Graduation Speech : My Life Essay

Growing up, school was not a major factor in my life. I come from a hard-working, middle-class military family. My mother, a Filipino immigrant, was a homemaker. My father was a 21-year United States Marine veteran. They were my first impression of what I thought my future would be. Being the youngest of four children, I was expected to fall in line behind my siblings when it came to education. I was never pushed to excel in my studies, so I did just enough to get by. As I watched friends escape the grasp of a military town and ascend to their respective colleges, I was left wondering what was next for me. I attended my local community college for a brief period of time. I treated college no different than high school. I

To many high school students, college seems like a far away land, a mysterious place where everyone wants to be yet not many know how to get there. As children, our parents tell us how much time we have to think about college, and that it is too far down the line to think about. The truth is it is never too early to think about your future. I, like many people, put little thought into my future career and now am lost in an unfortunate mix of indecision and anxiety. Not knowing where you want to be in the future is a hard burden to bear. Many of us tend to find out that we only know what we do not want, not what we actually do want. Do we want to be poor? Absolutely not. Do we want a boring job? Of course we don’t. We all want our

College is an important place that can lead us to a bright and successful future. College success is more than academics; for us it’s learning how to become an adult for the first time in our life. In college we will develop skills to have relationships with professors, counselors, and with our peers. The whole college experience enables us to truly succeed. Meeting new people, becoming acquainted to different ideas and cultures, and mostly, the enjoyment of the four plus years of being in school. A couple of years from now we will look back at college as either one of the best or worst times of our lives. The one thing that motivates people to go to college is “career

When people tell you that high school would be the best time of your life, you don’t really understand the magnitude of what they’re saying until your time is coming to an end. A lot of people say that you “find yourself” in college. I, however, had the advantage of finding myself in high school. These past six years have been awesome, and I really mean it. I know it might not seem believable for a high school student to enjoy school, but I’m not lying about this stuff. I felt this way even before there was a scholarship to apply for. My mom taught me from a young age to enjoy going to school, and as much stress as it might have caused me over the years, I still loved every second of it. It’s easy to focus on the undesirable parts like sleep

“In fall 2016, some 20.5 million students are expected to attend American colleges and universities, constituting an increase of about 5.2 million since fall 2000” (National Center for Education Statistics). That number seems to be rising each and ever year, and it almost seems as students feel like they have to go to college directly after high school. Maybe it is because they feel that they have to fit in, even if college is not for them. Although some students attend college for academics, sports, and other reasons, some students attend college for no apparent reason; with that in mind, students should take into consideration the time and money that is put into going to college.

College is a chance to be free and is a bridge between the real world and school. I’m an adult and expected to behave as such; I make my own choices where I have to decide what is important to me. I have an opportunity to learn how the world works, to explore the limitless possibilities and a chance to admire how vast knowledge can be. College will change my life in the way that I can develop life skills outside academics, to be fully

While you grow up through school, you hear over and over that college is a must if you want to land a good job as an adult. That seems reasonable, I have to get a higher education to get a job with more money and potential. Then comes junior year and you go to look at schools and you see the price of tuition. Everything changes, college isn’t just a dream anymore it's a burden.

As a young girl, the idea of college was a distant dream that I knew was important. I was told every day for the past 12 years of my life that college is the threshold to a better life because with a college degree you can accomplish so much more. Now, as a high school graduate, College and everything that comes with it is my reality. From applying to accepting an offer to orientation and financial obligations is all too real. I am just starting to realize how difficult college is.

After graduating high school, no one prepares you for college. Most kids when they are finished with high school don’t even fantasize about going back to school. I have always wanted to go to college ever since I was a young kid. I also had dreams of myself going to college, but in my dreams, everything was picture perfect. In reality, college has been very challenging for me. No one tells you about the adjustments and complications that you would have to face to become a successful college student.

When I was younger and thinking about college I always pictured it as I saw it in the movies, you sleep all day and have fun all night. Know what I know now I understand the importance of college and I think of it a little differently than before. I know that I need to work hard and study hard to be able to succeed at my fullest potential in college. I have had a few experiences in my life that have helped me realize that I need to work hard to get the output which I was hoping for in the beginning. I’ve seen my sister diagnosed with diabetes her first week of high school, I’ve witnessed my dad struggling through cancer and conquering it, and I have made it through 6 month of grueling and time consuming physical therapy to make it so I could use my shoulder again. Through these experiences my perspective about hard work and perseverance has changed dramatically, and for that I am thankful.

I believe college is something everyone should at least think about going to or attending. Neither of my parents attend college, but I got my inspiration from my grandfather who did attend college. I went to visit my grandparents one night, and we started talking about life and how everything was then we got off on the topic about college. He asked me what plans I had when I graduated high school. I replied with the usual answer of “I don’t know”. He gave me a stern look and told me that I better figure it out before it is too late. That night I laid in bed and thought about what he said to me. I kept asking myself questions like “Can I afford to go to school?”, “Are my grades good enough since I missed so much school and homework?”, or “How will my parents react when I tell them my choice?”.

Going to College was a new door opening in my life, yet I didn’t know should I walk through it. I knew senior year I was going to have to do something with my life; get a job, learn a trade, or go in the military. A few weeks after making my decision to go to college, I signed up for the ACT. I didn’t do as well as I thought I could, after that things in life started to snowball down. Even though learning a trade or going in the military, could of lead me on many cool adventures. The effects of going to college has led me to wonderful things as well.

As a child everyone has goals of being successful in life no matter what and how you do it. At one point we are all dreaming of having great things in life such as, having the highest paying Jobs, having the hottest wife, having most expensive cars, and having a humongous house. I am one of them, who dreams about success and hoping to make it true one day. When I was in high school I used to just play around and not pay attention to studies at all because I was just thinking that being successful doesn’t require human work and brain. Transition from high school to college was a huge change for me because I wasn’t exposed to a college life before. Once I came to college I knew that I had to step up my game in order to fulfill my dreams. First year of college year I had no idea what I wanted to be, as the year went by I figured out my major.

For many, after graduating high school the next big step is college. I never asked myself why or if I even wanted to. Yet, since I was not yet ready to join the work force, and didn’t want to disappoint my parents, I simply followed the path that I was supposed to take. For a while I had no direction, but through the loss of my high school English teacher and my dream of making my family proud, I discovered that college was the place I wanted and needed to be.

Stepping upon a simple stage was the best thing I could have ever done. Overseeing the multitude that was there to witness my every word, every tremble, every emotion, and every heart beat, was then that I realized that the sentiment was real. It was essentially the end of time and I could not bear to hold back what I no intentions of doing. Cry. Tears of joy darted down my face as I walked across the stage and received my ultimate gift. With fancy inscription, my gift was entitled “Class of 2009”. I had just graduated.