Graduation Speech : School Board Meeting

I have been going to school since I was four years old and, that means that I have been attending school twenty to twenty two years, including kindergarten, middle school, high school and now college. As every student, I had my ups and downs in school; I had some failures and some successes. One of the failures that affected me the most and that I will always remember was the time that I was in high school during my junior year. I failed almost all my classes and, I only passed two classes and with a C. In the other hand I had some really good success. The most recent one and the one that I am still happy about is getting my Family Development Credential. We learn from our mistakes and also from our successes, these two times in my life

The Board President called the meeting to order, and the board secretary did the roll call. The agenda was comprised of various reports and the secretary would go though each agenda item, beginning with the board secretary’s report, finance, personnel, listing of approvals for salaries that included names of staff/faculty, retirements, leave of absences, bills, travel, field trips, etc.

Anne Bryant provides research-based studies, examples, and justification in favor of school boards. She outlined that effective school boards must have a shared vision, set tightly focused goals, utilize data, focus on policy, and focus and collaborate with all stakeholders. According to Bryant, school boards must connect to the community and the local taxpayers while boosting community engagement. While we agree that school boards must be concerned about student achievement, I appreciate that she also expressed the idea that most school boards do not believe in silver bullets and are caution in nature. I hesitate to support school boards because I feel they often tend to micromanage and feel the power to make sweeping policies even though they lack the significant scientific background of education. Her recognition that school boards often want reform, but know there are not quick fixes helped to reassure me of their intentions.

For those of you who are terrified of going into Junior High...don’t be. It’ll be a breeze, at least for most of you. Just remember that you have help all around you whether it’s a teacher a classmate or a even your parents. I can remember a time when I was in Elementary School and I was afraid to transfer into Jr. High. Well now I’m afraid to go into High School. That’s why I’m here to help you through your fear. Some of the most important things in Jr. High is your academics, your personal responsibility, and your social life.

Throughout life people go through so many adversities. Whether it be good or bad there is always something that arises out of the situation. One of the most thrilling, but yet frightening events to take place throughout someone’s life would be graduation. For many people, graduating from high school is an objective. It takes a lot of time, effort, and determination to accomplish that goal. For others graduation is the end of high school, and the beginning of a new chapter in life. When graduated people feel as if adulthood has begun. In the long run, graduating opens a lot of opportunities for people to thrive.

To begin, I attended Borel Middle School in San Mateo, Ca. The first year was really hard because I was in sixth grade and didn’t really know anyone but my friends that I went to Elementary School with. All throughout my three years at Borel I strongly believe that I would be going to Aragon High School. My final year at Borel was the worst year of school in my life! Most of my teacher were expecting us to do a minimum of at least three hours of homework every night. I would never have time to do anything with my family, even on the weekends I would spend at least an hour of doing homework. Then I would have to study for at least three or more tests a week. I never had any time to enjoy my life. Thats when I started to hate school. I would wake up and never want to go. I would be paranoid that I did not do something or get something wrong and the teachers would yell at me. The only teacher that I loved being with my my spainish teacher, Mrs. Pietri. We had the best relationship ever! Everyday at lunch I would go to her class and help her out with anything and just hang out with her. I would tell her all of my struggles and she would try to help me through them all. So then by the end of the year, teachers started to attack us with work. On the last week of school I had to write a paper on this topic and it was worth half of my grade so I could not mess up on that project. Even during winter break and spring break I had things to do. I hated school. But then as the year

“Say cheese!” the photographer shouted. I have always dreaded those words because in “saying cheese” it would mean to show my twisted teethe. I am Olga Monic Gamboa a senior at United South High School, vice president of National Honor Society, vice president of LULAC, and officer for many other clubs. I am very active in my community and my school, which lead me to be embarrassed to show my teeth. Every time I speak at a meeting or a presentation I am afraid they are just staring at my teeth or falling asleep with the non facial expression I put on. I can’t smile while knowing that a tooth is to forward and a tooth is hidden in the back. In a year I will be going to college and I need to look professional and be confident in my smile. A smile

During our lives, most of us have hated getting up early. Whether we as humans enjoy mornings or not, we’re always looking forward to that unforgettable day. That special is high school graduation for me. Graduation is a ceremony that recognizes students that have excelled through school. Graduation was one of the best days of my life, perhaps even better than the day that I started college. There is no other day like graduation where there comes this feeling of success, achievement, and excitement.

