Having completed three full years, and over half of my fourth, at Saint Patrick I can say that the Brotherhood experience has been rather unique. If I had been asked to write this speech a month or two ago, I would have been hesitant. Not because I didn’t love going to St. Pat’s, but more or less because I didn’t feel that the Brotherhood was as active as advertised.
However, a few weeks ago all of the seniors were called in for an assembly regarding graduation. It was during this presentation I realized how much this school, and the students who attend it, mean to me. The man giving the presentation was talking about his graduation and what he would have liked to do differently, and suddenly he said “look around, all these faces that you have seen every day for the last four years, won’t be there all the time anymore.” Once he said this, I felt the mood in the room shift. For some reason, this sentence really impacted me. I thought of all the memories, and all of the relationships, I had built as a Shamrock.
I thought of the soccer team, and how we started from the bottom, and made it all the way to the top. I thought of the football games at Soldier Field. I thought of the game winning shot against Notre Dame my freshman year. I thought of the time a turkey ran into the building during my freshman year. Most importantly I thought of how every single member of my class, or soccer team, would do anything for me, and I for them.
I feel at times I took these four years for granted, and I never really realized how strong the bond between Shamrocks is. For all of the underclassmen, I recommend that you buy in to the St. Pat’s experience, and cherish every moment you have in this building, because before you know it, you will be graduating.
