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.
I’m not up here to talk about sweaty undergarments, though. I’m not even up here because of my charm and good looks. I have been granted this lovely opportunity to speak to compensate for the misery that went into the earning of the title “valedictorian”, and all the misery that will envelope the rest of my life as a result of it. Whenever I can’t figure out how the pump works at the gas station, I’ll hear, “And you were valedictorian?” If I try to pull on a door that says push, it will be, “You were valedictorian?” Get caught picking my nose on the jumbo-tron at a baseball game, and the jeers will assault me: “Hey, jackass, were you really valedictorian?”
The purpose of a graduation speech, as it has been laid out before me, is not to complain, though, but rather to bore the hell out of you. That’s why my speech will last about four hours and seventeen minutes, filled with uninspiring poetry readings, bland quotes, meaningless anecdotes and the traditional candied assortment of shameless clichés and platitudes. Of course, I do realize that my speech is a compulsory formality, and that, in all likelihood, nothing I say will ...
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...s and a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush yadda yadda yadda. But, most importantly, have a sense of humor and cherish this gift of spasms and primitive noises as a part of human nature, before you age to the point where your heart will stop if you laugh. Laugh at life’s ironies and disappointments. Laugh at your society, your friends, and yourself. Laugh at Carrot Top even, not because he is funny, but because he thinks he is funny, which is so pathetic and absurd that it actually is funny. I’m going to end with a fitting quote. It’s not by Jefferson or Emerson as is customary in graduation speeches, but by the Harvard graduate, talk-show host, and comedian, Conan O’Brien. “If you can laugh at yourself loud and hard every time you fall, people will think you’re drunk.” Thank you Northglenn High class of 2006. I hope to laugh at you all again in ten years.
She shows the perspective of many different people to show a seemingly neutral overview of the situation surrounding the status of valedictorian. Her frequent use of interviews and dialogue allows for her to show her opinion or position on the matter while still maintaining her status of neutrality; the claims simply appear to be the positions of others. The structure of her essay and positioning of her interviews also are deliberate and subtly support Talbot’s message. She grouped the interviews so that negative statements about valedictorians were positioned near the beginning and arranged the interviews with good outlooks on valedictorians near the end, separated by a chunk of historical context for the school system. The context used as a divider influences the reader to think the following interviews are stronger and more well reasoned because the audience has information to relate what the speakers are saying to. This establishes the intent behind the essay as the layout encourages the perception of the positive interviews as well written.
The speech that Mr. McCullough gave at the graduation ceremony of the Wellesley High School in the year of 2012 is justified and insightful and can be life changing if carefully analyzed and completely understood. The people of the “Me Generation” are self-centered; show offs, and they follow YOLO rather than YLOO. Through his justified and insightful speech Mr. McCullough showed that people cannot change the world without changing themselves for the better. His speech was justified and insightful and brings more hope for the future.
Jon Stewart, a comedian and an Alumni of William and Mary University, delivered a very entertaining yet, informative speech to the graduating class of William and Mary. He informed the graduates about what to expect in the real world and a little bit on his experience at the university. He mentions that “College is something you complete, life is something you experience” (Stewart, 2004, 12:09). I find these words to be quite encouraging because a lot of college students spend so much time into the school work that they forget to enjoy their experience. When giving his speech Stewart had two sets of audiences to speak to which was the family and friends of the graduates and the graduates. Although he had two sets to speak to, he tailored his speech to the graduates of William and Mary. Furthermore, Jon audience enjoyed his speech and what’s more important than having the attention of your audience.
This speech is bigger than me... bigger than this graduating class... and the world surrounding us. It is an epiphany. This speech is for the little guy, the middle man and the guy who is always behind the scenes... For the past four years, we have seen stories, read newspaper articles, and have heard announcements about our star athletes, scholars and over achievers.
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
To the County High School Class of 2012: As you sit in front of me, I know what most of you are thinking at the moment. There are those who are already pondering about what life without high school will be like; those who are debating whether or not to tell your crush tonight about your whispers of adoration you’ve secretly held for four years; some simply want to get out of that ungodly chair, get that thing that isn’t really a diploma but only tells you when to pick up the thing, and then be the first one on the green bus to the grad party — you know who you are. And the rest, well, the rest aren’t even paying attention, you’re thinking, “Great, here comes one of the valedictorian speakers. Next up: a boring speech straight out of the pits of scholarly hell.” And it’s OK, I don’t mind — that sort of thing comes with the territory. But tonight, I ask that you give me a chance to break that stereotype so that I may address you in the full splendor that you deserve after 13 grueling years of work. I do not want to be known as your “valedictorian” as I stand here, c’mon guys, there is no time left to place labels on people anymore, instead I ask that you accept me as one of your peers — and as a man who will enjoy becoming a graduate alongside you.
