“I’ve always been a rule follower. When they said not to chew gum, I didn’t chew gum. When they said not to use your cellphone, I didn’t use my cellphone. But today, in the spirit of defying expectations, and for perhaps the last time at this podium, I say..."
Early College High School valedictorian Alem Hadzic has gone viral after he took the stage at his graduation ceremony to deliver his speech—just hours after his father's funeral.
The cost of depression to our family was too high. The risk of permanent damage to myself, our marriage, and our precious kids’ hearts was real. I was too weak to reach out for help, so he took authority and insisted on change.
"If you tell a person with anxiety to 'just stop,' well you might as well just stop your mouth from spitting any more unhelpful garbage that your conversation counterpart will want to take it right to the trash."
"I thought I was gonna die. I had never experienced something like that. I thought I was having a heart attack... heart racing, I was running around looking for something that I couldn't find."
"People around them act shocked. They are devastated. They say they didn’t see it coming; that they couldn’t have prevented it. But WE could have prevented it."
