Class of '17: Shy valedictorians face their fears

As students across Montreal gather for their convocations, Shari Okeke is featuring class valedictorians on Daybreak.

If you know a valedictorian we should feature, send an email to [email protected].

These conversations have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Jiyoun Lim, Westmount High School 

How did you find out you were chosen?

My English teacher pulled me out of class. I thought I was in trouble. She said I was chosen as valedictorian. At first I didn't know the word. I was blank. Then she explained that it's doing a speech in front of everyone as representative of Grade 11. I said 'yes' after five seconds. I thought if I don't do it, someone else will do it and I thought, 'No, I'm going to do it.' I thought it would be a good experience.

How would you describe yourself?

I'm shy and I like science, not sports because I don't like sweating. I like doing experiments.

I'm going to Dawson College to study health science.

Why did you choose health science?

I want to be a pharmacist or maybe a doctor. My mother was a pharmacist [in South Korea].

When I was five she used to take me to her pharmacy and I saw her preparing the medicine and  interacting with nurses or doctors or patients. I thought it was fun and it is interesting to make medicine that helps people.

What would you like to include in your speech?

My friend told me to put in some jokes about science and make my calculus teacher laugh [but] I'm not really good at jokes. Not everyone is going on to CEGEP after so I want to say that it doesn't matter what path you take, it's how hard you work. The process is more important than the result in life.

How do you feel about doing the speech?

When I stand in front of a lot of people my face gets red. I think it's red right now. I don't like that.

Convocation is in October so I'm trying not to think about it.  Every year we do public speaking and I always get nervous and I need to practice a lot and now it's in front of a whole lot of people and I'm really nervous.

Sarah Ménard, Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School 

How did you react when you were chosen?

I know it's supposed to be a really big honour, people are supposed to be excited…but I'm just not as outgoing of a person so for me it was, 'Oh my gosh, I'm sorry but I don't know if I want to do this or not.'

What made you say 'yes'?

Sometimes I decide not to do something that scares me or that I think I'd be nervous about and then after I regret it.

I find being chosen to be valedictorian is not something everyone experiences. It's a privilege and I think if I were to turn it down, maybe later I'll regret it. I'd be sitting at convocation [thinking] 'I could have had this chance to say something meaningful to my class, all the parents and the teachers,' and I just really didn't really want to let go of that chance.

What do you want to say in your speech?

I think success is really finding what you love, being yourself and just being happy with where you are in your life.

A lot of kids in my grade are upset about CEGEP applications or where they're going next year because a lot of them haven't been able to make it into what they thought they would do. But I think that's OK.

I think people need to realize that no matter what path you take in life there's a way to be happy and there's a way to bring something positive to the world and not everybody needs to go get a PhD in order to be successful.

What's the scariest part for you?

It's just the thought of having to speak in front of so many people and being afraid of not being good enough. I know I'm able to write a good speech and everybody's telling me, 'Sarah, you'll do great' and I wish I could believe them but there's always some part of me that just gets stuck and thinks, 'Oh what if things go horribly wrong somehow?'

Joshua Jayme, James Lyng High School 

How did you react when you were chosen?

A lot of disbelief and confusion. I was really hesitant so I didn't accept it at first. I didn't know if I was going to be able to do a good speech. I didn't want to be a laughing stock standing up there.

What made you doubt yourself?

Past experiences and my stuttering. I stutter while I'm talking … While I'm up there, there will be 10 seconds of me not talking between sentences and I'm thinking, 'That's no good' and I'm thinking 'if I'm going to do it I need to be good.'

What made you decide to say 'yes'?

My mom. She said, 'If you're going to do it, I'll help you.' I just started working on it immediately.

Did you mention your fear in your speech?

I said: 'Good afternoon everyone, the first thing I want to tell everyone is: I'm terrified of all of you.'

They were laughing… It was a good sign, a great sign. I was making progress. I got the first sentence out. A good opener.

Any advice for other shy valedictorians?

Whatever you say, own it because it's your stuff, it's your speech, you created it. I would say practice. The only thing you can't be prepared for is the satisfaction, the pride of having done the speech. That's going to be one of the greatest rewards.