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

High school is supposed to be the place where you have fun and a time in your life you’re supposed to enjoy. Movies often trick you into believing that high school is an amazing time in your life and there is nothing but parties and fun. In Bring it on, they portrayed the fun and exciting part of high school cheer-leading, however they intentionally leave out the tough times high school students’ face in school and in their practices. In other popular movies, such as High School Musical the students have no pressures other than the next basketball game. In reality, this doesn 't happen. The constant pressure is affected by the grade level you are in. In high school, students can be classified based on the pressures that are faced in each grade level into the categories of freshman, sophomores/juniors, and seniors. I am here to help you make your high school experience less stressful.

Many people have different high school experiences or stories about when they finally felt like a highschooler or felt like they belonged. Some people might not even have had that experience yet and are still trying to belong at Wahlert Catholic High School. Personally, I have had many experiences when I finally felt like a high schooler. Such as my first year playing on the Wahlert Freshman Baseball team, talking to upperclassmen, my first year playing on the Wahlert Freshman Basketball team, or all of the times cheering in the Wahlert Volleyball, Football, and Basketball Eagle’s Nest. But, one experience truly stands out in particular, the school-wide pep rally for homecoming week.

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.

As a freshman in high school, school was my least favorite place to be and I also dislike going to class. My grades were inadequate by the time I was a sophomore. Toward the end of my sophomore year I met Dawn Pollman Kivlehan who is a teacher at Fowler High School. She is the head of the ESL (English as a Second Language) department. Mrs. Kivlehan was born and raised in Syracuse, New York and lived in a neighborhood called Tipperary Hill. She enjoyed in spending time with her family, listening to music and watching Fowler soccer. She had a bad habit of drinking Diet Pepsi every morning. I remember every morning she drinks Pepsi. She played field hockey in college and basketball in her early age. Her eyes changes color depending on the clothes she wears and, then green when she’s upset. Mrs. Dawn is fashionable during the week she always dressed up except Fridays. Friday she wears her soccer t-shirts. (She really loves wearing sweatpants after work). Dawn Pollman Kivlehan is hardworking, helpful, and very beloved teacher. (I can really say that she is one of the hardest working person I know)

Every year the percentage of high school graduates going to college after high school rises. But as the number of students increases, so does college tuition. In 2013-14 there was a 9% rise in CSU tuition with the average rise being 7% a year. As College prices rise, more student loans are withdrawn to help pay for increased tuition. Student debt isn’t like credit card debt or medical bills or a mortgage, where if you declare bankruptcy all your debt will be forgiven. Student loans stick with you until they are payed off in full plus interest. As a high school student who hopes to go to college in 2-3 years, I don’t know if I am really ready to assume thousands of dollars in student loans. So although colleges have had to raise prices due

When I was in high school I wanted to be like everybody else. I wanted to fit in and meet some new friends. With meeting new friends I met the good ones and the bad ones. What I didn’t realize at that time was the bad ones were only going to bring me down and make me skip school.

Four years is such a small portion of many people’s lives, but the four years of high school can greatly impact one’s life. High school ,for many people, is a time to mature physically and mentally. Many find out who they are as a person and maybe who they want to become. High school teaches life lessons that can not be taught anywhere else and that people would not want to be taught later in life. I started high school as an anxious freshman and transformed into a confident senior in four short years.

Throughout the years I have learned that life is not as simple as it is made out to be. It is filled with twists, turns, and challenges you never expected to face. If I were told a couple years ago that I would at UCF for my undergraduate, I would have not believed you. All my years of schooling have been those of great difficulty. Not only due to academics, but also mainly due to the fact in which I was bullied immensely. Being bullied not only took a toll on me mentally, it also hindered my ability to properly attend school, and do work efficiently.

High school was one of the most challenging moments in my life. Not only did I have to deal with the academic pressures and social issues from my peers I had external factors that were heavily impacting me as well. During my junior year my mom separated from her husband and me and my three little brothers ended up staying house to house with close relatives. Shortly after that time at the beginning of my senior year, my mom was sent to prison. In the midst of dealing with all of the demands that any senior deals with I had to also carry the responsibility of taking care of my three siblings. I picked up more hours from my part time job and had help from my stepdad and extended family financially but my little brothers were depending on me psychologically. Times were tough. At times my attention shifted away from my academics and more so to the wants and needs of my siblings. I became so stressed out that I broke down and went to visit my high school counselor. She then recommended me to my school’s district Social Worker.

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.

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.

In a small high school, everyone knows each other and every move made is scrutinized. Many people in my high school tried their absolute hardest to fit in, but for me uncomfortableness has always lead to a missed opportunity. I ran my high school. I was the kid who was president of everything, sat on the board of education and even had a little mailbox next to all the teacher’s mailboxes. Intense and extroversion are two words that I have always related to, but when the opportunity came to be crowned king of my school, I just wasn’t interested.

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

Actually, in the high school students got test as the SAT where every student had to write about a topic in just twenty-five minutes, for to prove the improvement and skill of every student in redact, analyze and write an essay. Because the importance of the writing in the High school is focus in the making of new texts and the comprehension it, which good oriented and structured would convert in knowledge. The apprenticeship based in the writing; potency a whole of ideas, and generate bases for the elaboration of own writing that contain arguments; may be reference of others writers, but develop the essence lexical, linguistic and analytical that the students acquire and expand in that process of accompaniment, education and monitoring. In addition, there are students cannot develop a good essay neither understanding it, but it is by the lack of put their ideas in order and consistency in it. Smith says, “Last spring, at the same time that English professors across the country were suffering the every-semester hell of grading final papers, high school juniors were receiving scores for the first SAT writing section essay. Immediately, there were complaints: No one can write well in twenty-five minutes! The scores reward length!”(Smith 16). It for this, I am a favor in every student should to have the level adequate when he is in college. Given the reason that there are tools for improve the writing where help them to grow mentally doing it more easy for make an essay, also