COMS Speech

                                                         












Short-Version of Commemorative Speech:
Imagine being involved in a war torn country, murder strikes everywhere, and you’re wondering at such a young age why and how all of the violence going on in your area is occurring. Worry, shock and fear seem to come after you in all directions, and the question running through your head is, What am I supposed to do? I am referring to the beginning of the upbringing of Professional African ballerina Michaela DePrince and commemorating her for how much she has inspired me. I have done my research about DePrince through her autobiography of her novel “Taking Flight” that discusses her life as a child before she became a world-class ballerina. my commemoration to Michaela DePrince connects with how I am able to relate closely with her history as another African  before she got to where she is today.

 Michaela DePrince came from war-torn Sierra Leone, West Africa and lived a very challenging life at the beginning of her childhood. Before she had the name Michaela DePrince, DePrince was born with the name Mabinty Bangura on january 6th, 1995. DePrince also has the disease Vitiligo that causes her to have different spots of pigmentation on her skin color which caused her to face a lot of discrimination growing up from other African Children in schools and her own family, such as her uncle

When people think of ballerinas, they think of these graceful, elegant, and swift dancers that use music and their bodies to evoke certain emotions out of people watching them. But when I think of Michaela DePrince, I think of all of that too, yet I see her like a chinese bamboo tree as well. Michaela DePrince is like a Chinese bamboo tree in which you may not see the prosperity of the tree and growth if you’re not paying close attention, but through time, the proper foundation and hard work is what stretches the strength and growth of the tree and that is Michaela. It takes years for a chinese bamboo tree to finally sprout into the 80 feet wonder that makes it one of the most tallests plants in the world. I commemorate Michaela DePrince in hopes to cultivate and be successful to succeed like her and a Chinese bamboo tree.