My PrepZone: Central volleyball star Presley Murray pens valedictorian speech

Fort Pierce Central volleyball star Presley Murray is on her way to compete in women's beach volleyball at the University of North Florida after a stellar career as a Cobra student-athlete.

A first-team All-Area selection for indoor volleyball for the Cobras this past fall, Murray took part in the inaugural season for beach volleyball as a sanctioned FHSAA sport and did not lose a match alongside partner Kendra Brown, who is headed to FIU.

Murray, in the midst of her commitment to being a top player in the state indoors and outdoors, earned her AA degree at Indian River State College alongside her work in the classroom at Central and will major in biology.

Graduating with an astonishing 6.02 GPA, Murray earned the distinction of class valedictorian at Fort Pierce Central and delivered a speech to her classmates Wednesday and shared with TCPalm her message to those around her who helped shape her as well as her favorite memories in competition and in the classroom.

Good morning Class of 2022!

I am so honored to be able to speak in front of all of you here today. The very first thing I want to say, and I will probably say this at least a hundred more times today, is congratulations!

We really did it! I am thrilled to say that we made it through the past four years of early mornings, science fairs, having proper MLA format, FSAs, learning things like stoichiometry and derivatives, and for all my procrastinators out there, getting through the late-night stress and anxiety of finishing an assignment before 11:59.

Without a doubt, all of those assignments and classes we did to get here took hard work and dedication — no matter how easy or hard these things were for you, you did it.

You completed it and that is something to be proud of. Now that I’ve said that, over the next few minutes I would like to share with you some things that we have learned over the years and how we have grown, the challenges we have faced and the accomplishments we have achieved, and finally to give thanks to all of the people who have helped us arrive at this moment.

And yet, we haven’t really arrived.

For as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Life is a journey, not a destination.” It can seem like a silly quote for a graduation because it may seem like we are at the end of our journey — we’re graduating, right?

But, in reality, our journey continues.

In our journey throughout high school, you probably learned in biology about molecular genetics, and if you took Mrs. Thompson, you learned how to decipher Shakespeare’s writing, but the most important thing from these past years at Central that I have learned, is to not take things for granted.

We all started to learn some valuable things in the very beginning of our journey.

Yes, I’m talking about freshman year, I know right, gross. But looking back, I think all of us were just so excited to be getting out of middle school, and to get to be high schoolers.

Of course, there were some nerves along the way, like what to wear and what to say, but by the end of your first day, you probably realized that high school isn’t that bad after all.

Before you knew it, you had to start shopping for your first-ever homecoming and talk about what you were going to do over Christmas break.

Then the new year rolled around, and it seemed like out of nowhere spring break came, then there were finals, and finally, we got out for summer.

Now sophomore year, that was a wrench thrown in the works. When we all heard that we got another week of spring break, we were all ecstatic. We could go to another beach party, hang out with our friends longer, and of course, there was no school! It seemed amazing.

Well, it was, until it wasn’t.

But I always tell myself that everything happens for a reason.

This amazing class of seniors learned how to overcome challenges at such a young age that most people never had to overcome in their lives.

Living a different lifestyle because you absolutely must, is beyond difficult, but we all figured out how to do it, and we gained so many valuable life lessons from it.

It taught us to be more patient, it taught us how to be stronger, it challenged us to learn and communicate in different ways, and most importantly it taught us how to care for others and realize all of the great things that we have in life.

Finally, I want to thank all of the teachers, staff, and coaches at Central. Each one of you has played a vital role in helping each one of us get to this point!

You are all very much appreciated.

I would also like to personally thank my parents, my brother and my friends. There is no way I could have done any of this without you guys.

So thank you. I wish everyone good luck as you continue your journey, and once again congratulations!

Favorite memories playing

In my time on the Central volleyball team, I made a countless amount of amazing memories. During my sophomore year, we won the district championship and went to the finals in both of the high-level tournaments we played in. Although these are great memories to have, I cherish the memories I made even more that involved hanging out with the team. Doing silly things like playing hide and go seek, or seeing who could kick their leg up the highest always put a smile on my face. Coming to Central was one of my greatest decisions I ever made. I have met some of my lifetime friends through Central volleyball, and I am so thankful for it.

Balancing studies and playing

Being a student-athlete can definitely be hard, but I found that as long as you stay disciplined with making sure you get your studies done first, it makes life easier.

Obviously, there were times where I had to go straight from school to practice, or straight to a game, but for the most part, I was able to get my school work done before.

To be honest, having volleyball made me get my school work done because when I didn’t have practice or a game I would put it off.

I think that being a student-athlete can actually benefit your learning and studies because you have to set out a specific time to study and do work or else you won’t know what you are learning.

The whole entire Central volleyball program was also a huge help. On game days a lot of us would go together to go finish our homework; it was like having a built-in study group!

Coach (Christy) Quigley was also very understanding with my school work. There were a few times where I had classes at IRSC or had tutoring, and she completely understood why I would be late to practice.

Looking back, there were definitely a few late nights studying because of my sport, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Playing volleyball not only gave me amazing friends but it also shaped me into the person I am today.

And without volleyball, I truly believe I wouldn’t have been as successful in the classroom.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: My PrepZone: Central volleyball star Presley Murray shares memories, gratitude in valedictory speech