Commencement Speech

To be honest, it’s crazy I’m even here, but hey guys. These four years have been crazy overall but honestly, I’m not sure if it was the work and deadlines that was crazy or if it was just me. I was more focused on when my next hair appointment was going to be rather than actually finishing anything. I’d be surprised if I graduate on time because I’ve never passed English the same year it started, which is kind of awkward to say out loud but it’s true. Not to mention the number of revisions I’ve done through the years, yeah that’s pretty crazy. I guess for some advice I’d say don’t wait until the last minute but you don’t really have to listen to what I say because that would make me a hypocrite.

When pre-school started they ask you “What do you want to be when you’re older?” and I always said that I wanted to be a doctor, well that’s pretty ironic because I don’t think I’d even get into school to be a doctor nor would I be able to deal with people, especially after high school. Especially considering I failed gym… Well okay, I didn’t really fail but I definitely was told I had to retake the class. Other than that I feel like I did a really good job in school, I was also very good at making teachers mad because of how giggly I was. Most of the time my freshman year my seat was in the hallway, not because I was a troubled kid or anything but because I didn’t know how to not make jokes out of everything. Yes, I still do make jokes about everything but I definitely learned that there is a place and time to do that and it is not school. So that’s another piece of advice, listen to whoever is speaking so when they ask you a question about it you actually can answer and know what you’re talking about because there have been many times I’ve looked stupid for that reason. Although, one of my best accomplishments in high school was making the honor roll for the first time ever and that was junior year, no I haven’t gotten that again but it’s still crazy to think that at one point I was passing all classes at once. So yeah I wasn’t the best student academically but I definitely did learn a lot of lessons.

Some of my top 5 favorite lessons would be starting at number 5 and that is never to let your guard down. So many people want to be friends with you all for the wrong reasons, you don’t need to have tons of friends just the ones that care about you and not just the drama that goes on in your life. Lesson number 4 is bad things happen, they happen for a reason and we can’t control it so try to work around it. Lesson number 3 Procrastination will get you literally nowhere but grounded until you do your work, so just do it and get it over with. Lesson number 2, have respect for everyone, even if you don’t like them because honestly, we are all just trying to be done with school so why make it miserable for no reason? And lastly, nothing lasts forever, so make the best of what you can. It’ll be over before you know it,  for me high school went by as fast as one could snap their fingers. I never thought I would say that because little freshman me thought this high school cycle would never end but here I am. Although I did have a hubris moment I think it was my junior year in math class. I was so sure that I passed my last test that I didn’t show up on the last day of school and that one math class cost me the entire year of math causing me to fail and have to take a math class my senior year. I did in fact pass math this year so I am already doing better than I was but just remember to enjoy the little things that happen and don’t take anything for granted.

“Graduation Day” by kevin dooley is licensed under CC BY 2.0.