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.
Commencement speeches, which are presented in American graduation ceremonies, aim to inspire and motivate. Successfully, Nora Ephron 's commencement speech addressed to the Wellesley Class of 1996; inspired her audience to "be the heroine of [their '] li[ves], not the victim". Through anecdotes, Ephron explored the differences between her education and the graduates at Wellesley College, to remind the women graduating that whilst society was different in many ways, in particular for women, "there was still a glass ceiling".
Throughout high school, being valedictorian is seen as the highest honor possible. But what if giving some speech in front of your entire graduating class didn’t even matter. “Best in Class” by Margaret Talbot addresses the issue of the endangerment of traditional valedictorian ship. Talbot introduces the various perspectives of the importance and the unimportance of a traditional valedictorian by appealing to tradition and involving a multitude of strong research evidence to establish logos.
The basic purpose of delivering this speech is to make students realize that their school and their professors have faith in their judgement, trust in their abilities and are well prepared to face the world on their own. Most of the student community would like to hear a speech of this kind. However, Jacob Neusner had a different perspective about the Commencement speech which makes it belong to the 1% of the category. His speech is very unusual and was published in the article titled as “The Commencement Speech you will never hear.” Even though I agree with few ideas presented by the author, there are quite a lot that I completely disagree
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.
The end of my first graduate school semester leaves me with a bittersweet feeling. Although I'm glad that the stress and pressure of continuously feeling unprepared to take on graduate school is now over, the feeling that I can successfully accomplish my goal and become a School Counselor seems more attainable. Working towards something I feel passionate about, and coming to the end of the beginning of a long journey has never felt so satisfying. What feels even better is all of the knowledge that I have acquired about the profession which society needs in order to function in times of despair. During our very first class we were asked about, “Our life’s motto?” From this day onward and after listening to the different perspectives, backgrounds,
As freshman, we came home from school with the mentality that we were no longer children, but rather had entered into a new stage of life. Everything seemed different and new; we weren’t the big kids on campus anymore. We no longer were the persons being looked up to, but rather were the persons looking up to an entire school of older students. We remember joining our firsts clubs, going to dances, and having Orientation days.
Valedictorian Speech Good evening fellow graduates, teachers, family members, friends, and distinguished guests. It is a tremendous honor to be the valedictorian of our graduating class. My job is to somehow be the voice of the entire graduating class, and take five minutes to say a few words on behalf of all 539 of us. Like most valedictorians, writing this speech was not an easy task for me. Not because I did not have anything to say, but because I was overwhelmed by how much I wanted to share with you all on this day. Tonight, we have one common purpose, to celebrate. We are here to congratulate, to look towards what the future holds for us, to wish each other well, and to, most importantly look back on our time spent here. So, I would like to start by saying 'well done' to my fellow graduates, who have all worked hard during the past several years to reach this milestone. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the graduating class for selecting me to speak here tonight. Ever since the news broke, many people, some who've I've never really met before, have come up to me and have wished me well. Perhaps this speech would be incomplete if I don’t say something to the teachers. On the behalf of my entire class, I would like to thank all my teachers: thank you. Thank you for teaching us, for leading us, for building us up as adults. I know that we have not given back to you the respect you deserve. I know that we have not told you how much we appreciate you taking time out of your schedules to help us. And I know that we have not said thank you for giving us a wonderful education. So, I hope that as I say thanks, you can forget our shortcomings and remember us for who we are and not from the mistakes we have made. ...
Graduation: the last day that I would unwillingly set foot on the fields of Horizon High School. I could feel my heart beating out of my chest, and tried so hard to keep my feet moving one after the other in order to maintain my perfect stature. After the two hour wait of opening speeches, class songs, and the calling off of the five hundred plus names that were in front of me, it was finally my turn. As my row stood up and we walked towards the stage it had set in at last, this is it, I am done. My high school career ended on that night, but it didn’t close the book that is my life, it only started a new chapter, and with it came a whole slue of uncertainties.