Graduation Speech: It's Our Turn

After 18 long years of waiting, it is finally our turn. After 13 years of schooling, some difficult, some not, it is finally our turn. After this last, excruciatingly long year of waiting, hoping, dreaming, it is finally our turn.

This day has been in the back of our minds since our first day of kindergarten, all those years ago. This year, amidst bouts of senioritis, today was all we could think about, that final day when it would finally be our turn to graduate.

However, it is not only our turn to graduate, but also our turn to assume full responsibility for the direction our lives will take. From this day forward, our lives are our own. We will now make decisions about our futures. For some of us, that decision will take us to college, possibly a two or four year degree. Some of us may even go further. For others, it will be work, setting out to make a living for themselves, perhaps attending college later on, perhaps not. Some will join the military, shipping out to a far off and exotic location, or maybe even defense on the homefront. Some will even take a year or two off for travel, or to stay at home and relax. No matter what choice you make, it is important to remember that it is our time to make these decisions. For these things, it's our turn.

Our turn to play in the sandbox is over. No more playing tag in the park or with GI Joes. No more showing off the latest outfit on your Barbie or your newfound skill at riding a two-wheeled bike for the first time. We have learned our ABCs and 123s, said goodbye to Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street. Most of us no longer watch Saturday morning cartoons and we haven't had recess in seven years. Our turn for these things is at an end.

Now it is our turn to complete our education and begin our careers, wherever they may take us. It is our turn to become our own person in society, to make a difference in this world, to begin our new lives, and to succeed. Ladies and gentlemen, it is finally our turn.