When I was a freshman at 5’1, I weighed 197 pounds and was close to getting diabetes.

Anthony was 5’1 and nearly 200 pounds his freshman year.

One day out of school I saw the boys track and field team practicing and I thought to myself, “I want to run like them someday.”

That day I went home and told myself I can make my dreams come true. All I needed was a push and that push came when I saw the track team practice.

So I ran and ran and ran. It took me one year to lose 60 pounds. I now currently weigh 130 pounds.

Anthony began working out and lost 60 pounds in one year.

To anybody who reads this I leave you off with these thoughts:

In life you will come to a point where you want to give up, where you will accept what people think about you because you believe it’s true. I say it’s all lies.

You can become anything you want in life by working hard and dreaming big.

If your dreams don’t scare you then you’re not dreaming big enough.

To all my friends that I have met in the last four years – I want to say thank you and hope you all do great in life and never give up because I’ll be cheering on for you.

We are all so proud of you. Earning a high school diploma is evidence of grit, perseverance, and hard work. These same qualities will carry you far into the future.

Never forget that you are part of the greater Steinmetz family. You must return and visit often.

Your mission here as students is complete, but you will always be life-long ambassadors for your school and role models to the students who follow behind you.

I wish you every success in the world!

Cheers, Mr. Ngo

A handful of great friends and some teachers made my time here amazing. But in all honesty I cant wait to see what the future holds. College will be an exciting new chapter for (most of) us.

It’s going to suck saying goodbye and knowing you’ll lose touch with people you’ve seen on a daily basis day for four years. But high school is just a small chunk of our lives and there will be Facebook and Twitter (if those websites are still relevant when we’re older), so this isn’t goodbye. It’s more of a “see you soon” (once the awkward teenage years of our lives are over).

Now for the shout-outs: I’m not going to list friends just because I don’t want someone to read this and get mad he or she didn’t get a shout-out even if we only had like three actual conversations during the four years here. Instead I’ll use this as a thank you to the teachers.

First and foremost, I can’t thank Ms. Schmidt enough for what she’s helped me with. It’s thanks to her that a shy sophomore bookworm who kept to himself came out of his shell and became a vocal senior who tried things I wouldn’t have imagined.

My junior year journalism class is still one of my favorites in all of high school. Ms. Schmidt was one of the first teachers I met who cared about what students had to say and actually listened. She’ll turn this back on me and give me the credit, but thanks to her I received an award and scholarship that’ll go a long way in helping me with college.

Another special shout-out goes to Ms. S. (Gina Szulkowski). I only met her the start of senior year but she’s already one of my favorite people in the building. She put so much trust and faith in me that a lot people don’t usually give students.  She is one of those amazing teachers that works to educate students and has a passion for what they do, it’s not just a job to her.

Some quick thank yous to Ms. Russo, Mr. Sutphen (who probably won’t see this), and basically every English teacher I had in my time here. They just got better as the years went on, making for some of my favorite classes (even though all of them strategically had maternity leave during time I had them as teacher: Ms. Perez, Ms. Stubber, and Ms. Walsh).

Congrats class of 2014 — these were a weird couple of years.

As a senior class officer, Michael worked with underclassmen.

My elementary school math teacher Mr. Barral helped me become a success. He helped me grow in multiple ways and always pushed us to succeed. He inspired me to always aim higher and achieve more, as well as my family, who give their moral support and/or opinion on everything I do.

Also important to me are sports, sports, and more sports! I love, love, love softball, and volleyball. They are second nature. I tried basketball, but not such a huge fan of it.

My advice for other students: become a nerd/ teacher’s pet. It helps make your life easier when you can communicate well with a teacher.

I am currently enlisted in the U.S. Army as a 68W (Combat Medic). I will be doing Active Duty, so I won’t be in Chicago or Illinois for that matter.

 My contract is for eight years, during which time I will receive an associates degree. After that, if I don’t plan on making a career out of it, I will be a civilian medic. I am already guaranteed a job at a veterans’ hospital to open doors for me for my future career.

I will miss the feeling of being young and carefree (at times). I will definitely not miss the school’s lunch!

I’d like to shout out to the following: Justice Castillo, my girlfriend who is also currently enlisted Active Duty for the U.S. Navy, Nicole Perry, my cousin who works my nerves so much, yet I love dearly, Carleaaaaan, my best friend who I’d do anything for, and everybody else who I’ve missed. Softball girls, volleyball girls, basketball girls, my classmates and all my teachers.

I will definitely miss you all when we graduate. May you all enjoy life, and continue a journey that is nothing but successful and prosperous.