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words to say at a graduation speech
words to say at a graduation speech
words to say at a graduation speech
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South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote, "You are a very special person - become what you are." These words encourage us, the graduating class of 2012, to recognize the goodness and potential in each and every one of us and to go out and excel in the world. We are a diverse group of different aspirations and backgrounds, bound for different corners of the earth to carve out our won individual niches. Before we leave behind Lee Falls High School and each other, we must ask ourselves how we have become who we are. Most of us have grown up in this town. We have known each other for many years, gone through the school system and interacted with the community. We have been labeled by the press as inhabitants of "Cranktown" and "Methville," but the community has rallied to fight the problem. This same community is the true spirit of where we come from and who we are. It is the same community that sees generations of change and is always willing to stretch its hands out to help those in need and to honor those deserving. We live in a unique community, though we may not realize it, a...
As our time together draws to a close, I leave LHS with no further anecdotes of wisdom or quotes dealing with success; only the sincere hope that you immersed yourself in the essence of commencement. Everybody, we’ll all be graduates by the time we leave tonight. Let’s enjoy it. Congratulations to the Lee High School Class of 2006.
When I was in elementary school, I loved to read. I was a total nerd back then ... okay maybe I still am, but one thing has changed. Now I don't so much like reading. My favorite poet was Shel Silverstein, who wrote "Where the Sidewalk Ends." He seemed like he was a total hippie, but that's cool because I like hippies. My grandma is a recovering hippie. I like her too. Anyway, Shel Silverstein wrote about the coolest things. He wrote about magical erasers, eating whales and a boy with long hair flying away from people who were taunting him. He captured all of the things that I loved without knowing that I actually loved them. Now you may ask, how does this hippie relate to our graduation? Well, he wrote a poem entitled "Traffic Light" and this is how it goes:
Good evening. Some of you out there may not realize this but those of you who attended Suntime Middle School have been with this guy for the last seven years. I would like to ask you all, not just Suntime Middle School grads and who all else, to join me in thanking Mr. Weather for his patience and dedication to the success of our education over the years. We are the Class of 2000. The first graduating class of the new millennium. The past four years have been pretty wild. We started out as a bunch of rats in a small cage, but as time went by we learned and matured and became big rats in a new small cage, but in any case, the cage door is now opening; the handlers turning us wild things loose. As we leave "Where the Wild Things Are," home to some of the best cat fights, fist fights and food fights this side of the Cascades, I have a little surprise for all of you sitting in front of me here tonight in your caps and gowns … we ain’t seen nothing yet!
Students, faculty, family, friends, on this exciting day, I speak to optimism, laughter, and grins.
Betty Lou is right -- Our achievements of the past four years have been an honor. And so I offer my congratulations to each of you for achieving the honor that comes with high school graduation. Up to this point, high school may be the most exciting and difficult experience of our lives. We've enjoyed the carefree and happy times with WWF-style pep assemblies, dances, Junior T-P nights, and classes with friends. We've had our bad days too, though. The days when we forgot our semester project for C.I. at home, or when we couldn't stop falling asleep and Mr. Gnome made us get up to "open a window." But far worse were the times when we felt alone. We've all had days of personal crisis when we've felt rejected by those around us or alienated from them. Hopefully, we were fortunate enough to have had a friend come rescue us from isolation, but perhaps not.
I'm sure everyone here has seen a picture of a mother duck leading her ducklings. Imagine the mother duck taking her ducklings up some stairs. The mother duck easily climbs the first stair and waits for the other little ducks to climb up. The first duckling stretches its wings as high up in the air as it can and stands on the tips of its little webbed feet. With a little help from its beak it manages to barely make the first step. Sometimes it requires a little help from mama duck to boost itself up. Despite the cute and rather funny part of this picture, it is possible to learn a lot from the ducks. The two ideas we can gain from them are leadership and following. In life each one of us is a leader and a follower at some point.
