Disclaimer and note: I down own HSM and the little bit of Monk that's in there I don't own either. I never saw HSM 2 or 3 so I don't know for sure that Gabriella was the Validictorian but I thought she probably would be

They say every end is a new beginning and I am fairly certain I agree. Today is a new end for us but it's also a new beginning. Some of us will be going on to collage. Some of us will be working at a new job. Some of us may be getting married or traveling or whatever else we may be doing.

As we contemplate the end of this journey we shared together I am full of memories of this journey. I remember moving here from my old place. It was scary at first. I felt like a stranger in a strange land. The rules, the customs—some were different and others very much alike my old school. When I found out that Troy Bolton, a friend I met on vacation attended the school I felt better.

Troy was, is and will always be my hero. I can remember that when I first went to this school paddling was allowed as punishment for violence. Doesn't make any sense to you? Yeah it didn't make any sense to any of us. Anyway I remember getting in trouble one time for defending myself and Troy who was seriously my hero did a Tom Sawyer thing and took my place.

Throughout the time in East High I built a family. Troy who is my fiancée and his family have been the first part of my family. We have a very strong bound which has been tested time and again. We've been through things that would tear most people apart and when I look back on it I still don't know how we got through it. Wait, I take that back—I do know how we got through it.

Throughout the years we built an unbreakable and unshakable bound. We learned to listen to one another and build each other up instead of knocking each other down. That takes a lot of work. It's very easy to go for the easiest solution and not listen. It's a lot more difficult to listen and problem solve.

Taylor, now what can I say about her? Taylor had been my best girl friend since I got to East High. I remember the first time I was at her house. She was so organized. She had a box for everything.

One box was labeled useless things I will never use. In it was her BING BANG BOOM, our nickname for the correction item. Taylor was captain of the chemistry club and was the leader for each competition every year. The other box was titled things that will move people forward. There she kept letters of encouragement, plaques and other little things. I asked her about that and her answer surprised and astounded me.

She explained that in this world we have choices. We can choose to be negative and we can choose to be positive. She chose to be positive and encourage people and help move them forward. I said that maybe we should choose to put an end to the negativity all together and you all know about what happened next. It was a roller ride, up and down and a fight to get paddling eliminated in our school.

It was a fight we won but we won more then that. We won self esteem, self respect and collectively as a complete group we decided on no more negativity whatsoever. That wasn't too far of a leap. Scholastically, morally and socially we improved drastically. Nobody would have believed it if we didn't believe it with our own eyes. Remember though negativity brings people down while the opposite, positive actions builds people up so really it's not so surprising.

Taylor taught me a life lesson I will never forget. Unfortunately her life was taken from her the following year but her legacy lives on. It's her heart that is beating in me. The year she died I was diagnosed with heart failure and was a foot ½ out the door. Everyone was tested and we knew from the tests that my heart and Taylor's matched. Six weeks later Taylor was brought into the hospital dead on a stretcher with a letter instructing her heart to go to me. Nobody really knows what happened to her. Some suggest that she knew she was going to die so she left the note just in case. Some say she killed herself so that I could live. What I do know is that I'm alive today because Taylor's heart is beating inside me.

Chad is quite a character too. He taught me a lot about forgiveness. He and Troy had a fight once. Troy had gotten mad at him for something he didn't do. But he held no resentment to Troy. His exact words were "I'm not going to let a stupid fight ruin the best friendship ever."

I asked him once if he resented me for being alive when Taylor is dead. His answer was clear and straightforward.

"I lost my girlfriend," he said, "and I will always miss her but if she hadn't died I would have lost my best friend. Troy is my best guy friend. You're my best girlfriend"

Did I cry? Yes I'll admit it I did.

I think however the best lesson I learned was from my cousin, Adrian. He used to go to this school. There was another guy that used to go there. He did not like that guy AT ALL. In fact he hated him.

The problem was he didn't know him. He knew that this guy did something he didn't like. Once he knew the situation he knew that first impressions aren't always the right impressions. That was one thing that will stick with me forever. Give second chances… not necessarily 3rd or 4th or 5th but definitely 2nd at least. Congratulations to the graduating class of 2009