Students, faculty, family, friends, on this exciting day, I speak to optimism, laughter, and grins.
As I was gathering input for this graduation speech, several people suggested including a profound quote offering “encouraging advice to the young graduates”, and then there were others who said, “eh don’t worry about it, no one listens to those anyway.” Fortunately, I was actually able to take from both suggestions and found a happy balance.
You see, I won’t tell you today to: “Dare to dream” or “Find your own vision” or even to “Strive for excellence,” or any trite cliché that’s ever been said in a graduation speech. So this might not be your typical commencement. I have no list of “Do’s and Don’ts” for you. I don’t have any funny stories about politicians or teachers. I don’t have any jokes, nor do I have any interesting quotes from real famous people. And so you may be wondering. Why?
Because there are only a few times in life where you can really have time to sit, relax, and at least pretend to be interested in another kid’s advice on what works for them. This is one of those times where I get to fill you in on what has kept me going, trusting that you can relate.
First, in attempt to take the advice to include a symbolic quote, it became quite clear that no matter what, life is an endless stream of contradictions and inconsistencies. You see, they tell us that “haste makes waste,” but then, “the early bird gets the worm.” And “don’t put off until tomorrow what you can get done today,” but we’re supposed to “stop and smell the roses”? When do we have time to smell the roses when we’re busy doing everything today? And how do you “shoot for the moon” when you are being told to “wish upon a star”?
I mean come on....
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... and be proud of all you have accomplished here at McNeil. Sure it’s long, sure we have tons of kids in our class, but stare at everyone’s shoes or something. Laugh it up at the kid who is wearing flip flops. Chuckle at the girl who is only 4’11” and takes 5 strides for each of your 2. Er, wait, that’s me. Enjoy this moment. Don’t rush through these motions. This is a significant event. It does deserve grins, laughter, and an optimistic attitude.
Life will run you by if you don’t take time to enjoy all the small things. And remember, it’s those little things that make life funny. People should laugh at most of the things in life, cry at a few, and be neutral at hardly anything.
Guys, I thank you. It has been an honor to serve as your class president. Good luck. Now, I am going to make like America Online Instant Messenger and sign off with an L-O-L. Good bye.
David McCullough Jr., delivered the commencement at Wellesley High School in Massachusetts on June 1st 2012 to staff, the 2012 graduates, and their family and friends. The speech was straightforward and supplied valuable information for their future. . McCullough’s speech at times felt harsh, offensive, and insulting. His words and examples were given to achieve insight, knowledge, and awareness for each student’s future. The commencement expressed a great deal of achievement, but conveyed that there was more work to be done. His speech was effective and appreciated through humor parallelism, repetition, and anaphora. His point of view has obtained respect and determination by all those that have been challenged and have heard his words.
To regard the importance of the bigger picture, he maintains parallel structure and utilizes the repetition of words in the body of the speech. “The fulfilling life, the distinctive life, the relevant life” occurs when one seizes the day—when one finds the joys in life by realizing “you are not special”. The pauses and short sentences also adds to the conversational aspect and pace of the commencement piece. To continue, he notes how in this moment of time, every single one of them is dressed “exactly the same” and their diplomas are “exactly the same”. The unification of these prospective seniors further augments the message of settling. McCullogh further critiques the phrases that defy logic. High school students have perceived that “good is no longer good enough, where a B is the new C”. The goal into doing one’s best has been shaped into doing the capabilities of another, in which McCullogh responds metaphorically to only focus on the betterment of the self: “climb [the mountain] so you can see the world, not so the world can see you”. All of these seniors have fallen into the preconceived mindset of superiority, unifying them together but it is their personal capabilities that distinguishes one from another, successes from failures. The support and inspiration he is aiming for is clearly portrayed in proposing to the students to, “[d]ream big. Work hard. Think for yourself”. He inspires them to experience life instead of accomplish
Life presents a wide array of obstacles as well as opportunities, and it is important to be prepared to take on whatever it is that life has to offer. In his Harvard Commencement Address, Will Ferrell reinforces this idea into the 2003 graduating class of the prestigious Harvard University as they prepare to move on to do greater things. His comedic approach is successful due to his ability to evoke feelings of laughter from his audience while also making them realize that they are entering a new stage of life. Although Ferrell is speaking directly to the class of 2003, anyone who listens to or who views his speech will experience humor in an otherwise serious event, and they will reflect on their own life or envision their future. Through
Today, I will be discussing the commencement speech, “Things You Should Know Going Forward in Life,” delivered by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson at the University of Massachusetts in May 2015.
The commencement addresses to Penn State's class of 2011 by Denzel Washington and Tulane University's class of 2015 by Maya Rudolph are parallel and distinctive speeches in their own style. Washington's and Rudolph's speeches use humor to make them relatable to their group of graduates. While also telling stories that are also humorous give their messages integrity and hooks the audience. Their techniques and underlying message, taking risks for a greater reward, are the same. However, they differ in the methods, by either falling forward or saying yes, to taking chances.