As you inhale the aggregate odor of your senior class for the last time, I’m sure there are many burning questions racing through your minds: “Will I find my place in the world?” If you’re lucky. “Am I really going to graduate a virgin?” Yeah, probably. “Who is that incredibly handsome young man addressing us, and how long do we have the privilege of listening to him?” Howdy, Andrew Gonzales here, and hopefully not long; I realize that your robes are making you sweat, your thongs are making you uncomfortable, and my use of the words “virgin” and “thongs” is making your parents sweaty and uncomfortable.
A boy once approached Socrates with the desire to obtain wisdom. Without saying a word, Socrates led the boy down to the edge of the sea and walked in, beckoning him to follow. When they were standing waist deep in the water, Socrates pushed the boy down, completely submerging his head. He held him thus for a couple of minutes, until the boy was almost to the point of death, before letting him up. Sputtering and angry, the boy demanded to know why Socrates had held him underwater for so long. In response, Socrates asked, "when you were under the water, what did you want more than anything in the world?"
I would like to thank all of you for coming on such short notice. After all, 18 years hardly seems like enough time to prepare for graduation. In fact, as I stand up here and looking at all of my classmates, I wonder if I am ready to graduate.
Before I begin, I would like to tender my thanks to all of the people who have come here tonight. I would also like to apologize for what may seem an unorthodox speech, but I feel so strongly, that I must speak.
High school. I never realized it would bring so many changes. As I walked on to campus my freshman year, my mindset was the same as it was in eighth grade; the young are invincible. And although I was excited to come to high school I had many fears. Would the classes be too hard, would I make new friends, what could I become involved in, and most of all -- what if I get lost? All of these fears eventually subsided and I, along with all of you, found the right classes and the right teachers. We all made new friends. We all got involved in something. During my freshman year, innocence surrounded me and although eventually my shell would crack, not until this year have I broken through. This year I decided that it is time to soar on my own. Graduation is the beginning of a new flight for all of us, the class of 1997.
The great big orange doors. The doors that we have grown so fond of during our four-year stay at Tropics High School -- the cafeteria doors. In an attempt to get to the Commons a split second faster than the person next to you, how many times have you opened those orange doors so hard and fast that you've gone BAM! and heard a response of a groan ... OW! Then in reaction to the yelp, you turn to see a boy with a freshly swollen red spot right in the middle of his forehead. "Sorry," you say with a cheesy grin and you skidaddle away as fast as you possibly can. You never see this boy ever again, except in the most random places and though you don't know his name, you'll always remember to never open the big orange door so fast and so hard ever again. As insignificant as he was in your life, he has taught you a lesson.
Class of 2012, tonight is the last time we will share together for many years. After tonight, we will begin a new chapter in our lives. This chapter will lead us away from each other, but the memories we've shared will continue to stay. The years behind us have been full of challenges and rewards; these experiences will be there to guide us as we branch out into the world.
It amazes me that we are finally here! Throughout the years, I have often thought about this moment. How it would feel to be with all of you, in our caps and gowns, finally graduating. I remember as a child, thinking about what I would look like when I was "all grown up," how I would act, who I would love and what kind of person I would become. And now here it all is, we're ready, we're done with high school, and I couldn't be more thrilled or scared! We go through this twelve-year metamorphosis, and then one day, we wake up and its over, our ascent into adulthood has come. We're ready to face all that life has to throw at us, to make a life for ourselves, outside of school and childhood, to go to college, take a year off or get a job. Yet at the same time, it can be terrifying to complete...
It is probably a mistake that I am standing here giving a speech for graduation. In fact it is probably a mistake that I am even graduating from this school at all -- believe me, just as most people in this class I have tested the limits of attendance, of sleeplessness, and of procrastination. At the beginning of my high schooling, I was even testing dropping out ... and if that wasn't a mistake, I don't know what was. After four years of Starr altering our minds, it seemed most fitting for me to spend my four minutes talking about mistakes. Thank goodness for them, by the way -- it is only when we truly screw up big time that we are ever stopped in our tracks -- stopped, briefly, to learn lessons of worth.