Graduation Speech - Original Writing Essay

Nine years ago, I never could have imagined I’d be writing this essay. I was a senior in high school, and, like the rest of my classmates, I was apprehensive about the future. Unlike my classmates, I felt like I had missed the proverbial “you need to get your life together” message. I watched my classmates apply to colleges, their majors already decided and their future careers mapped out. While I was an above average student, I felt I lacked the decisiveness my classmates seemed to have. I did not feel passionate about a career or even a field of study. I felt defective. This was compounded by the financial strain I knew attending college would have on my family. It seemed wasteful to try to “find my passion” at school while squandering

As a graduation speaker, I'm supposed to stand up here reflectively gazing out upon the few, the proud, the chosen: the Class of 2012, and point in general directions while saying the cliché, "Among us I see the first female president and a future congressman and the next mayor of Everett." But besides that I would never in my most vengeful moments wish those positions upon any of you, I cannot make those assertions because I am categorically against campaigns of any kind.

I put on my bright orange life jacket and stood up. "You want me to go in and push the boat?" I asked my mom. "Yes." She responded. So I climbed out of the boat and into the water. The water was rushing dragging me away, so I grabbed onto the side of the boat and it was then that I realized this was a terribly stupid idea.... It was June fourth of 2016 and the day started out as any early normal day would. My family and I had been invited to go rafting, by my moms best friend Holly. So my mom agreed. She woke us up early so we would be there on time and when we had gotten there we met up with Holly. After that we boarded a bus with our cooler full of water and food. The bus ride was approximately fifteen to thirty minutes. Yes, I was

There was only a few of us that day, we all needed to take the GED test. We all seemed nervous. The nice lady who signed me in stood up front, she explained all the rules; no talking, no cheating, no getting up without your hand raised and acknowledged, and there is no bathroom breaks until you have finished each test. Before I took my seat I grabbed earplugs took a last drink of my water and headed toward a seat up front. I was nervous and felt a bit discouraged.

It was my 5th grade ceremony at Anthony Burns Elementary School, and I was standing in line to get my certificate. The school’s principal called my name to accept my certificate for “AB Honor Roll” and “Excellence in Math.” I was looking into the massive crowd, and my mother, along with my Uncle Chris and Aunt Saundra, were cheering me on with jubilant faces. I remember how intense the moment was, and the overwhelming feeling’s of love i received; I was proud. As I made my way across the stage, the principal called a little boy’s name to receive his certificate. In the audience, his mom and dad stood up and gave him a huge applause; eyes filled with tears of joy. That was the 1st time, in my 10 years of living, I ever wondered about my dad.

The pencil lead was wearing out fast, and I barely knew what to write down on my paper. The proctor announced, “5 minutes left! Make Sure you all check your work.” My hands began to sweat and my mind was completely silent. I could only hear the loud tick of the clock as the hands moved along every second and every minute. I scribbled down on my paper what ever came to my mind. It was a horror filled experience, and even after I finished the test, my lips were dry solid as if my saliva was completely cold and arid. I could see the dark days ahead of time as I rumored to myself, “This is one test, that I’m sure I failed.”

This was the first week of school and I completed this thesis quite hurriedly. I was NOT prepared for the amount of summer reading (AP History, English, and Sacraments), so I ended up spending most of the first week in a zombified state of sleepwalking from class to class. I was taken aback when I accidentally submitted two versions of the assignment to Poll EV and both were voted to the top of our class. I hadn’t much time for proofreading and I barely remembered what happened in the novel at that point due to the fact that I was going on about half an hour of sleep.

“You never do anything around the house,” my step dad yelled at me as I walked through the kitchen door coming home from school. Ignoring him; I continued to walk through the kitchen to go upstairs to my bedroom. The first thing I did was plop onto my bed and open my backpack to start my hours of homework I had ahead of me. I tried to complete all of my homework I had before having to go to work in a couple hours. All of a sudden my stepdad barged in my room. “You need to go do the dishes!” he yelled at me.

