Graduation Speech : My Future Education

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.

Why are schools not preparing students for college, for the real world, or how be successful in the work force? Many Americans ask this question and do not understand that Career and Technical Education (CTE), once called Vocational Education, do exactly that (Estacion, Deluca, Plank 346). They believe that all that schools teach are how to write, solve math problems, use the scientific method, and absorb the information discussed in history courses. Career and Technical Education uses experimental learning that gives students skills and motivation to graduate high school and be successful afterwards. Experimental learning is a concept that uses practical thinking and activities to grasp contexts and make learning information and skills easier (Fletcher and Hernadez-Gantes par. 3). Career and Technical Education give students opportunities to better themselves, and stay in school to create success in all aspects of their lives.

On September 1, 2012 I moved to Virginia, United States. Many can say that, but to me it is one of the greatest things I have done in life. Being born in Puerto Rico, an island in which Spanish is the main language, the wish of learning English was constantly in my mind. As I grew up I started to take English courses in school; however, the courses were not as effective, since I only learned the basics of English. Later on after graduating from sixth grade I was enrolled in a bilingual private school. The fact that the school was mostly in English and that it was private challenged my learning even more than in a public school. Although the school was a great one, I was doing badly accademically. It wasn’t until the school year was over that I decided to move to the state of Virginia in order to begin with my journey. A journey in which I learned many things from life and because of this experience I am preapared to overcome anything that comes between me and what I want.

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.

When living in America, the chances of one having received some form of general education are high. Schools come in all shapes and sizes to accommodate the needs and preferences of parents and students; they can range between the extremes of religious to liberal arts and private to public education. In E.B. White’s “Education”, he describes his son’s shift from a city private school to a country public school. In contrast, the public education I received before entering college was very different from the experiences of White’s son as a child.

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.

With more than 15 years experience in higher education at the university, state, and national level, I can genuinely say I enjoy my work. For many prospective students, the college admissions process is an arduous and daunting task. As a higher education administrator, college admissions and enrollment management allows me to improve the college search experience, provide avenues of opportunity, and assist students with what is potentially the first and most important adult decision they will make.

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.

It has become apparent now more than ever that having a college education is an unavoidable requisite in order to better ourselves. Every year thousands of students graduate high school and start to enroll in college. Another key factor in the decision towards obtaining a college degree is the example the young student saw at home; however, not all of the young students entering college come from a family with college graduate parents, which can play as a huge motivation in their path toward their college degree. Many people see this as the start of a new journey into the path of success since most Americans grow up with the idea that a college education will help us better our lives as well as to bring us success. According to Scott-Clayton from Columbia University, “Individuals with bachelor’s degrees earn about 60 percent more than those with just a high school diploma.” Today, we must not only acquire a high school education, but also graduate with a Bachelor’s degree. A college degree itself won’t guarantee you success, but it would give you the necessary tools and knowledge to achieve economic and personal success. In the future, the knowledge you achieved from your college education will become beneficial in plenty of ways.

What is the secret to success? Many people think that you can rely on only on yourself to be accomplished in this life time. However, there are many strategies to utilize on the road to success and the concept of a self-made man has a common misconception. Arnold Schwarzenegger shattered this idea of the self-made man as he presented his speech to the graduating class of Houston University in the spring of 2017. The crowd was powerfully moved by the words that flowed from Arnold’s mouth. Arnold successfully establishes credibility, demonstrates emotion, and uses logic to motivate this graduating class. Throughout this speech Arnolds exceeds in these three categories tremendously.

Good evening. We’ve done it graduates, thinking about this day since september 2016, tonight, we gather together as one graduating class and a community to celebrate a journey, an adventure. Staff, parents, guardians, siblings and friends we are glad you get to experience the graduation of the class of 2017 with us. Each one of us has come so far since our first day in kindergarten no matter what school we went to. As I look around at each and every graduate in this room, my mind is flooded with memories. 10 years ago, when we all started elementary, a lot of us were most likely scared of the grade 8’s who were older and more knowledgeable than us. But now, just short years later, here we are, wondering if the little ones are frightened by us. Another year at Orchard park has gone by quick, but this one, being our last. Many memories have created this time In elementary school to be one of a kind, and it is an honour to be speaking on behalf of each and everyone of us.

Ever since I was young I always aspired to become more than I could ever imagine. I had drive and that helped me realize my goals early on in my education. I always dreamed of college and what it would be like. With the chance I could have followed in my older siblings and drop out of highschool I pushed through it to prove to my two younger siblings that bettering yourself is possible. Not only did I graduate from high school on time but I graduated with honors. I am the recipient of the McCoy Medal of Honor for being in the top 20% of my junior class but I was also a member of Van Horn High School 's National Honor Society and to top it all off I got to walk across the stage with red cords meaning I had graduated Cum Laude (GPA: 3.5-3.7). All of these were HUGE accomplishments for my family and I.

Everyone is entitled to have the opportunities to succeed in their education, however, not everyone has the privilege to receive a great education from the start. Due to the factors that might interfere or hinder education, such as economic and geographic matters, many programs have been developed in order to help students with their journey throughout college and high school. The Puente Project is one of the many programs that has been around for three decades assisting underrepresented students to further their education. The program believes in the potential of their students, especially when given the right tools and opportunities to achieve academic success.

That evening, when Edward returned home from college. He quickly ate his lunch and rushed to work as a part-timer in a Pizza Hut restaurant. He works as a waiter and sometimes he works at the front counter. On that evening, Edward was the only worker who came to work. He cleaned a mountain of dishes, he threw all the leftovers on the tables, and he moped the floor after he swept it all by himself. After finished work, he went home and took some rest. Even though, his friends invited him for a movie that night, he did not joined them. He want to, but he could not. Instead, he did his homework that night.

As I was indisposed on the day that we wrote up our goals for the semester, due to my car accident, I did not write up my goals in class. However, I thought of some goals that I would like to fulfill in the interim period, those goals would be to get at least a “B” in all my classes, manage my time so I do not burn myself out on homework, and get enough sleep during the week. Firstly, although I would like to make it on the Dean’s List this semester, there is a very possibility that I will not make it on due to academically rough areas in Math 110 and, to a lesser extent, Astronomy 100. With that being said, I would be more than happy to achieve a “B” or better in those classes as math and science have never been my strongest subjects, and I am not worried about my other classes as I know them fairly well and am confident in my abilities to do well in them. Secondly, I would like to manage my time more effectively so that I do not get ground down mentally by the amount of homework that is sure to pile up over the course of the semester. I have found that it is much easier to split my workload up into smaller chunks and tackle those, day-by-day-, as opposed to trying to cram a lot of homework into a single day – which is mentally taxing and a fair bit annoying as well. Finally, as rest is very important – both during the course of the school semester and when school is not going on – I would like to get enough this course so that I can focus on my classes each day without