I have been given an awesome privilege to be able to call Hope College my home for the last four years. The memories I have had here will last a lifetime. From the friends I have developed with professors, students, to Phelps and Cook employees. I can honestly say that there has not been a bad experience with any of these people. It’s been awesome here at Hope! This experience has taught me many different life lessons and helped mold the legacy in which I feel I will leave behind when I am done. The legacy I want to leave behind entails one of respect, and hard working. I will tie all of these together will explicit examples from here at Hope and will end with how I plan to finish up on a positive note.
When I was asked to be your commencement speaker, I figured it was my responsibility to say something so significant that it would help you make sense of what you have experienced over the last two years. I figured that I should answer one of life's great mysteries that you may have been confused about. And I am prepared to do that today. The question is, we have been dealing with them, writing papers about them, but what in the world are these Learning Outcomes anyway? And why have you made us study them?
Executive speechwriter Anthony Trendl once wrote “A commencement speech, simply, is an opportunity to share your experience, values and advice. The precise form is up to you. This affords the speaker a platform to say amazing, unlimited things.” Steve Jobs’ Commencement address to the graduates at Stanford University was delivered on June 12th, 2005. Jobs is well known for being the CEO of Apple Computer, Pixar Animation Studios, and the inspiration of many rising entrepreneurs. In his speech, Jobs makes it clear that his delivery will be outlined by three short, but important stories pertaining to his life experiences. Each story contains one or two main lessons intended to help these Stanford Graduates as they move on into a new world. Jobs’ over all speech structure, sense of wisdom and experience, topped by his widely recognized success, empowers his speech to be strongly convincing. However, with the happily ever after stories, promises in leaps of faith, and ideally controversial context with college graduates, the speech seems to be a bit less relatively persuasive .
In June of 2011, Conan O’Brien gave the commencement address to the 2011 graduating class of Dartmouth College. O’Brien uses humor and anecdotes to deliver a powerful speech which resonated with most viewers. O’Brien also used many literary devices for the graduates to better understand his primary points. Conan O’Brien delivery of his commencement address was effective because of his use of pathos, ethos, and antidotes, which contributed to his fantastic speech.
Today, as we graduate, with degree nearly in hand, I challenge each of you to make a difference in whatever you do. Remember that life didn't end when we re-entered school. Life continued throughout our program. Even when stretched to the limit, life only got more challenging. And now, graduating, life only changes pace. Our degree completion is not really an ending as much as a new beginning as we re-enter our lives of work and home. We thank all of our family, friends, instructors and co-workers who helped see us through this process. Thank you for this opportunity and good luck to you all.
Hello friends and family, and welcome to the graduation of the class of 2017 I would like to thank all of you for being here not only tonight, but every other night we have needed a helping hand or a shoulder to lean on as we concur the adversities and mountains that life faces us with. As an avid hiker and a participant of the 100-mile wilderness hike, I very well know the feeling of reaching the top of a mountain and the sense of accomplishment which comes with it. Tonight, this is the top of our mountain, it is the night celebrating all of the false summits and steep inclinations which we overcame, all of the points where it would have been easier to just give up and go back the way we came. Tonight my classmates and I enjoy the bittersweet
I consider Steve Jobs’ commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005 to be one of the most effective speeches. He uses mechanics of speech to craft a well-rounded speech that is crowned by his use of rhetorical devices. Jobs gives relevant and fundamental knowledge of his life and experiences with his rhetorical approach. In his speech to the Stanford’s graduation class, he tells different stories of love, loss, discovery and difficulty he faced in his life to encourage new graduates as they continue to mature in life. He encourages students to pursue their dreams and not be discouraged by failures they might experience in life.
Good evening parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and friends. I would like to thank you all for coming to this very special day. I know how proud you must be. As we have grown over the years, there are many stages we all have gone through. From learning our shapes and colors, to getting our first kiss in middle school, or how about explaining to our parents why we skipped school because the principal called home. As we remember these days, things that we've done will be with us forever. But this is only the start of our journey. The day has come where we say goodbye to the big yellow buses, assemblies, assigned seating, and attendance policies. Are you really gonna miss it? For some of us maybe not right away. But eventually we will so for us to be here it is not necessarily an achievement, but a privilege. All of us have been in school over half our lives. To graduate is one more step we've taken in our lives.
Throughout my transient life, I have come across plenty of obstacles to the point where I believed the world despised me and was out to destroy my spirit. While in reality within every barrier was a surreptitious life lesson that could only be seen only through further scrutinization. In the end, the adversity of life is what makes life aesthetic because one cannot appreciate things going good if they never went bad. I believe the most important lesson life ever taught me was to live in the moment because things happen for a reason, so have fun, and make new experiences. I want to make the most out of life, I don’t want to be one of those old people who looks back at the days when they were young and have exasperation because of the chances that weren’t taken. I
Let me begin by saying that I am very honored to be addressing the County High School Class of 2012 as students of this institution for the last time. We've spent these last four years creating some serious memories: four years of chieftain power, leaking roofs, questionable Homecoming skits, and musical principals. Four years of good teachers, bad teachers, new teachers, old teachers. Four years of youth, music, growing up and breaking free. Four rubber chickens, four yearbooks, four ASB presidents and four chubby bunnies.