Our Agency Director, Ashley Northington, served as the keynote speaker during Apollo Middle School’s eighth grade commencement ceremony on Thursday.
Ashley attended Apollo for seventh and eighth grades, so it was an honor for her to visit her former middle school and share insights from her journey.
Highlights from the talk are included below:
KEEP GOING.
You cannot stop because you make a mistake. My mom told me that once while driving. You yelled at me to keep going, to keep driving. This is true for high school and it’s certainly true for life. Mistakes are meant to ground you in your tracks. Mistakes are opportunities to learn new things. Mistakes are merely fuel to keep you moving forward.
SOLVE FOR THE RIGHT PROBLEM.
In high school and life, you’ll be issued a set of problems – I call them opportunities. It’s up to you to determine how best to solve them. Just make sure you’re focused on the right problem and believe in yourself when you’re doing it.
SUCCESS IS FOR THE RESILIENT.
I say this ALL the time. It is not for the people who others think are the most attractive, for those who are the most popular, or for those who have the most money. At times it may seem this way, but it is absolutely not true.
Success is ONLY reserved for the people who can celebrate the small victories and get back up after the big losses – no matter how painful, or how embarrassing, or how difficult it might be.
Success is reserved ONLY for the people who get knocked down 10 times, but get back up 11.
Congratulations to the Apollo Middle School Class of 2018!
