Graduation Speech : High School

I have been going to school since I was four years old and, that means that I have been attending school twenty to twenty two years, including kindergarten, middle school, high school and now college. As every student, I had my ups and downs in school; I had some failures and some successes. One of the failures that affected me the most and that I will always remember was the time that I was in high school during my junior year. I failed almost all my classes and, I only passed two classes and with a C. In the other hand I had some really good success. The most recent one and the one that I am still happy about is getting my Family Development Credential. We learn from our mistakes and also from our successes, these two times in my life

A higher education has been an important priority in my life. While I realized a high school education was important, my parents expected more. They said if I wanted to succeed in life, a college education was something that I could not live without. What they don’t tell you is how exhausting and confusing the process is to get even into.

“Congratulations! You have been accepted to Bentley University for fall of 2015!” Words could not express how ecstatic this message made me. As soon as the acceptance email popped up on my phone, I screamed, dropped my backpack, and sprinted over to my track and field teammates to celebrate this triumphant occasion. After years of challenging AP courses, eleven seasons of tiring school sports, and countless extracurricular clubs, I finally felt like all of my hard work had paid off. At that moment, the only thought in my head was “I’m going to Bentley!” My dream — an aspiration I’ve had since my freshman year of high school — was becoming a reality.

In the spring of 2014, I graduated as valedictorian from Klukwan High School located in the Panhandle of Alaska. During my high school career, I maintained status on the high honor roll and received the title of Student of the Month the first month of every school year for four years. In 2011 and 2012, I was selected to attend the Youth Leadership Institute in Anchorage as a student delegate for the Chatham School District. There, I met other high school students from all over Alaska. We spent our time at the conference exercising our newfound leadership skills in fun icebreaker games and group activities. We also learned about our own unique leadership styles, and how we can apply them to various situations back home or anywhere.

Going back to school when you are in your late thirty’s is a huge step. So much has

In the spring of 2014, I graduated from a small high school as valedictorian. During my high school career, I maintained status on the high honor roll and received the title of Student of the Month the first month of every school year for four years. In 2011 and 2012, my sophomore and junior years of high school, I was selected both years to attend the Youth Leadership Institute as a delegate for the Chatham School District. There, I met many other high school students from all over Alaska where we exercised our leadership skills in fun icebreaker games and group activities. We also learned about our own unique leadership styles, and how we can apply them in various situations back home or anywhere.

Grammar school, middle school, and most high schools share one thing in common; they offer the same basic history, math, English, science, and social science course. By the time high school comes around students have already learned the same things again but only this time it is harder and more in depth. College becomes a time that a student really begins to learn about what they want to do with the rest of their lives. When applying to college, applicants don’t apply to learn math, English, history, and science. They apply to learn just math, English, Art, Business, Biology, Chemistry, Criminal Justice and many others. By having a core curriculum, it takes away time that students have to learn deeply about their program of interest. However, if colleges and universities focused more on the curriculum of student’s majors, and less on the core curriculum, these students may have a better understanding of what they want and less chance of graduating late.

dad had been hired at a company nearby, and Saline was said to be one of the best school districts in the state. At Saline, I grew in my love of reading and most everything else (expect for math), and the classes offered there challenged me to work hard. In high school, I enrolled in all the honors courses I could, taking math a year above the majority of my class and studying hard. My school offered many AP classes, and because of the classes I took there, I entered IUS in my first year as a sophomore according to my credits. No matter what, I know education is important to me and that I will continue in my education for many years. I’m good at school, though sometimes I worry that it’s not so much that I am intelligent than it is that I know how to give people what they want.

It is often believed that during high school, everyone changes, wither it’s in a good way or a bad way, we all change. I was that typical high school cheerleader that didn’t care about her grades, I just wanted to have fun with friends and brush by school with C’s, but I was okay with it during those times.

The normal teenager or even preteen goes through a phase in their life when their parents become annoying and desperately want to be grown and on their own. They feel like their parents just nag and fuss for the heck of it. Though I use to think my mom was just nagging for no reason very often, I now realize that everything she told me was beneficial and that I would need it later in life.

Early teenagers look forward to one thing during their final year in middle school, high school. Some high school graduates may consider those four years the best years of their life because of the minimal stress and care free living. The purpose that high school serves in the twenty first century is to prepare students for college. A few minor reasons for high school are preparation for the workforce, community building, and socialization. With approximately only twenty five percent of freshmen classes graduating, the high school education is in danger. A high school diploma in the twenty first century is a necessity. According to Koenig, “high school dropouts make $200,000 less than a high school graduate in a life span” (76). As poverty increases, the high school drop out rate is increasing as well. Many high school dropouts do not fully understand the importance of a high school diploma. The outcome of not receiving a high school diploma should be made visual through a students time spent in school. The high school education is in jeopardy because of family background, students themselves, and academics.

It was my senior year in high school and graduation was inching closer and closer. My high school principal stood on the stage of our auditorium introducing me as the recipient of the Principals Hall of Fame Award. As he stated proudly “Desiree aspires to return to North Miami Beach Senior High to teach science” it was hard for me to conceal my shock. How had he misinterpreted my future plans into becoming an educator and even more, to returning to my high school? I was sure that this was all a misunderstanding and I would continue on towards becoming the Neonatologist I had always dreamed of, still connected to children but only in the first moments of their lives. Little did I know, my principal was more in tuned to my destiny than I thought. I look back on this moment and it supports my belief that education has always been my calling.

“The future belongs to the nation that best educates its citizens. We have everything we need to be that nation … and yet, despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher’s quality fall short and other nations outpace us”-President Obama (Splitt).

In high school I was involved in a lot of community service. I participated in a group that was focused mainly on preserving the environment. Every year, our school celebrates Earth Day, which is a huge event that is held every year in April to celebrate the earth and the environment. Our group was actually the head of the celebration. Hensler’s Nursery donates hundreds of baby trees to our school every year. We go and dig up the trees, get them ready to be handed out and then hand them out, every year. We also put on a program at the elementary school every year teaching students about the environment and why it is important to protect the environment. We always passed out either baby pine trees or plum trees. We teach the kids how to

High School graduation can be an exciting time in a student’s life. It is a time when they