade DC Prep graduation. This is the moment we have worked for for years, and it is a
moment we should all be proud of. All of the 8th grade students and I, or should I say “high
schoolers,” have worked hard to get here, many of us have faced losses in our families, and
have experienced behavioral challenges and disabilities. But in the end, we overcame them.
We have a choice in life, a good choice, and a bad choice. I bet all of us have made bad choices,
but all of us have made good choices, too. But when we make bad choices, we are faced with
another option: to learn from it, or not. When we learn from our bad choices, we try not to make
those same mistakes again. On the road to getting here, we have had to face challenges that
interfered with our goals. I will share two stories about challenges I faced at DC Prep.
A challenge I had to face at DC Prep was controlling my anger. Before I came to DC Prep I had a
problem with my anger, I wouldn’t calm down or stop tantrumming. My anger got me in so
much trouble that one time I got suspended on my 11th birthday for getting really mad. The
really sad part about it was that I didn’t even get any cake.
The school noticed my anger problem and got me a therapist to help me with my anger, her
name was Ms. Cook. She helped me to calm down and to understand that if I stayed calm then I
wouldn’t get in a lot of trouble. Other kids and I would see her every day, and every day we
learned how to control our anger. I remembered the time I watched the Incredible Hulk movie.
I thought about how much trouble the Hulk got in when he got angry, then I thought if I got so
angry that I turned into a giant, green Gamma Monster that goes on a rampage I would have
the army chase after me all over the world, and nobody wants that.
DC Prep helped me get over my anger, and I would like to say thank you for helping me
overcome my challenge. When you have a problem that you’re dealing with, you need people
to guide you through those rough times. A lone wolf can’t survive without help from its pack.
DC Prep taught us to persevere through our hardships and to accept help and responsibility.
DC Prep helped me overcome another challenge that I had no idea about and neither did my
family … Asperger’s and ADHD. I had acted silly all the time and did stuff that I couldn’t
explain. My parents didn’t know why I acted like that. When I came to DC Prep, they wanted to
help me and they found out that I had Asperger’s and ADHD. All my life, I had a hard time
staying on task, paying attention, and listening. I’d get in trouble because of it and was picked
on. The school referred me to a doctor who worked with my family and me, to help me stay
focused in school. Ever since then, my grades have improved and I stopped acting silly.
But then I realized I missed my inner character – I missed having Silly Mike. I decided to
sometimes let him out and do what he does best, but at the same time, control him. Before I
stepped into DC Prep I was a silly, out of control character, now… I’m just me, Michael Andre
Gregg the 2nd, my normal self.
I’m proud of who I am, and that I have something that makes me special, and I’m thankful for
DC Prep for helping me control my inner character and accepting that sometimes Silly Mike just
has to come out. I learned that even if you have something that makes you different from the
others, that’s not a bad thing, it just means you are a very special person.
Everyone in the world – every hero, every villain – has a strength and a weakness. Our
weakness can also be our strength if we use it for our advantage, and to help people around us.
We must know how much power we have, including the power to grow.
You can overcome anything in life – overcome any disability, any disorder, any problem. No
matter how hard it is you can defeat it. Life might not always be friendly to you, it might not
always give you a hug. But, if you work hard, and are determined to succeed, you can do
anything. Remember, don’t change who you are mentally and physically, because who you are
makes you special. Even if someone tries to tell you that you aren’t special, don’t listen to them
because you know who you truly are.
I’d like to thank Ms. Silva, Ms. Lashley… you know what, all of DC Prep. I’d like to also thank
my mom and dad, and especially my grandma Brenda who always gave me good advice,
helped me through rough times, and gave me hope.
Goodbye, and have a beautiful day.
POET LAUREATE: HEVIN BELLAMY-JONES (DC PREP CLASS OF 2014)
I WENT FROM
I went from A’s to C’s and F’s.
I went from F’s and C’s back to A’s and a few B’s.
I went from someone’s home to my own,
I went from living nightmares to living my dreams;
I went from focusing on my past to creating my future.
I went from dependent to more independent,
I went from a child to a teenage leader;
I went from me to us,
I went from my own to our, I went from reading
to writing, I went from not believing in myself
to believing in myself AND others.
I went from good to bad
but really I went from worst to better
and now better to a leader. I went from
this to that, I went from someone that
was created to a person that I am
creating.
And now I am coming from middle school to go to
high school and then I AM going from high school
to college.
Now, on this stage I went from being we to being me!