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.

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.

You have fulfilled a quantifiable set of requirements, but what did you really learn? You learned a little something about quadratic equations, how to write the perfect English essay, or the causes of the Civil War. Our most important lessons, however, cannot be recited or written down and turned in for a grade. These lessons involve friendship, hard work, love, and dedication.

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 guys, we've made it. We've made it through four years of one of the most highly involved times in our lives. We've seen all, we've done all, and at this point in the year, most of us have probably had enough of it all. If you think about it, four school years is really a long time. four years of high school is equal to 720 school days, 4,320 class periods, and if you're a busy guy like me and you tend to count things by the minute, then it might surprise you to know that we've been in class for about 237,600 minutes. Class of 2006- are you ready to graduate?

“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

Well Class of 2012, we did it! We are graduating. All the hard work we have done to graduate has paid off. All the final exams, the many steps we've taken up and down Gadd High's halls, to the gym for practice, up to the cafeteria to connect with friends, down to the library, up to the playing fields -- they're all over. After today, our lives will be changed forever. Before that happens, let's take a look at the last four years of memories and even go back to those memories from our elementary and middle school years and collect them into a book; our own book, our book of life. If, some day, people could read our individual book, what would they learn from them?

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 did not get to know many of you. So, I cannot be certain of how you feel, but, as for me, this year has been, by far, the most enjoyable and eye opening one of my high school career. Enjoyable because of the new, interesting friends I've made and of the fun times I've had, and eye opening because of my being forced to look towards the future. Not just day dreaming and imagining about the rest of my life, but finally having to sit down and make some definite decisions concerning it. For me and many of you, colleges have had to be applied for and decided on and scholarships filled out. Some of you have been looking into vocational schools or the military, while others will be going straight into the work force. Whatever your case may be,

Years ago there was a traveler who came upon an old-fashioned pump from which he would have to pump the handle in order to retrieve the water. Beside the pump there was a pitcher full of water, and on the pump there was a sign. The sign instructions were to prime the pump with the water in the pitcher, pump the water for use, and then refill the pitcher. The thirsty man looked at the pitcher, the pump and the sign. He thought to himself, "If I pour this water down the pump, and it doesn't work, I will have no water to drink and it will be wasted. But, if I drink the water, I will be satisfied, but the next traveler will have nothing.

We, of Cedar Community College, are many nations. We are men and women, husbands and wives, parents. We are young and not-so-young. Behind the face of every graduate, and just as distinct, is a different story, a different reason, and a different use for the education for which we have assembled this evening to recognize. We serve to enrich the campus community, as we are not just a cross-section of this nation, but of the world. Displayed in the Brier Hall cafeteria are 50 national flags to signify our cultural heritage here at Cedar. Yet regardless of our diverse origins, we come here bound by a

I like that word, graduates. In fact, I like that word so much, that I decided to look it up in the dictionary for the heck of it. And beyond the obvious definitions I found, there was one that plainly stuck out. "To change gradually". Now if you think about it, I guess that sums up all our years of schooling right there. I mean, I can still remember back to first grade and racing home to watch the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles defeat Shredder and the evil foot soldiers. Of course, Michelangelo was my favorite because he was the care-free surfer turtle that every boy dreamed of being like. Well, cartoons didn't last long in junior high, and my first real change occurred because of the

We live in a time in which everything is categorized by lists, whether it’s a dreaded school rubric or a David Letterman Top Ten List. As the millennium turns, we are deluged with lists: the best books of the millennium, the greatest songs of the millennium, the most influential people of the millennium. Personally, I may be sick of all these lists, but no graduating class of 2006 could let this occasion slip by without one more list: The Top Ten Things I Learned in High School. So listen along and see if your experience parallels mine. Here goes:

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote, "You are a very special person - become what you are." These words encourage us, the graduating class of 2012, to recognize the goodness and potential in each and every one of us and to go out and excel in the world. We are a diverse group of different aspirations and backgrounds, bound for different corners of the earth to carve out our won individual niches. Before we leave behind Lee Falls High School and each other, we must ask ourselves how we have become who we are.