Good afternoon, my name is Josh Armstrong and I would first like to say thank you to all of the students, parents, teachers, and administrators of Blue Valley North for giving me this opportunity to speak before you on such a special day. It is surreal how fast these four years of high school have flown by. While graduation day inched closer, I found myself wishing for the classes to go on longer, and wanting the days not to end. As I prepare myself to take the next step in my life. If there was one thing that I learned throughout my four years at Blue Valley North, it is that you cannot let anything get into your head, you have to treat everyone the way you wanted to be treated, and always have a smile on your face no matter what. Growing up the youngest of three children having an amazing mother, brother, and sister certainly helped create the man who stands here before you today. You are probably thinking to yourself; why didn’t he mention his father? Well, let me tell you why. Before I was born, while my mother was carrying me in her stomach, my father broke her ribs. When she went to the hospital, the nurses asked her, “How did you break your ribs?” My mother replied, “I fell.” They asked her again, this time with a look of interest in their eyes, “Gina - how did you break your ribs?” She again answered, “I fell.” Months later I, Joshua David Armstrong, was born. Present inside the delivery room; my grandmother, and my father. Moments after I was born, my father decided he should to take a trip to Indiana and meet up with a girl. So there we lay, my mom and I in the delivery room without my father, without her husband. You would not expect from the type of person I am by the way I was raised. I was raised in an abusive relationship with my father. Frequently surrounded by violence, yelling, alcohol and a sense of fear that would always linger in your mind. Although I was rarely, if not never, physically abused by