Graduation Speech
Hello. It is an honor for me to be here tonight to bring greetings and
congratulations from the school board.
As I began thinking about what I should say to you, I discovered that I
could go on for hours talking about your years at (name of school) High
School...about the experiences you’ve had which prepared you for this day
and for the future. I began making notes about all the advice I should share
with you and about all of the many topics I wanted to cover.
Then a friend reminded me about the fate of the famous Greek
philosopher, Socrates, who lived a long, long time ago.
Socrates was very intelligent. But Socrates gave long speeches, and his
friends killed him.
Since I am no Socrates...nordoIwant to end up like Socrates...Iwill
be brief and to the point.
Tonight (number of graduates) seniors are graduating from (name of
school) High School. The room is packed with your friends and relatives, and
every person here is proud of you...ofyour accomplishments...andofthe
goals that you have reached. If each of us were to write down a definition of a
successful graduate, we would quickly discover that some of the same words
and phrases would be repeated over and over again. Common themes would
be – dedication, perseverance, integrity, honesty, conscientiousness,
dependability and hard work.
From all of the terms used to describe graduates, the one I think should
receive top billing is “winner”. Each and every one of you is a winner! You
have demonstrated through hard work, dependability, conscientiousness,
honesty, integrity, perseverance and dedication that you are winners. And, as a
winner, you have earned the right to be proud of your achievements.
(Over)
PR in ACTION
...acommunications service for education
March 2002
