Good afternoon my name is Yonatan Barajas and I want to tell you a little about the great school we have here. 

I don’t think that any of us knew what to expect when we came to this school. No one knew what was in store, or the kind of journey they were about to begin.

Ninth grade was kind of a stepping stone for everyone to get into the AMES environment. From the first week of school I think we could all tell that this was going to be different from a normal high school experience. Ames is a school unlike any other filled with people and opportunities not found anywhere else and those of us lucky enough to be a part of it will always remember this school and its faculty.

When I talk with my friends from other high schools, most of them hate their schools; whether it’s because their teachers lack the motivation to teach or because their counselors are surprised when some of them are graduating. At Ames you build important one-on-one relationship with everyone on the staff; everyone here cares about your future and goes out of their way to help you in anything you need. You get to know everyone here as though they were a second family. You feel comfortable going into their classrooms and you know that if there is ever anything you need all the teachers here will always be behind you 100%. The counselors at Ames are people that are here, not because they have to be, but because they want to see you succeed and achieve everything in life to your full potential.

This is a place of opportunities and those who embrace them can enjoy so many experiences not found anywhere else. So many doors that are opened for us as Ames students, but it’s up to us to step up and walk through that door and for the people who accept the challenge, the knowledge and memories they will receive are some that will stay with them until the end.

These past four years have been amazing, and although they weren’t the traditional high school years many remember, I wouldn’t trade them for the world, I love everything about this school from the great friendships I’ve made with my teachers and peers, to the little things like making calculus jokes. It hadn’t really hit me that my journey at Ames had almost ended until our senior banquet. In the middle of all those good laughs I was sharing with my friends and teachers I realized, this is one of the last chances that we’ll all get to share an experience like this.

This school has been an amazing experience and has helped forge who most of us are today through the amesian experience, so thank you to all of the staff and to all my peers for making this such great school and thank you for making these past four years an experience that I will never forget.