Graduation Speech Essays

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.

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.

My first day at Long Reach was filled with excitement and anxiety, I had no idea what these people would be like: Would these people like me? What if they don’t wanna be my friends? These were the thoughts that kept circling in my head before I entered my English class. Since I was late, due to my registration in the front office, all eyes were on me--I felt so uncomfortable. However, that uneasiness was over when a group asked the teacher if I can sit with them. The rest

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.

Well, this is it. These are the only seniors who were able to survive the culminating exhibition. If I had known that there would be this many open seats, I would have invited my third cousins from Norway. You know, it's funny. As I look around at the familiar faces in the student section, I am reminded about something. Our class, particularly the girls, have been very fashion-conscious over the last four years. Some even seem to be in competition with one another. Well girls, here we are on the most important day of your high school careers, and you're all wearing the same thing. The guys, on the other hand, could care less. I know for a fact that a couple of you aren't wearing anything underneath your tailored tarps.

“Drum majors, Jeremiah Wooten and Scott Smith, is your Corps ready?”, booms the announcer’s thunderous voice as our show starts. Our head drum major, Jeremiah, turns to the crowd and performs his salute initiating the true beginning of our show. I’m standing on the forty yard line of Ames Field in Michigan City, Indiana when I truly feel that I am performing my show in championship competition. Many veteran members told us rookies that the this competition will likely never be my best performance, and I intend on proving them wrong. Our show progresses, and I focus on being the best I can be every second this the show. An instant passes and we are now eight minutes into our eleven and a half minute show, and my body begins to develop

Henry Adams once wrote "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." This is so true, every teacher here has taught us much more than the textbook curriculum. Every teacher here tonight has given us students something we will use or remember for the rest of our lives. I really don't think people understand or appreciate the time and effort our teachers have put into us. So tonight I'm not going to give everyone advice on the future, I'm not going to tell you how life is a journey we've just begun, and I'm not going to brag about how great the class of 2006 is. Since we have eight outstanding Valedictorians this year, I'm sure all of those bases are already covered. So instead, I'm going to take a few minutes

There's a recurring question that often presents itself at different points in our lives. We ask it to ourselves in private and are asked by others at any given time. It comes from those we are yet to know well and from those who can see us with their eyes closed. It goes to the tune of, "What do you want to do someday?" or "What do you want to be?" and it rarely comes with a monosyllabic reply. The routine "I don't know," or shrug are devoted companions of this question, though every now and then an individual can focus the future before his or her eyes and give it a name. For the rest of us, the specifics may still be hazy. I can say with certainty that my response to this questions is consistently inarticulate. I do take solace,

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.

The third E is for Essential. Imagine a world where everyone built himself into someone who was essential to his family, neighborhood, or a group of otherwise lonely people. Martin Luther King was a hero because he was essential to a suffering nation. He had another piece of advice that, when heeded, will make us all essential members of any group. He said "Everyone can be great because everyone can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to have your subject and your verb agree. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love." If you do nothing else, serve others with love and grace, and you will be an essential part of our world.

A couple weeks ago, I was attempting to clean my room when I unearthed an old yearbook from my days in middle school. Rather absentmindedly I opened the book to browse through it. However, before long I became immersed in the memories brought back to life and quickly lost track of time. Over an hour later, I set the book aside and marveled at how much had changed since then. Not only had people changed physically, but they had also changed their friends, habits and behaviors. Furthermore, we have all grown as a result of the changing world around us, a changing world that has witnessed the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, as well as the constant birth of new technologies which make our lives easier. These changes have shaped

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the 2012 graduating class of County High School, I would like to welcome you to our commencement ceremony. As valedictorian of this class I would like to speak to you, and my fellow graduates about responsibility, but first I would like to tell you a little story

Depending on who you talk to, you get different opinions on what subject that you’ve studied in high school will help you most out in the real world. Ms. Bow tried to tell you it’s being able to diagram sentences and understand Shakespeare. Mr. Roberts, on the other hand, has a picture of a toppling bridge that says "Engineer missed just one Trig assignment." If you’ve spent a lot of time staring at Mr. Groon's podium during lectures, you’ve read that "He who knows only his own generation remains always a child." But what does this all mean, how do we truly apply everything we’ve learned in the past four years to the rest of our life, and what really is the most important thing to take away with us from high school? Well, I’ll tell you my

Good evening and welcome to the commencement ceremonies of the class of 2006. It has been a long journey, somewhere around 18 years, but we've finally reached the piece de resistance of our high school years.