I remember seventh grade like it was yesterday. Everything was falling into place. I was happy with my life, had a strong relationship with God, and was content with where I was headed. My elementary and middle school years were just like any other Catholic school student. My schedule consisted of going to school, attending church, a sports practice, and then completing homework like everyone else. It wasn’t until eighth grade, where I was uprooted from that cookie cutter lifestyle, that I was actually challenged and pushed harder to be the best person possible, and to overcome the diversity and influences that I faced in the public school setting.

In the commencement speech entitled “This is Water,” the speaker came to highlight to the graduates at the commencement ceremony, what the “real world “was like because he thought they are not alert enough to know. He made reference to this through the anecdote at the beginning where the two young fish didn’t know what water was and of course water is life to fishes. Therefore, the speaker found it necessary to tell what life was really about through a commencement speech because of his opinion that they may have limited knowledge concerning it. In paragraph 6 of his speech, he states “The plain fact is that you graduating seniors do not yet have any clue what ‘day in, day out’ really means. There happen to be whole large part of adult

I’ve faced a lot of obstacles in school. But the two major obstacles that seem to always stand out to me was not having teachers who really cared about their students and how each school district has different curriculum. Falling behind and not knowing the curriculum wasn’t a good thing and it led up to some serious consequences for me. In order for me to overcome these obstacles I had to set some goals. Which were attend tutorials and play catch up with my academics.

When growing up, I loved going to school and dreamed of one day attending college. Attending school every day and receiving good grades had become my top priority from K-12. I excelled from K-8th grade, but entering into high school was completely different than primary school. The atmosphere and environment was new to me, I was free to roam the halls or walk back out the door without any repercussions. This began my downward spiral in high school. My freshman year was by far the best school year for me because that would be the only passing year. The remainder of the three years would be met with skipping, failing, and repeating courses. I learned that it was easy to fail, but hard to catch up! With this motto, I had practically given up on going to school or graduating at this point. My only choice was to obtain a GED, but this was met with dismay too! I would have to wait for my graduating school year to take the test and that would be another year. After speaking with my counselor, she informed me that my school credits were only at ninety and two hundred were needed to graduate. I should have been in the eleventh grade, but my credits were equivalent to a tenth grader and this when a decision was made that graduating from high school with a diploma had become important for me.

“No one is ever going to believe in yourself for you” –The Color Morale; a statement I’ve known all too well. For as long as I can recollect I have continually struggled with my self-worth. As a child my parents always preached about the importance of an education, “In order to be someone in this world you have to have an education.’ The words were engraved in my head and for a while my main focus was my education and pushing myself to my full potential. Growing up I consistently made honor roll. Elementary school consisted of me changing to specific classes that were designated for students who were academically above the rest of the grade level. I took much pride in my education and there was nothing that could stir me off course.

From my kindergarten beginnings up to my recent experiences, I have always wondered about the world around me and always tried to put others needs before myself. My father also thought of me as a caring philosophy due to things like questioning about “What is death?”at a young age. My elementary school, Foothill Oak, has shaped some prejudices and arrogance that I did my best to hide and fix through my middle school through high school.

It all started when I was a senior in high school and I was taking my final English class required to graduate. At first I had the attitude of a typical senior student with a bad case of “senioritis”, but that all changed once my teacher Ms. Wade began her lesson plan. I immediately fell in love with her teaching style and her enthusiasm for English, which seemed rare to come by with teachers who taught a senior level class. It was then that I knew I wanted to become a teacher and possibly major in English. Fast forward a few years, I started dating my fiancé and was introduced to his niece (age 6) and nephew (age 2). At that point I had a flood of memories of when I was student in elementary school and remembered how much I enjoyed going to school, learning basic knowledge like my ABC’s, and more importantly how my teacher brought me happiness and the desire to learn new things in a fun, exciting and safe environment. When I came back this semester to Daytona State College I was informed of a new program they offered, a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education (BSED) and knew it was meant to be. After speaking with an advisor and some of my peers it was clear this is the career path I wanted to take and with hard work and determination I would eventually become an elementary school teacher.