It’s graduation season which means there are plenty of words of wisdom being shared by commencement speakers.
However, one commencement speaker, particularly, gained notoriety for her speech to her students. The valedictorian of Piedmont, South Carolina’s Woodmont High School, Lydia Owens, bravely included her faith in her address.
She began her speech by describing a challenge and how she overcame it to get to where she was.
She remarked, “You are so much more than how well you perform. What happens when you fail if you put your identity in what you do and think you’re only good enough if you succeed?” Owens asked. “What happens when you don’t have much money or friends?”
Owens claimed that when her mother, whom she regarded as her best friend, passed away two years ago, she had a “reality check.”
“My grades or accomplishments did not help me get through that loss when tragedy struck my life.”
“The one person I could rely on to remain the same while everything else in my life felt unsure was Jesus.”
Owens told WHNS that her mother was her greatest source of motivation and “always encouraged me in my faith.”
“I have such a strong faith because of her. She set the bar high for what it meant to be a godly woman and to love others purposefully.”
The teen said that after losing her mother, her definition of success “drastically changed because I realized the many years I spent placing my worth in my academics meant absolutely nothing in eternity.”
I loved Lydia’s speech, which wasn’t your standard valedictorian speech. It provided a fresh perspective on success and how much pressure we put on ourselves to achieve it.
