Graduation Speech : Education And Reputation

According to Columbia Casa and University of Minnesota (2015), students are facing the demands of coursework, part-time jobs, internships, social obligations and more, many turn to drugs as a way to cope.  More students than ever are taking stimulants, such as Adderall, for example to help students stay awake long enough to study or complete assignments on time. All too often, these prescription drugs are obtained without a legitimate prescription or with legitimate prescription and are selling to friends and others. Students are now exploring many new aspects of their lives and wonder what could come their way. It’s not uncommon for that self-exploration to dip into drug experimentation. Students who are surround themselves with other experimenters that are trying recreational and performance-enhancer drugs are more likely to try these substances for themselves. These habits lead to a drop in a college students academic grade and has been proven to do so. (Addiction Center 2015) According to National Institute on Drug Abuse Young Adults ranging in age 18-25, the abuse of prescription drugs is second only to abuse of

A lot of the people that I know that finish high school and don’t do anything after eventually turn into druggies. High school is really important, believe it or not. I kind of blew it off for a while but then realized I’m not going anywhere without it. It is a great opportunity and I don’t wants to turn my back on it now, not when I’m so close.

My relationship with drugs first began during my senior year of high school. While most of my peers attended their first parties years earlier, my first was not until I was already 17 years old. I still remember feeling so cool for attending my first party and having my first sip of alcohol. The feeling of being drunk was unlike anything I had ever felt before. I felt liberated, like I could break out of my quiet shell and be that fun, goofy person that everyone wanted to hang out with. Prior to this night I had never used any type of substance, legal or illegal. Since then I have continued using alcohol while also trying various different types of drugs including caffeine, marijuana, tobacco, and adderall.

Nowadays, teenagers and young adults are graduating high school and college and are unable to find jobs. A lot of them lack the basic skills needed to survive during adulthood. Institutions exist mainly to educate people on what they need to maintain a somewhat decent lifestyle. Students have been forced to take classes on a variety of subjects throughout high school, most of which have nothing to do with what they need to prepare them for life after education. Even in college, a majority of students do not know what career field they would like to enter, so when they graduate it is hard for them to get a job anywhere. Institutions are not arming students with the proper information needed to excel after education. So, new classes should be created and required for students to pass before graduating. They will be based on basic skills such as money management, customer service skills, and credit understanding.

Attitudes about marijuana usage are dynamic amongst college-aged individuals. Additionally, marijuana use is influenced by many outside factors, such as timing and rate of exposure, familial factors, educational goals and expectations, and social norms and influences. Emerging medical claims about marijuana’s potential medical benefits further influences the climate around marijuana usage. These factors are contributing to an increased need to understand how college students perceive marijuana usage and also the effects potential marijuana usage may have on them and their life outcomes.

The achievement gap is a term that has evolved over the past decades to describe

There are problems with alcohol and drug abuse in every high school system. Each school deals and records the problem differently, which is why there is not a similar percentage of use from one school to another. Some schools require students to take health classes, which cover the curriculum of drug effects. Other schools simply try to plead the cases that drugs are not an issue that pertains to academics. Society expresses the impression that alcohol helps to improve and enhance your social life, when in fact it usually has the opposite effect. The link between drug use and not liking school is strong, which is why you would rationalize it as a common factor to academic deficiency. There are currently multiple methods of trying to prevent and to educate drug and alcohol abuse in high school. (National Center 2, 4)

Success in education must be measured through hard work, perseverance, and dedication- not through the deceiving effects of marijuana. From personal experience, I have had many peers throughout high school and post-secondary who have claimed to use marijuana to help them succeed in school. Currently, in the country of Canada, marijuana is an illegal herbal drug used by many students as a personal key to succeed. Marijuana, also known as “weed”, is relatively inexpensive and easy to come by. Therefore, people use marijuana for various reasons: some use the drug as a way to release stress, while others use it as a calming agent. Consequently, many of these students are deceived by the fact that marijuana is potentially harmless. What many do not know- marijuana can actually be harmful, and that it could pose a potential threat to the student’s success in education. Students should consider avoiding marijuana while pursuing their education as they could potentially be limiting their success in school. Many users do not take the time to understand the full effect of the stimulant and they will smoke ridiculous amounts of marijuana to reach that certain high that will lead them to their idea of “success”. These smokers are slowly deconstructing their futures; the feeling of “keeping chill” is not worth affecting their mind, memory, attention span, thinking process, and physical body.

