Graduation Speech: The Importance of Loving God :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

I've had a great time these past four years of high school. I've had a lot of fun with my class. We have many memories together. The basketball games, the parties, and all the fund-raisers for worthy causes. And, we've all been really busy with our own individual lives, and I know that will never change. But, on top of my busy schedule, I've learned something. And right now I want to tell you the most important I've learned. I've learned it doesn't matter what our day to day lives entail. Whether it's doing homework or studying, working or singing, being the Strawberry Queen, playing tennis or playing piano, or even doing karate. What's most important is loving God! Because, you see, the memories fade away and the friends move away, we all know that, but God is always constant. Psalm 90 verse 2 says, "Even from everlasting to everlasting, He is God." I know I haven't experienced as much as many of you have and I know I have a lot to learn. But, nothing I learn matters as much as my relationship with God. And a lot of you might say, "Michelle, you do a lot for God. You've been on mission trips and you're on the leadership team at your church." You could even say that the Senior Class has done a lot for God. Some teach Sunday school at their church, a few help lead worship with music, and some run sound. These are all wonderful. But that doesn't matter. What matters is what's in here. What's in your heart. All the other things are additions. I once read a quote that says, "The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life." You know that may be true. But let me give you an even greater truth. The man who lives his live without Christ has wasted eternity. And that is a deadly and dangerous game to play. But you know what? Those who live for God have the hope of eternity to look forward to. Because God has given us a free gift. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Class of 2006, I want to challenge you. The ultimate truth is that our focus should be on God and not on this world. And always make sure that people can see God through you.

Student Version of Decleration of Independence

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for students to break off with their parents and teachers and to become independent; they must explain why they deserve to be independent to the rest of the world. This requires us, as students to write our own Declaration of Independence for the rest of the world to see and comprehend why we should be and will be independent to show our oppression against our teachers. To begin with, it is obvious that all students are created equal and are given by their creator the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of whatever makes them happy.To get these rights, teachers should allow students do as they wish. However, when teachers begin a long train of mistreatment and machination against students with their communistic ways and Pearl Harbor sneak attacks with discipline it shows they only want to control every aspect of our lives. Do we not deserve respect? It is the duty and right of us sapient students to get rid of the control o ur fastidious teachers have over the students and our school.Furthermore, students have been very patient with the teachers and faculty of South Gwinnett High School, but with such a long history of mistreatment, headache and constant nagging from the staff it is only right that the rest of the world finds out what has been happening. It has rained so long, it seems as though it has rained for 40 days and nights. They give us repeated pointless referrals; they give us way too much work with no time to finish. Staff are constantly questioning students in the hallways and telling us what to wear.They tell us when we can or cannot use the restroom; they tell us that we only have six minutes to get to each class, which is not enough time. Our lockers are too small and our lunches are inedible. They refuse to let us go off campus for lunch, and they refuse to let us self-checkout anymore. They punish us if we do not make it to class on time by going to the tardy room, and they punish us for gratuitous reasons that were unfair and not our fault. Even after all of this mistreatment, the students including myself have expressed how we felt to our teachers.However, our complaints have fallen flat. And as usual we have been shunned and ignored. We have even brought our situation to the ears of administrators, teachers from different schools and parents, but we have been muted. A petition to ease the dictatorship of our teachers was refused by many. Some even attempted to post posters illustrating how the students felt. Students even tried going on strike, refusing to go to classes. Meetings to try and sit down with the faculty of South Gwinnett to discuss the matter were ignored as well.The betrayal was stern. Do we not deserve respect? Though, now we must announce that we are accommodating in this debauchery and separating ourselves from the school as a whole to become more independent and liberated. We, therefore the students and representative of South Gwinnett High School in Snellville Georgia present these facts to the rest of the country and the world for freedom. And with this, the students of South Gwinnett write and declare that we are now independent from South Gwinnett High School.

Strategic Issues in Entreprenuerial Ventures - 1565 Words

Chapter 13 STRATEGIC ISSUES IN ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURES AND SMALL BUSINESSES The Importance of Small-Business and Entrepreneurial Ventures A. Definition of Small-Business Firms and Entrepreneurial Ventures The most commonly accepted definition of a small business firm is one that employs fewer than 500 people and that generates sales of less than $20 million annually. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, â€Å"A small business is one which is independently owned and operated, and which is not dominant in its field of operation.† Although there is considerable overlap between what is meant by the terms small business and entrepreneurship. The concepts are different. The small-business firm is independently owned and†¦show more content†¦Herb Goldstein, a partner with BDO Seidman, commented that older entrepreneur were more likely to â€Å"manage by the set of their pants.†Of those firms with strategic plan 89% indicated that the plan had been effective. Reasons given for its effectiveness were that it had specific goals (64%), gave staff unified vision (25%), and set up a time frame for achievements (11%). Reasons given for an ineffective strategic plan were that it was too vague (43%), lacked a time frame for goals (29%), did not identify goals (17%), and lacked staff input (11%). Degree of formality Researchers generally conclude that the strategic planning process should be far less formal in small companies than it is in large corporations. Some studies have even found that too formal a process may actually hurt performance. A heavy emphasis on structured, written plans may be dysfunctional to small entrepreneurial firms because it reduces the flexibility that is crucial to their success. The process of strategic planning, not the plan itself, is probably the key to improving business performance. The observations suggest that an entrepreneurial venture begins in Henry Mintsberg’s entrepreneurial mode of strategy formulation (see Chapter 2) and moves toward the planning mode as the company becomes established and the entrepreneur wants its growth to continue. However, if the entrepreneur choose stability over growth, the venture moves toward the adaptive mode common to