TEDNA

An excerpt:

BELLINGHAM — High school graduation at Lummi Nation School is always a big celebration: Families arrive hours before the ceremony for a potluck where they fill their stomachs, and the ceremony itself is filled with tribal songs and demonstrations.

This year, however, they outdid themselves by bringing in a special guest: Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman.

Sherman spent 45 minutes answering questions from a group of roughly 20 graduating seniors Thursday, June 4, then gave a brief speech at the ceremony in which he urged students to chase success.

“There have been a lot of people in my life that told me there wasn’t a lot possible for a kid from Compton (Calif.) who didn’t have a lot of money,” Sherman said at the ceremony. “Those are the moments I’m here for. I’m here to get you past that. I’m here to make you understand people get through that.”

…

Sherman said the best way to overcome adversity is to have some sort of stability. For him, stability came from his family. He urged the graduates to find some sort of reassurance in their life — whether it comes from a friend, a dog, or themselves.

“I think some of the brightest lights shine in the darkest places, because you have to,” Sherman said. “I feel like I wouldn’t be the person that I am without the circumstances that I had, the adversity that I went through, the things I saw as a kid.”

Sherman’s main message during the graduation ceremony was to “be someone that makes others look forward to tomorrow.”

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