Unlike others, my high school days were filled with homework and going to the mall with friends. It was not until I entered college did I “experiment” with illicit drugs. I began smoking marijuana with my roommate and a couple of “cool kids” I met in my dorm. Thinking back, I believe that I started to smoke marijuana only to build a relationship and “fit in” with these people who years later names I can’t even remember. At that time smoking marijuana was “cool” an escape, adjust to being away from home for the first time, a different experience.

Drug taking was very common in my High School and has influenced me to not take drugs for many reasons. I went to Martin Luther King. Jr High School in New York City, which was not a reputable school. I decided to go that school because I believed that it would be very beneficial towards my education because it was in Manhattan. However, although the school was located in downtown Manhattan, many students including myself were from inner cities such as the Bronx and Brooklyn. Almost every one of my peers did drugs, primarily Marijuana. I remember walking in the hallways and seeing people drug deal. Also, my friends would invite me to smoke with them after school, but I would say no until one day, I decided to try it.

To get started, I chose drugs because I’ve grown up with lots of family members that drink and smoke cigarettes along with friends that smoke marijuana. Not only that, but I have also partaken in drinking and even tried marijuana once. As I read through the textbook on the drugs and consciousness chapter I was shocked by some of the numbers and studies done on all three of the above drugs. For example, the book discusses how marijuana can an increase the risk of psychological disorders which for me was terrifying. I already struggle with enough issues so I don’t need any help from a drug to make it worse. Also, the negative aftereffects of alcohol and nicotine have affected my family and friends. I’ve seen people in my family struggle with severe depression from alcohol and heart disease is a problem on both sides of my family, partially related to

In the ninth grade I started doing drugs. I thought it was fun and cool. I used them every day which had started out with only marijuana. I just smoked for the fun of it I thought it put me in better state of mind which I realize now it did not do that for me much less anything. I partied every single weekend even most of the weekdays because I dropped out of school. So the next year came which made me a sophmore this is when I dropped out of school within the first two weeks. I tried moving schools to get away from everything and everyone I knew but it just made it worse because I found that same crowd with a lot more kids to do drugs with. So I left the first school I went to which was p.v. After that I just completely quit school for awhile and got a job.

Over the last four years of high school I have done a lot of searching, within myself, the people around me, and how to make all I do have more purpose. The first step was to find myself. I had to discover the exact beliefs I had, how I viewed having fun, and I promised myself to stay true to what I found. After coming to the conclusion of how I wanted to spend the rest of my years at SHS I surrounded myself with people who had the same intent as I. Early on as a freshman I signed a pledge agreeing to live a drug and alcohol free life while attending Streator High, in which I have successfully done. After understanding I can enjoy myself attending school dances, or traveling to away sporting events while being 100% substance free, I pushed

If you had changed so much then and developed new ways of seeing things, think about what can be achieved when you are consciously pondering and eagerly

I have a Masters degree in technology (and another in education), plus over 30 years of professional, customer-facing, consulting and management experience in selling and delivering superior products and services that exceed expectations, and demonstrate extraordinary project and business management prowess. I empower teams and customers by framing the value proposition of solutions, and then developing architectures, road maps and teams that generate a high return on investment. My communication skills are second to none, and allow me to confidently mentor technical teams, as well as advise C-level executives. I have worked as an executive with P and L responsibilities, and thrive in matrix environments.