By MEGAN STOLTZFUS
2026 Miss CCA
Members of the board, faculty, parents, friends and the Class of 2026.
My name is Megan Stoltzfus, and I have attended CCA for the past 13 years.
Making this speech was extremely hard because it felt like this was my goodbye to the school that had become like a second home for me.
I’ve gone through 13 years of chapel messages, class trips, awkward school photos, fire drills, inside jokes and more memories than I can fit into this speech.
But for me I think the reason that I have so many good memories is because of my class. We always get told that we act like a little family, picking on each other all the time, but that is what made it fun. We could pick on each other and still know that if we needed something we could count on each other.
A situation that I will always remember is when I took the blame for knocking over a coffee cup with a tennis ball because somebody had decided to keep throwing it when they were told to stop. But, hey, I got $20 for it so I think that was a win for me.
One of the many things that I have learned at CCA is the power that your voice can have over others.
Most of us have spent the last four years figuring out who we are and trying to find the voice to back it up. Our character can be represented in the things we say, how we treat others and how we respond to life in general.
Whether on the court, in the classroom or even outside of school, what we say matters.
We need to remember that our words can have a lasting impact on someone, whether good or bad.
1 Peter 4:11 tells us, “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”
This verse is important because Peter isn’t telling us that we have to be perfect speakers or have all the right answers to use our voice for good.
He is reminding us that our voices are a gift from God.
The world that we live in is loud with social media, politics, school, friends and family.
Everywhere we look, someone is speaking.
A lot of that noise can be negative, and can be overwhelming.
So what I want to challenge you with is this. Be the positive noise that someone hears. Be the encouragement that keeps someone going. Be the apology that can help someone heal. And be the moment of courage that can point someone back to God.
Even though we are heading to college or starting jobs, we still don’t know what the future is going to look like. So, when you speak, don’t just speak to be heard. Speak with purpose, speak with grace, speak with encouragement, and most importantly speak in a way that allows people to hear God through you.
So, to my classmates, the Class of 2026, I’m going to miss you guys but Congratulations! Cause we made it!
