{"id":1886,"date":"2023-08-23T10:30:57","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T10:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usapress.info\/?p=1886"},"modified":"2023-08-23T10:30:57","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T10:30:57","slug":"valedictorians-faith-based-commencement-speech-goes-viral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usapress.info\/?p=1886","title":{"rendered":"Valedictorian\u2019s faith-based commencement speech goes viral"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s graduation season which means there\u2019s plenty of words of wisdom being shared by commencement speakers.<\/p>\n<p>But one particular commencement speaker has gone viral for the speech she delivered to her fellow classmates. Lydia Owens, valedictorian of Woodmont High School in Piedmont, South Carolina, boldly inserted her faith into her speech.<\/p>\n<p>Like many speeches, she began hers detailing a hardship and how she overcame it to get to where she was today.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" class=\"\" title=\"Twitter Tweet\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1664336908342665226&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2F24timescon.us%2F2023%2F08%2F23%2Fvaledictorians-faith-based-commencement-speech-goes-viral%2F&amp;partner=ogwp&amp;sessionId=6f227a5ecca92d0591f1287119255b9ee89f0f2d&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=aaf4084522e3a%3A1674595607486&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1664336908342665226\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou are so much more than how well you perform,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you place your identity in what you accomplish, and you believe you are only good enough if you succeed, what happens when you fail?\u201d Owens questioned. \u201cWhat happens when you don\u2019t have a lot of money or you don\u2019t have a lot of friends?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lydia Owens recently delivered a speech at the Woodmont High School graduation ceremony, where she was recognized as the school&#8217;s Valedictorian and Senior Class President. Lydia is the daughter of our Executive Pastor, Brian Owens. So it might not surprise you that she mentioned\u2026<\/p>\n<p>how her mother was her biggest inspiration and \u201calways encouraged me in my faith.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cShe\u2019s the reason that I have such a strong faith. She was the example of how to be a Godly woman and how to love people intentionally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The teen continued to explain how after losing her mother her perspective of success \u201cdrastically changed, because I realized the many years I spent placing my worth in my academics meant absolutely nothing in eternity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lydia\u2019s speech was not your typical valedictorian speech, but I absolutely loved it! It added a different perspective to the meaning of success and how much pressure we put on ourselves to succeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s graduation season which means there\u2019s plenty of words of wisdom being shared by commencement speakers. But one particular commencement speaker has gone viral for the speech&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Valedictorian\u2019s faith-based commencement speech goes viral - Usa Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usapress.info\/?p=1886\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Valedictorian\u2019s faith-based commencement speech goes viral - Usa Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s graduation season which means there\u2019s plenty of words of wisdom being shared by commencement speakers. 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