Graduation Speech Essay

When I was younger, I would often return home to a familiar question: So, what did you learn today? My answer would always be "nothing" or "stuff." As I look back, I never lied, yet, I never told the whole truth. Many people think that you don't know anything with only 18 years of experience; I think they're wrong. I've learned a lot about myself and others from the relationships I have built throughout the years. I believe my most important lessons were "people" lessons. Those are the ones which could never be taught out of a book or in a lecture; you have to go out and experience them for yourself.

Then came Senior year. The year of our big project, our final prerequisite to graduation. All of these requirements that our class had to meet were just obstacles on our path to our ultimate goal of graduation. We are all here tonight because we never took our eyes off our goal and let them wander on to the obstacles. Sure, we had a lot of things that we had to endure and overcome, but that is all part of high school and it makes each of us even more proud of ourselves and of all that we have accomplished.

My high school years, unlike the past years of steady achievements, felt much more like a sine graph with ups and downs. To begin with, I conquered my freshman year in a breeze. My easily achievable classes not only earned myself confidence, but also admiration and respect from my classmates and teachers. As a result, I comfortably acclimated myself to the status of a star student.

WOW! So much has happened since June. The SV FFA and ag department had a rough start to our year losing three of our students who were on the FFA officer team to other schools. Even with this bump in the road, the four officers that remained visited Mt. Shasta City and had a blast bonding and learning more about each other at their officer retreat in August. Once school started we found three new officers and attended COLC (Chapter Officer Leadership Conference) where the entire team learned about their diverse leadership styles and were able to bond together as the official Surprise Valley FFA Chapter Officer Team for the 2017-2018 school year. If you see them around, congratulate President Cindy Hinze, V.P. Maddison Seely, Secretary Maya

I once read that life is well represented as a pearl deep within an oyster. The pearl symbolizes each person's potential, or the things that are going well for them in life. Just as a mere grain of sand that enters an oyster can grow into something of great worth, there is a fragment of excellency within every one of you that over time can be shape you into an individual who will make a difference in the world.

Stepping on to my high school’s campus for the first time, I felt a little nervous, a bit excited and very clueless. I rushed to my friends who were conveniently standing near the entrance; almost as to feel safe. The transition from middle school to high school meant very much to me. I entered high school knowing that it was my chance to finally work towards reaching my goal of attending college; it was the chance life had privileged me with. Looking back it all now, It was a change I didn't feel prepared for, yet, I regret very little and glad I worked as hard as I did.

Four years ago, we, the students of the class of twenty seventeen, began our journey - a journey filled with ups and downs; a journey filled with positive and negative emotions; a journey filled with success and failure. It seems like it was just yesterday that we began this difficult yet rewarding journey through high school. I remember the days when we were all freshmen, and we could not wait for this moment to come. We were impatient - continuously counting down the days, weeks, semesters, and years until we would graduate.

When I entered high school, I was skeptical that it would go by as fast as everyone said. Then suddenly the years flew by and now graduation is only a few months away. By looking back at my fourteen-year-old self, I can see the many ways in which I have grown as an individual. My high school experiences especially enabled my character to flourish. I believe that by increasing my efforts in leadership, service, and scholarship I was able to become who I am today.

“Honey, I know you don’t want to move, but it’s a much better home in a much better area, and you’ll make new friends there!” my mother had promised. It was summer of 2011, school had just ended and I had flourishingly completed the fifth grade. I felt eager, excited, and a bit nervous to start middle school. As if the transition of going to middle school was not already enough, my mother had planned on moving later that summer. This move would result in changing the middle school that I would attend in the fall. This frightened me at first because it meant not having any friends in a new school and leaving behind all of my old friends. However, it also excited me because it meant starting fresh in a new school and making new friends.

Well, this is it, the day all of us have been waiting for has finally arrived. It seems like only yesterday we were picking our noses and flicking them at innocent bystanders or yelling childish phrases like, "Liar, liar, pants on fire!" or, wait, that was yesterday. Never mind. Anyways.

Fellow Graduates, what a journey. 12 years, 12 long years and now we’re here. Looking out I see joy and excitement, I see celebration and accomplishment, as it should be, as this is the sum of years and years of our lives. Let's take a look back at what got us here.

Looming in front of me was something new, a fresh start. Despite being this, it seemed cold and trying, something that sent shivers down my spine. Mixed emotions of uncertainty and optimism had filled my first day of middle school; and as my final year is drawing to a close, I realize that this place-this transitional time in my life- is something that I never want to leave. I created a home away from home, and a family, over the short three years spent learning here. Each school year, from first to concluding, brought new experiences in which have altered my life. These are the things that I am hoping to carry over into high school-my next chapter. Every experience in which middle school has brought leaves me changed indefinitely, shaped for the future ahead.

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.

Here we are high school graduates. For many of you, tonight is a dream come true. Yet I think graduation is the attainment of a goal. A goal requires hard work. It drives people to better themselves on a daily basis. A dream, however, demands no work, no dedication, and no discipline. It is simply a faint hope. It is when a person turns their dream into a reality that things really start to happen.

Graduation day has finally come; the day we had all been waiting for all these years. After this night, everything might change; everything may not seem the way they used to be. We’ll be moving on to the next chapter of our journeys.