Branin W. Marshall - That Darn Fox Creations

Valedictory Address (High School)

First I would like to thank everyone for coming, especially my grandparents Howard and Marge Marshall (from Kansas City KS) and Sharon Merrill (from Klawock AK), and to thank Jesus Christ for getting me through all of my hardships, trials...and school.

Now then, I will start out about my experience in Klawock, Alaska and how it changed my life...for the best we've figured out. Now I can't remember much of it all, since it was all so long ago to me, but I'll try my best to sum it up.

From the beginning I was not pleased about moving away from Ketchikan to Klawock, I was leaving my friends behind and going to a strange place. So I was already pretty miserable because of that. When I was living in Klawock, I had almost no friends and only the teachers were really kind to me. So basically I was teased everyday at school, and, as you all know me, I'm not really one to want to fight back.

However, this all ended up as a good thing, for if I had not been teased, I would have put my trust in myself and not in God. For I had thought more and more on God, not as much as I do now, but it was a good turning point. I am very thankful to God for it and I have forgiven my bullies for all that they had done to me.

I enjoy drawing a lot, something I like to call my gift from God. However, when I first started out with it I was a terrible artist and my ideas went everywhere and never made much sense. But as I went along my ideas grew, my drawing abilities improved, and my stories started making sense. I began to see what God had planned for me...

I came up with stories, characters, situations, places, people, things, and other such ideas. My mind was reeling around with them and it grew into an amazing and wonderful plan. A plan that I began to realize was God's will for my life. It is so amazing and I thank God every day for it.

Home schooling has taught me about our history and the faith held by some of its most important people. Like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and others.

George Washington was a very faithful man, before every battle he prayed before God, he was a messenger of God to the men under and above his rank, he was a great inspiration. I have even heard that he was never wounded in battle, that all the bullets fired at him only hit his clothing.

Abraham Lincoln didn't start out as a Christian, but later in life he helped slaves to become free and made one of the greatest speeches of our time. In his last days, in fact before he was shot, he gave his life to Christ, a fact he was going to have shared a week later... Who knows what God could do with a man.

And there were many more than just that, and so if I had not been home schooled I would have been in public school where they no longer teach about God. So I am indeed very thankful for that.

Also about being home schooled is the fact that I shared it all with my sister Halee, with her always breaking into some silly songs or silly ideas about many strange and scary things... But she is a very fun person to be around with...

Now then, for the funniest moment in my life. It was a Sunday and the night before I had spent the night over at my friend Marshall's house, that afternoon, after church, his mom dropped us off at my house. This was last Spring when my mom and sister were up in Alaska. My dad had gone to work, and since he goes through the garage door to get out of the house, he forgot to unlock the front door. Well anyways, I remember walking up to the door and hoping and praying that the front door was unlocked....it wasn't. So we headed around to the back, hoping that the back door was unlocked...again...it wasn't...

So my only option was to crawl through the doggy door, which is also under our computer desk. Marshall's mom had already driven off and I was halfway through the door when the phone suddenly rang. So I had to get back out and reach up through the door to the phone which luckily was on top of the desk. On the phone was Marshall's mom, she asked how we were doing.....

So I informed her of my little plight, but I told her that I had everything under control...right... So anyways I started going through the doggy door....again...oh joy...

Well finally after much patience, struggling, and resentment and hatred for my dad's forgetfulness...I made it through.... And to top it all off I found out later that there was a spare key hidden somewhere in the backyard...A fact my parents forgot to tell me.... See "Branin's Dog Door Caper" on the Bloopers page.

My hopes for the future consists of two things. The first includes my love of drawing and creativity, and how I plan to incorporate them within God's will for my life. A plan that includes my ideas for a few webcomics. I plan to use these webcomics to spread God's message to people who surf the world wide web. I thank God all the time for the ideas He has given me. And the patience and the creativity to put them all together.

Second, and one I have no idea when it will happen, is one day getting married to the woman whom God has chosen to be my spouse. I also hope to raise a family with God's will and blessings.

Well I hope you all are enjoying yourselves and I hope you all enjoy the food. And so in closing I shall list my "thank you's." Firstly I would like to thank God for none of us would be here today if it weren't for Him. I thank my friends Adam and Marshall for well...being my friends and being great pals. Next I would like to thank my grandma and grandpa Marshall and my grandma and grandpa Merrill for always making me laugh and getting involved in my life. I would like to thank Pastor Broseker for being one of the funniest individuals I have ever known. I thank Kirk Wilburn for being my Sunday school teacher. I thank John Holland for being my Royal Rangers leader. I also would love to thank all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends, for all their prayers, support, and all the fun times we have had with each other and I look forward to many more. I thank my sister Halee for always being there and making me laugh a lot, though she can be pretty annoying at times, but I love her. I would also like to thank my Dad for being there for me and encouraging me and standing up for me. And last, but certainly not the least, I would love to thank my mother for all the things she has done for me and being the most greatest person in the world and being always right and never being wrong and being oh so beautiful and glamorous and smart and witty, my mom exalted, most high supreme, most humble, and sovereign leader, Mrs. Marshall, her excellency....

Again, I thank you all for coming, oh Mom....you owe me five bucks...for all that stuff I just said about you. [At this point, Mom came up and gave me $5.00.] [Then I held up a sign: "I didn't mean a word of it!" and Dad came up and handed me $6.00!]

--By Branin Marshall, April 23, 2005--

For my Graduation Celebration, my dad, mom, and sister put together a cool slide show of my life so far, and the two songs they used for the background were "Great Adventure" by Stephen Curtis Chapman and "I Feel Good" by James Brown. Everyone enjoyed the entertainment!

The Graduating Senior was recognized by leaders
at his church, Alpine Assembly of God

Branin Marshall

A Note from Branin:

"I graduated from ITT Tech in Austin, Texas with a GPA of 3.77. I was the Valedictorian of my subject. I now have an Associates Degree of Applied Science in Multimedia. As such I use a lot of Photoshop. Here is a logo I created for myself."

....>>>>