William Chiu delivered this speech as the valedictorian of his junior high school graduating class at Halsey Junior High in 2012. Despite his young age, his address carried a remarkably mature message about redirecting the desire for individual significance toward service to others. Chiu had spent much of his speech describing the universal adolescent struggle with insecurity — 'Everybody wants to be unique, and everybody wants to be special, but it's hard to become special. I didn't know how to become special.' His answer was to reframe the question entirely: stop seeking perfection in yourself and instead channel your energy toward helping those in need. The simplicity of his formulation — that by being a star for someone else, you achieve a success that is uniquely yours — resonated with the audience of students, parents, and teachers who had watched this shy boy transform through his years at Halsey.