AJC.com > Blogs > Get Schooled > Archives > 2007 > May > 25 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USGraduation Inspiration
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You’ve heard ‘em, I’ve heard ‘em, graduation speeches that are pretty predictable. There will be more tonight and tomorrow at dozens of cap and gown ceremonies around the metro area.
One of the graduation talks I remember most didn’t come at graduation at all, but when our high school school counselor spoke with our senior class in the library shortly before the big day. He had a Ph.d. and we all thought he must be brilliant. (Few high school educators at the time had such advanced degrees).
It was an eye opener when he told us he’d been a lousy high school student with less than stellar grades. Let’s face it, 80 percent of seniors aren’t in the top 20 percent of their classes ! I don’t remember the rest of the talk, but he was telling us by his own example that great things could be accomplished even if we hadn’t applied ourselves fully in high school.
Graduation speakers I’ve heard over the years have included a rocket scientist, famous author, judges, legislators, political luminaries and other dignitaries. Strange where the most inspiring words and examples can come from.
Who do you think make the best gradution speakers? What’s the best words of advice you’ve heard? What words of wisdom should kids going on to college, technical school, military and out into the world have today ?
Comments
By OldSchool
May 25, 2007 12:19 PM | Link to this
I give the same advice to my daughters that I have always given to my graduating students: “Get out there and be the person YOU KNOW YOU ARE and NOT the person ** High School decided you were. You have the opportunity to start school/job/military with a clean slate and become the best YOU ever. You can do it. I’m confident that you can. It might not be easy; it might not be fun; but it WILL be worth it. I promise.”
You see, I’ve had a number of students over the years who were not in the “in crowd” or the “cool people” groups. I’ve had students who had been sentenced to school by judges or who seemed to get into trouble for just breathing. I’ve had students who were completely overlooked because they were so quiet and shy (my own daughter was one) and I guess my heart just goes out to them. I want them to realize they have potential and that someone recognizes that in them. I want them to dig deep within themselves and make a happy life.
By luvs2teach
May 25, 2007 12:33 PM | Link to this
Amen to that OldSchool - great advice.
You know, I always questioned the idea that high school was supposed to encompass “the best days of your life.” There was so much living to be done after, and I’ve often thought that to have peaked in high school is kind of sad (ever see “Best of Times” with Kurt Russell and Robin Williams?).
I wasn’t that stellar in high school - classic underachiever - it took me to my 40s to really hit my groove!
Strangely enough, my high school grad speaker was John Kerry (that tells you all the general area where I grew up).
By WFC
May 25, 2007 12:44 PM | Link to this
The best graduation advice I ever heard? “Don’t be a teacher!” (I didn’t heed.)
By catlady
May 25, 2007 12:46 PM | Link to this
A couple of weeks ago I heard a bang-up speaker at Agnes Scott College, a 90 year old alumnae. She gave em h3ll!
By jim d
May 25, 2007 1:01 PM | Link to this
The words I wish someone had spoken at mine are “Get out there and live life and don’t be afraid to make mistakes—learn from them!”
For 13 years students are taught making mistakes is a bad thing when in all actuallity, they are what they are if we’ll just learn from them. Kids today are so afraid to make a mistake they simply do nothing. Which in my opinon is the biggest mistake of all.
By Jeff
May 25, 2007 1:13 PM | Link to this
Best (and saddest) I ever heard was the valedictorian’s speech at my middle bro’s HS graduation 2 years ago. I don’t remember the exact wording, but it was of the format:
“Amidst this and that and this2, among that2 and this3 and that3….”(this list kept going mentioning everything she had done, which appeared to be pretty much everything a HS kid CAN do)
She finally states: I forgot to have fun and be a teenager.
It echoed shades of the line from The American President where Sheppard steps up and says “I’ve been too busy keeping my job to do my job.”
I’ve been to several graduation ceremonies, including two of my own, and those words haunt me more than any I’ve heard thus far.
By high school teacher
May 25, 2007 1:16 PM | Link to this
OFF TOPIC BUT HOT OFF THE PRESS…
New state graduation rule
They are actually seeking input from the public on this one.
By Jim
May 25, 2007 3:01 PM | Link to this
I graduated from Tech in ‘04 and John Salley was our speaker, it was amazing. He was just very real about life and success. It was a great mix of humor, wit and challenge. Additionally, my high school graduation speech was rather boring, while the speech given by a fellow student at our Baccalaureate brought everyone to their feet. It was motivational and I really thought he would go on to be a politician or something.
By JustMe
May 25, 2007 3:35 PM | Link to this
Best words of advice I’ve heard for HS graduates???
Be true to yourself. Don’t deviate from who you are due to peer pressure or other outside force.
