Thank you ladies and gentleman for attending the graduation of the Blue Valley class of 2016. My name is Meredith Strickland, and I am one of the graduating seniors today. I am honored to give the graduation speech this year. I have enjoyed my time at Blue Valley by cheering alongside my friends that I have made at this school. Like most graduation speeches, high school is about the moments that you capture. Throughout my high school experience, I have witnessed many things that I will always remember. We’ve created many memories together, and I will always cherish them whenever I look back. As most people know, we have captured many of our journeys by taking photos. When we were little, many of us dreaded having pictures of us taken. …show more content…
Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter have been ways to show people what we have done. We wanted to share all of our photos to show that we have had fun during high school. Our friends are with us and we share true genuine smiles, laughing about how funny something was. We want to look back and share all of the great things that we have accomplished like we do with pictures. I would like to remember this moment. I want to remember what it felt like to look at all of you in front of me today. It is moments like this where we need to smile and be thankful for where we have …show more content…
All we simply have to do is upload those photos onto our computers, so we can reminisce over the good old times. Our life holds many memories that will always be kept. I look at freshman year and think about all of the days I spent with my friends and the friends that I had met. I also remember the awkward first day when you get lost trying to find your classes. I remember my sophomore year because I was finally not the fresh meat of the school, which was very nice. I then remember junior year. I thought I was the coolest thing in the world because I would graduate the next year and rule the school. And now, I remember the beginning of the bittersweet, senior year. I loved being with all of the people around me but now that it has been my last, I will dearly miss
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.
Photographs serve as a record of what we have accomplished, where we have traveled and who was there along the way. A significant mechanism in photography is tourists , to which I
People say high school is supposed to be the golden years of your life. I don’t know what else in life is to come; however, my philosophy is to live in the moment and make the life you’re living in the present worthwhile into the future, not only for you but for those who surround you. I live my life participating in our community and getting involved in our school. The activities, and the people I’ve formed relationships with, are what have formed me into the person I am today. The person I am today is not perfect, but I have learned from the mistakes I’ve made.
What is a photograph? Now, one might say a photograph is an image taken of oneself, another person(s), and/or a place using a camera. Others might say that a photograph is an image of a moment or memory captured in time that will be forever remembered. Both are correct of course, but I believe a photograph has the potential of meeting both of those ideas. In addition, pictures exist to portray any image of ourselves that we want noticed; by the world. Pictures and selfies can help create any façade one wishes to maintain in order to hide who they really are. These pictures, define who we are as human beings; They enhance our social standing and advocate our individuality. Each picture taken has an underlying message that is trying to be heard.
First of all, I'd like to welcome all the parents, relatives and friends, on behalf of the senior class. It has been a long, hard road to graduation and I know your presence here is greatly appreciated. My job as salutatorian is to reminisce on our past here at County High, a past that reads like a script of a soap opera.
To begin something new, you must sacrifice something old. To enter the real world, you must graduate your childhood.
Today completes the chapter of our lives that we have been comfortable with for the past 13 years. High school may be over, but we still have a long exciting way to go in life. From our four-year experience we will take with us the memories, good and bad, and relationships we have made with each other and the County High School staff. From these experiences we have learned and grown and will continue to do so. Growing up and moving on will be a huge part of our lives in the next few months. The decisions we will make come in-part from the choices we have already made.
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.
If you were to ask yourself when the last time you saw a photograph or even just an image, your answer would most likely be ‘just a few seconds ago.’ The reality is just that, you see images all day, every day. Photographs have become an important aspect of life in the past, present and future. They represent a specific moment at a specific time and because of this we are provided with a way to visually see our ancestor’s appearance, accomplishments and developments.
My senior year of high school…I want to enjoy people’s company, appreciate my family’s presence, and keep a permanent Polaroid of my “home town” etched in my memory. I have a purpose for the year, I know what I want to accomplish for the future, but I have to remember to make the most out of today because there may not always be a tomorrow.
“The future stretches before me, waiting for me to create the work of art that will become my life.” We have entered an age for celebration, an era to memorialize who we were, who we are and who we will eventually become. Celebrate this milestone greater than all the others, for it is the time we have spent here in our high school careers that will always be held close to heart.
Why are we capturing an image of ourselves? Taking a photograph of oneself is not a new phenomenon: the act has existed over centuries. Its resilience to the passage of time could be because of the desire people have to express themselves - the very art of self-expression has existed for much longer than photography itself through self-portraiture. In fact, the purposes of self-portraiture and selfies are practically one and the same. Both can be premeditated with the intent of analyzing one’s own flaws, or concealing any perceived defects, and the two practices of self-representation are controlled by the subject. Selfies and self-portraits share more similarities than they
Photography has created an outlet for the masses to story tell. It has a way of speaking without words like most art forms and is a manner of expression in itself. To eradicate photography from humans would be equivalent to taking away a limb from humankind. Our society has grown an immense amount of dependency on it. Photography has become almost a daily menial task such as brushing your teeth; where we must take pictures of the things we deem important or equally unimportant, even more so with the invention of social media outlets such as Instagram and Snapchat, where photography is the main source of communication between people who use them. Susan Sontag offers the basis of what taking pictures can undertake in both our daily lives and moments that are not part of our daily lives, such as travel. Traveling to places where one is not accustomed can flare pent up anxiety. A way to subdue that anxiety could be through taking pictures, since it’s the only factor that we have total control over in a space where we don’t have much, or, any control of our surrounding environment. On the other hand, taking photos can also be a tool of power in the same sense as it allows for it to be a defense against anxiety. With the camera in our hands, we have the power to decide who, what, where, when, and why we take a picture. This in turn also gives the person who took the picture power over those who later analyze the photos, letting them decide the meaning of the photo individually, despite the intended or true meaning.
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.