Graduation Speech : My Experience

Each week, I was given reading assignments in which I had to prepare for the following class. This allowed for the exposure to different styles, genres and form of writings. I had to critically analyze and evaluate numerous passages and make logical sense of the text. This in turn taught me how to cite evidence from text, have a good sense of judgment thus maintaining objectivity, recognize different arguments and form my own opinions. Along with this accompanied summary writing and paraphrasing activities. This was a real challenge for me as I struggled immensely week after week until I believed I had grasped how to do it properly. These critical reading activities has enhanced my critical writing skills in allowing me to learn how to write for different audiences, expand my vocabulary and improve my diction.

One of my weaknesses in my writing is that I tend to have a “one track mind”. Once I have an idea about how to word something or organize an essay, I tend to only see it from that perspective, even if it’s not the most optimal way to convey my arguments. This class helped me think outside of the box and learn to organize things like I would not normally do, this included how I would analyze texts or synthesize ideas. The in-class activities helped me learn to be creative, the class readings gave me examples on how to organize that creativity and the instructor conferences helped me further organize my thoughts and organization.

How are you doing? This is Will, the tall black guy you would sometimes see in service. I'm writing to say goodbye. My project in Carson City came to an end and I've moved back to Texas. Thank you so much for making me feel at home at Hope. Your messages kept me going while I was in Reno. God used your words to truly bless me and also show me where I need to improve. Sorry I didn't get a chance to say goodbye in person, but everything happened so fast.

As result of creating and implementing this artifact, I realized that the most effective lesson plans are those which initiate with the final assessment in mind. So, I applied a pre-test at the very beginning of my lessons with every different group I would be teaching to measure a starting point or the amount of pre-existing knowledge on the topics to be taught. Based on this, I planned the instruction to deliver and how to differentiate it.

II. Main Point (state as a single declarative sentence): The progress that I have made helped me lead up to writing well-developed essays. The main reason I believe my essays are improved because of the time I take on my pre-writing.

During our lives, most of us have hated getting up early. Whether we as humans enjoy mornings or not, we’re always looking forward to that unforgettable day. That special is high school graduation for me. Graduation is a ceremony that recognizes students that have excelled through school. Graduation was one of the best days of my life, perhaps even better than the day that I started college. There is no other day like graduation where there comes this feeling of success, achievement, and excitement.

I agonized over writing this speech for a long time, because I felt like nothing I could say would make a difference, first because I don't know if what I could say would be good advice, and second because I don't know if advice about things like being true to yourself and setting goals and all that is actually helpful. How can I give advice that I can't even follow in my own life? And even if you are mesmerized for my two minutes, you would walk out of here and your life wouldn't be any different. Or maybe you'd be inspired for a day, and then forget. But still, the speech had to be written.

In the commencement speech entitled “This is Water,” the speaker came to highlight to the graduates at the commencement ceremony, what the “real world “was like because he thought they are not alert enough to know. He made reference to this through the anecdote at the beginning where the two young fish didn’t know what water was and of course water is life to fishes. Therefore, the speaker found it necessary to tell what life was really about through a commencement speech because of his opinion that they may have limited knowledge concerning it. In paragraph 6 of his speech, he states “The plain fact is that you graduating seniors do not yet have any clue what ‘day in, day out’ really means. There happen to be whole large part of adult

Christopher Columbus, reflecting on his voyage which led him to the discovery of America, said, "Following the light of the sun, we left the Old World." I am sure that after four years of high school, we have all formed our own opinion of Christopher Columbus - especially if you had Mrs. Powers - but whether you view him as a genocidal rogue or the first American Hero, I find his quote fitting for where we stand today.

As a group we decided to include a “College Success” course for freshman within out First Year Experience. Instead of making the course required, we would prefer to make the class optional and offered for 2 credits. The class would be for 50 minutes per day and either Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday and available both spring and fall semesters for first-year students at High Point University. The course would be recommended to all freshman for the fall semester in order to assist in the transition to college life, but would be offered spring semester as well for students who struggled first semester with becoming acclimated to the university.

We all have had many stones read to us, and even read many ourselves. In elementary school they were stories of Lad, Jane and Spot. Each of us beamed with pride as we stumbled over that first line of "See Lad go," or "Run Jane run." Then, in junior high we learned about plot and theme, and the characters of the stories actually developed personalities. Now, as graduating seniors, many of us have learned that stories can teach us valuable lessons about life. Even the simple stories from elementary school contain lessons that we can relate to our own experiences. One story in particular that just happens to be from my favorite producer, Disney, and emphasizes the importance of friendship is "The Fox and The Hound." As this story

When I accepted my admission to Vassar, it was to pursue my second degree in dramatic arts. I came under the pretext that this was a “prestigious” program and that I would gain an immense amount of knowledge and experience as a drama student. Almost immediately I began to realize the many flaws within the dynamics of this department. Coming into the program you are required to take the intro course regardless of your theatrical experience. This requirement stands in your way of taking any other course in the department so it is a class that is a hot commodity. Somehow, in a class that originally had 39 students, only 3 of us were phenotypically Black. There can of course be other students who identify in this way, but their body does not read blackness the way mine and the body of my other 2 classmate do.

In the United States, the outlook for recent college graduates seems bleak. In 2014, graduates left college with both a degree and an average of $28,950 in student loan debt (“Survey of the States” 1). In addition, over half of all millennials are having trouble saving for the future and seventy five percent were unaware of late payment charges on their credit cards (ibid). All of this builds up into the current situation in the United States, where collectively, college graduates have over one trillion dollars in debt, the second largest debt category (ibid). Now, the spending and saving of money starts at an earlier age than ever before. Students fresh out of high school are being asked to make thousand dollar investments in the

graduation ceremony. I would like to genuinely thank you all for coming out here tonight to celebrate with us our bittersweet moments of graduation. I would like to acknowledge and express my gratitude to my fellow peers and grade 8 teachers for choosing me to be your valedictorian and spokesperson for tonight. It is such a great honour to be valedictorian because you all trust me enough to summarise some of the most memorable years of our lives. This night is an extremely special night for us. We will speak about our past, present and future. I think I can speak for all of us when I say we are at least going to miss one person in our grade. The bright side though is that we have grown together and the memories with this great community will always last. Plus, we will get to experience so much more in high school. New friends, teachers, subjects, challenges and memories. We should take advantage of our knowledge and expand on it to get the best high school experience. So really, we should be happy that we have a good ceiling for our base in Grade 9 as Mr Grandsoult says. Let’s start off with our firsts.

English class seemed to be the most dreadful to take within school. Writing essays for most of my grade in a class is not what I was looking forward too. When I entered college I knew that it would be one of many challenging classes I would have to take. Starting from the lowest English class to moving on up, the writing assignments became longer and more thought out. The time came when I got into this class that I knew more work was going to have to be put into essays and thus brought out what I had not seen before in my work progress.