Figure out what makes you get excited and go for it. If it’s painting, then paint. If it’s helping others, then help others. If it’s the possibility of curing AIDS, then go for it. Whatever it is, it will be worth doing.
Don’t settle. Reach for the stars and who knows how far you will go.
Experience life. There is too much out there to just play video games every day. Try new things - who knows what you might enjoy or even excel at.
These are just a few. I guess I’ve been to too many graduations…..
By V for Vendetta
May 25, 2007 4:26 PM | Link to this
Weird, at my graduation they just told us not to eat the yellow snow. I thought it was good advice at the time …
Yeah, I’m a good mood because (cue the music) SCHOOOOOOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER!
By Lee
May 28, 2007 8:16 AM | Link to this
Well, I attended my neice’s graduation last Friday night. Wish I hadn’t now…
The class president gave a short speech, in which, he asked that family and friends respect the dignity of the occasion and hold the applause until the end of the ceremony. Yeah, right.
It starts out ok. They give the diploma’s to the class officers. Next comes the honor graduates. At some point, someone in the stands yells something as their graduate’s name is called. Finally, we get to the general student population. It gets steadily worse and worse. Someone even brought an air horn, for Christ’s sake…
One of the worse culprits? The principal’s son graduated and I was sitting about 5 rows behind his family. God, what a bunch of jacka55es.
I haven’t been to a graduation at my daughters private school. It will interesting in a couple of years to contrast the behavior of the two groups.
Oh, and the keynote speaker. Didn’t hear a word he said. People in front didn’t shut up the whole time.
By Janine
May 28, 2007 8:54 AM | Link to this
I, too , attended a graduation [public school]in a Dekalb Co. stadium, on Friday evening. There wasn’t an empty seat..mostly the families and friends of Hispanic and Asian students. Lots of babies and little children. We couldn’t understand most of the conversations around us because they were in Spanish or Urdu or Vietnamese etc. [ If the INS had been in the neighborhood, there could probably have been a massive deportation of illegals…had the INS been into that , which they obviously are not!]..
However, there was such excitement and happiness and pride in that stadium. Everyone stood and at least tried to say the Pledge to the flag. Large balloons with “Class of 2007”were everywhere. Bouquets of beautiful flowers awaiting the graduates. And the graduating seniors, well, such a joyous group! After the ceremony, they were hugging their families and friends. Noone was rude or too boisterous and we saw no inappropriate behaviour….which surprised us as we were not expecting such a touching scene.
By jim d
May 29, 2007 11:38 AM | Link to this
By far the worst.
Mr. Seckinger (BOE member) speaking at Mill Creek Graduation 2007. “y’all are fixin ta.”
Know there’s a college education and a teaching certificate just shot do hell!
By DB
May 30, 2007 2:54 PM | Link to this
Private school graduation last Saturday: None of the students had any insignia that denoted honor sociey, class officer, etc. It was explained at the beginning of the ceremony that the class had had its honors assembly earlier where individual achievements had been recognized and applauded, and that today, they were all being celebrated as simply graduates. As each student crossed the stage and received their diploma, each family group stood. No applause, no undignified hooting — but the class’s enthusiastic tossing of the mortarboards after the conferring of diplomas was one of the most joyful expressions of delight I had seen in a while, second only to the broad grins on their faces during the recessional!
By DB
May 30, 2007 2:59 PM | Link to this
Personally, I loved Jon Stewart’s address at William & Mary in 2004:
*”But today isn’t about how my presence here devalues this fine institution. It is about you, the graduates. I’m honored to be here to congratulate you today. Today is the day you enter into the real world, and I should give you a few pointers on what it is. It’s actually not that different from the environment here. The biggest difference is you will now be paying for things, and the real world is not surrounded by three-foot brick wall. And the real world is not a restoration. If you see people in the real world making bricks out of straw and water, those people are not colonial re-enactors—they are poor. Help them. And in the real world, there is not as much candle lighting. I don’t really know what it is about this campus and candle lighting, but I wish it would stop. We only have so much wax, people… .
“When I left William and Mary I was shell-shocked. Because when you’re in college it’s very clear what you have to do to succeed. And I imagine here everybody knows exactly the number of credits they needed to graduate, where they had to buckle down, which introductory psychology class would pad out the schedule. You knew what you had to do to get to this college and to graduate from it. But the unfortunate, yet truly exciting thing about your life, is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective. The paths are infinite and the results uncertain. And it can be maddening to those that go here, especially here, because your strength has always been achievement. So if there’s any real advice I can give you it’s this.
College is something you complete. Life is something you experience. So don’t worry about your grade, or the results or success. Success is defined in myriad ways, and you will find it, and people will no longer be grading you, but it will come from your own internal sense of decency which I imagine, after going through the program here, is quite strong…”*
‘Nuff said. :-)