Essay about Graduation Speech

The beginning of my freshman year was so anticipated. It was a clean slate for me, because the drama at my old school and the judgmental people made me insecure. It was exciting to come to a community of my “sisters.” I was, and still am, called a twig, skinny, a noodle, and more destructive names. I was going through a slight depression, I hated how I looked physically because of the standards that society and my generation set. I was damaged and came to Saint Vincent Academy for healing.

Current senior Thomas Armstrong said, "I was nervous at first, but as I began to share all that went away" He adds, "I wdas grateful to have this opportunity to thank those who made high school such a sucess."

Each student had to meet in the back hallway thirty minutes prior to graduation to make sure his or her clothing was appropriate. While it was a great photo opportunity, I had teachers pulling on my dress, tying my shoes, and fixing my hair. I didn’t realize that they thought eighth grade graduation was equivalent to the first day of kindergarten. Many of the students did not have proper attire on, and they had to change into their P.E. uniforms. None of the students wanted to be at graduation in the first place, so the extra half an hour to get checked by teachers was not appreciated.

In the closing of my senior year, I experienced an emotion that I had not expected. I began to feel overwhelmed by disappointment. The last year of high school was meant to be memorable; unforgettable because of the excitement, not the disheartening moments. And yet, when surveying the previous months, those times were all I could remember.

It was the year of 2013 my sophomore year, when I had dropped out of high school. I was starting as a freshman at Reedley High school. It’s an enormous school compared to the school I came from. I lived in Squaw Valley and went to middle school there; I graduated in a class of 36 so it was a bit frightening but very exciting. I began to make many new friends and I felt like it was a great experience and everything was going well. My grades were going great, my attendance was acceptable. I enjoyed going to all the home football games with all my friends and going out afterwards. My freshman year was entertaining and thrilling.

Highlighting my freshman year was the homecoming dance. I was able to attend the dance with my bestfriend,Takia Jackson, we had an amazing time. The homecoming dance was one of the first times at Euclid High School, where I felt as if I wasn't an outcast freshman. All of the upperclassmen and underclassmen, got along and connected as a “panther family”. Age, grade year, size or anything that would generally make you different on a normal school day roaming the halls, did not matter at the homecoming dance. I was ecstatic to mingle with new people, dance with my friends and have a great time without drama or violence. I personally would recommend going to homecoming, to any freshman entering high school, it was awesome time for me, and I am

All eyes seemed to be on me even though every pupil avoided my gaze. Students milled around in cap and gown while I donned a white lace shift that suddenly felt too angelic to represent my lack of success. Despite my insecurities, I knew why I was there and the reasons I was waffling with regret for coming. I attended this graduation to support my twin brother as he walked across the stage to receive his high school diploma as part of Marist’s class of 2016, the class I had dropped out of the year before. At this moment it did not matter that I had attained completion of my secondary studies with a GED because to my preconceptions, a GED represented a lesser background of success and therefore an inferior identity in comparison to my brother

Well, this is it. These are the only seniors who were able to survive the culminating exhibition. If I had known that there would be this many open seats, I would have invited my third cousins from Norway. You know, it's funny. As I look around at the familiar faces in the student section, I am reminded about something. Our class, particularly the girls, have been very fashion-conscious over the last four years. Some even seem to be in competition with one another. Well girls, here we are on the most important day of your high school careers, and you're all wearing the same thing. The guys, on the other hand, could care less. I know for a fact that a couple of you aren't wearing anything underneath your tailored tarps.

Writing this commencement speech for you tonight was hands-down one of the most stressful things I have ever done. For days, I toiled over what to speak about, worried that as you sat there anxious to graduate I would bore you, or say the wrong thing. I tried to write a witty and funny speech designed to entertain you, but a lack of ability ultimately forced me to give up. This speech is the culmination of hours of brainstorming, three rejected rough drafts, editing galore, and finally me just putting my heart and soul on paper. It, as practically all commencement speeches do, contains all the expected words of praise and well wishing. It does not say anything that has not been said in the past, or that will not be said in the future, save

Junior year. Things begin to really take off. Periodically we were sent to the Career Center and forced to think about the future. When people asked you what you wanted to do "when you grew up," answering "I don’t know," after, of course, you explained that you were grown up, was just asking to be sent there. We found out that junioritis does exist, because we were starting to feel that draw, knowing that we were in the home stretch of the race. Both our basketball teams went to State, and we had three days where the school was a ghost-town, and if we came, we played cards, got free test answers from our teachers, or just hung out. We said good-bye to all those graduates, the sophomores from when we were freshmen, and watched them pave the way for us to follow, knowing that our day would soon come. And, as upperclassmen, we realized that freshmen were befriending us for status, and we smiled.

(Love you mom and dad in Romanian) A lot of people here today probably didn't understand what I just said because I am Romanian, but if you take a look at my parents face they know I love them. I am Romanian and my parents came to the U.S. and could have chosen any state but they chose Washington. For all the people who don't appreciate Washington as much as me let me lay down some vibes. After I went to Arizona and California and some other states I came to realize that everything here is so much greener. Washington has the best-tasting tap water and yes, there is a difference in taste of water. Did you know Washington has an awesome kelp forest? People from all around the world come here to dive in our ocean to see our kelp forest. If

A lot of silly things happen in high school, everything from Personal Floatation Device Day to the unveiling of the Pep Potty at assemblies. Each day is certainly packed with the ordinary: tests, homework, running into doors as they swing open into the hallways. But those things add up, and sincerity and candor transform the silly and ordinary into the extraordinary.

When I think of my past four years of school, I have a lot of memories, more good than bad. I've been trying to think of what I have learned in high school and what has meant the most to me. A lot of people that I have met along the way have left me with pieces of wisdom. I am guilty of having a one-track mind, and sometimes that has hindered me from fully benefiting from all the wisdom I have been given. But, I try my best to see other's reasoning for things and their point of view, though at times I find it very difficult. I am young, and sometimes claim to know it all, but at least I'm honest, right? So, back to what I have learned and tried to apply to my daily life.

There's a recurring question that often presents itself at different points in our lives. We ask it to ourselves in private and are asked by others at any given time. It comes from those we are yet to know well and from those who can see us with their eyes closed. It goes to the tune of, "What do you want to do someday?" or "What do you want to be?" and it rarely comes with a monosyllabic reply. The routine "I don't know," or shrug are devoted companions of this question, though every now and then an individual can focus the future before his or her eyes and give it a name. For the rest of us, the specifics may still be hazy. I can say with certainty that my response to this questions is consistently inarticulate. I do take solace,

Are you ready for the real world? Will I am ready, and I want to help you out. ... I want to pump you up! Tonight marks a turning point in our lives as young adults. This milestone of graduating with a high school education has come at last. And yet, knowledge does not exist solely in scholarly facts, but more so in the relationships and friendships that we have forged along the way. Albert Schweitzer once said, "At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us." As I look at the graduating class of 2012 I am reminded of the unique gifts each one of us has to offer the world. We are artists, poets, playwrights,