Reanna Lewis of Des Moines delivered a brave and moving commencement address at Hoover High School this year. The Sunday Des Moines Register posted the audio of Lewis’ speech and published a partial transcript in the paper’s June 9 edition. The points she raised are so important that I’ve transcribed her whole speech after the jump.

How well do you focus on intellectual tasks when you are hungry, stressed out, or exhausted? Lewis spoke frankly about how her family’s emotional and financial struggles could have derailed her high school education. Child poverty and food insecurity are huge problems in Iowa. Nothing in the governor’s education reform blueprint or the final bill he signed last week will address those problems. Iowa students will not achieve on a world-class level until we improve our social safety net. Teacher training, classroom size, educational philosophy and student assessments can only go so far.

The Register’s lead editorial on Sunday pointed out, “Students can’t learn if they are hungry or sick. […] Students who drop out don’t necessarily do so because the courses are too difficult or teachers don’t have enough time for them. They leave because they are struggling outside school. From funding human services to helping families secure a living wage, Iowa can do more to help these families.” Amen to that.

You can listen to Reanna Lewis’ commencement address here. I enclose my transcript below. She mentions trying to figure out “what I was going to do without my dad”; Lewis told the Des Moines Register that her father was sentenced to at least 10 years in prison during her freshman year. The newspaper did not specify the crime for which he was convicted, but Iowa has long demonstrated a terrible racial disparity in our incarceration rate. Lewis is African-American.

Ladies and gentlemen, class of 2013, we are finally here. These last couple of months, we have spent alternating days watching the clock and asking questions like, “Oh, the day’s already over?”

Beginning high school, [in] like every class, we received advice such as, “High school goes by really fast.” “In high school, you find out who your real friends are.” And my personal favorite: “After you graduate from high school, stuff gets real.” At the time, that advice seemed like the most inaccurate statement that had ever come out of anyone’s mouth.

Now that we are older, we realize that most of the advice given was absolutely right. Earning good grades and staying involved in extracurricular activities didn’t seem challenging when we didn’t realize the side effects of it all. It’s amazing how we can go through so much in high school and still be able to enjoy a successful day like this.

There are individuals in the [Hoover High School] class of 2013 that have had to learn a new language, leave family members behind, escape a war-torn country and have to balance school, work and family obligations, just to walk across this stage. The class of 2013 is a generation all in its own, because we have the ability to overcome our obstacles. I personally am a living example.

For me, high school wasn’t only filled with dances, homework, and my next athletic event. I’ve also had to figure out where I was going to live, what I was going to do without my dad, and ways I could help my family with paying bills. No longer could my attention only be on certain events, because life got real.

Freshman year, I was really excited about starting high school and getting involved in sports year round, such as volleyball, basketball, and track and field. But I had experienced my first obstacle: receiving the news that my father wouldn’t be able to experience my high school and college years with me.

By the second year of high school, I had been cast in the exact part I wanted in Hoover’s production of “Aladdin.” I met a lot of new friends, but after I officially lost my home, I emotionally shut down and didn’t speak to anyone. I didn’t even talk to my close friends as much, because I was too embarrassed to talk about it.

Eleventh grade, I received my first car and finally had a job, but I also spent many tough nights debating whether to do my homework or catch up on sleep. Most of the time I would either do my homework by candlelight or not at all because I was so exhausted from practice. So it wasn’t really a surprise that I failed Algebra II.

I thought that being a senior would be easy, knowing pretty much everyone in the school and becoming a legal adult and all, but honestly, it was the hardest year. It was nothing but a shock when my great-grandmother passed away just months after starting out the year. Nothing really mattered to me after that, because it meant that two of my closest loved ones wouldn’t have the chance to see me walk across this stage. Using sports as an outlet wasn’t really an option anymore. It just seemed like it caused more stress. I was so overwhelmed that I would spend some days just lying down instead of going to class and practice.

Luckily, in the midst of my past, I ran into an individual who always told me to look at the bright side by pointing out the benefits of every negative situation I was in. I was confused on how that could possibly be. Looking back on it all, I’ve realized that each of these situations have also affected me in a positive way, even though it didn’t seem like it at the time.

I’m not sharing this because I’m wanting sympathy. I’m sharing this story because I know there are individuals in this class that have experienced similar, if not the same situation. If I would have allowed those events to affect me in a negative way, I know I wouldn’t be here today.

I want the class of 2013 to not only overcome our obstacles, but allow our past events to motivate us for the future. With the support of our friends and family, let’s follow the motto of the Disney movie “Meet the Robinsons,” and that is to keep moving forward.

If there isn’t a strong support system, we each must grow into a person who is able to build the strength no matter what. Take anyone who is successful now in his life as an example. It doesn’t have to be someone famous or well-known. Everyone goes though something life-changing, and that’s what sums up high school in one word. High school has changed everyone, but most importantly, it’s prepared us for life after this point.

Do not allow your past to consume you. The obstacles collecting dust in your past do not determine your destination. Nothing we do can change the past, but everything we do changes the future. This is not the end. This is a new beginning. I am proud to have the opportunity to say, “Congrats to the class of 2013.” Thank you.