When I first joined this English class, it wasn’t completely by choice. Since this was my very first semester of college (having just graduated high school in June), my dad helped me pick all my classes. I needed an English class to meet state requirements. While searching through the class catalog online, I discovered that my old English teacher was teaching an English class in the morning. I greatly anticipated joining the class, but, unfortunately, I wasn’t qualified to enter (I had to be in the ‘Camino program’, whatever that is). I informed my dad, so he rushed to find myself a new class at the last minute. English 1A - 41066 was open, so I tried sitting in for the day. The class (and the teacher) seemed interesting enough that I decided to try and get an open seat. Fortunately, as more students left, I was able to officially enroll in the class.

It was her freshman year. She walked into the school feeling more nervous and frightened than she had ever felt previously in all nine years of attending school. Quaking in her shoes, she roamed the halls, frantically searching for the right classroom, fearing a possible encounter with a senior who would more than likely karate chop her to the ground before she even had a chance to run. Every year that she could remember there was a new friend whom she had latched onto in an attempt to survive the year. Yet freshman year, as she became more acquainted with her surroundings and the occupants of the building, friends were found in people she never would have imagined. She had finally found the group of friends she knew would stay by her side her entire highschool career; or all of theirs anyway.

“I want her to be a TJ.” Those were the words my dance teacher, Mrs. Cortez, told my parents during open house. I remember feeling really awkward, fidgeting as my parents and sister all shifted their gaze to me after she said that. I guess they must have had a weird look on their faces since Mrs. Cortez made a comment about it. She went on to tell them that I was a top student in her class which made me feel really happy. When I was younger, I wasn’t very good at dancing, but I still loved to dance and did so every chance I got. Hearing that I was a top student gave me a sense of accomplishment, but I wasn’t sure if I was worthy enough of being on the team at my current skill level. These thoughts were running through my head as my parents and Mrs. Cortez were talking.

Forget all my excuses, when I saw you sitting there I had to go to you. You were stunning. I couldn 't pass up the opportunity. I sat down in front of you and you gave me all your attention. The way you looked at me and spoke to me felt good.

When I first came to Florida, it was during the summer of 2009. We were so excited because my parents and kids just arrived from the Philippines and we were set for a 600 mile journey to the happiest place on earth. During the entire trip, apart from the joy brought about by the entire Disney characters, I truly fell in love with the place. It reminded me so much about home, which was 10,000 miles away. I dreaded leaving the place for a week, but I gloomily head back to Baltimore, a charming city but nothing short of Florida.

respected that because he valued my education. I was expected to graduate in May of 2014 and we planned to get married in March of 2014 right before my graduation. Things were going well until late February I stopped hearing from him for 10 days. I was worried, he hadn’t deployed or anything, but what if he got hurt. He ended up calling me two weeks before our wedding date to say that he was not the man I should marry and that he needed time to get to get himself together. I agreed respectfully and said that we could wait. The following weekend, I was informed that he married a women he had met 5 months prior. I was put in a state of depression and tried to commit suicide. I stopped attending class during midterms which is when I found out and my life turned upside down. A few days later, I realized graduation was less than two months away and that I had to pull myself together. I did and I graduated that May with a 3.2 GPA. When I think of this experience, I think about my ego. Freud would say that my ego wants to meet my needs in a way that is sensible and takes all aspects of the situation into account before taking action. When the peak of this situation arrived, my ego needed to meet my needs of being hurt. I took everything into account, so what I did was focus heavily on my studies so that my brain was the focus and not my heart. My ego told me that my degree was more important than a heartbreak at the time so I managed to redo all my midterms and even pass my

It was an ordinary day when Taylor woke up for school. She went into her normal morning routine; wake up at 7:25 and be in the shower by 7:35 and out of the shower by 7:45. Afterwards she would get dressed, grab some breakfast and be out the door by 7:52 so she could make it to school by 7:57. Once she was at the school, she kept to herself. She was a shy girl, didn’t like to speak in class, just really liked to read. That’s how she spent most of her time when she wasn’t in class or eating.