Graduation Speech : High School

For some people it is the most exciting time in their life. After eighteen years of being trapped in a school from eight to three every day. It is exciting to know that this time of their life is coming to an end, but it is time to move on to another part of their life. Sometimes the parents of the graduating kid are more emotionally then the kid themselves. Graduation is a ceremony that celebrates the accomplishments that somebody made in school.

Like many students, I waited for the day of my high school graduation ever since I started high school. I waited for that day to come with patient. I also wanted to see my parent’s excitement, and the proud moments they have waited for. I didn’t believe that graduation will be very emotional. The emotional moments started when I put my cap and gown on. Then the memories started to come, first thing that came to my mind was how did I survive school with my ADD. I have always struggled with school due to my ADD. I was passing my classes with average grades even though I was doing my best, and working hard on my assignments. At the same time, I was feeling nervous thinking about walking down to the stage and receiving my diploma. The more I was thinking about my big day, the more overwhelming I became as I was going to start a whole new step in life.

Graduation is an exciting time in a person’s life, especially a high school graduation. When I think of family and friends gathering together to celebrate a joyous occasion, I feel I accomplished my strongest goal. It never occurred to me that graduation would be the end of my youth and the start of adulthood. Graduating from high school was an influential event that gave me an altered outlook on my existence. Life before graduation, preparing for graduation day, and commencement day overwhelmed me for reality.

“Congratulations! You have been accepted to Bentley University for fall of 2015!” Words could not express how ecstatic this message made me. As soon as the acceptance email popped up on my phone, I screamed, dropped my backpack, and sprinted over to my track and field teammates to celebrate this triumphant occasion. After years of challenging AP courses, eleven seasons of tiring school sports, and countless extracurricular clubs, I finally felt like all of my hard work had paid off. At that moment, the only thought in my head was “I’m going to Bentley!” My dream — an aspiration I’ve had since my freshman year of high school — was becoming a reality.

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.

As a freshman in high school, school was my least favorite place to be and I also dislike going to class. My grades were inadequate by the time I was a sophomore. Toward the end of my sophomore year I met Dawn Pollman Kivlehan who is a teacher at Fowler High School. She is the head of the ESL (English as a Second Language) department. Mrs. Kivlehan was born and raised in Syracuse, New York and lived in a neighborhood called Tipperary Hill. She enjoyed in spending time with her family, listening to music and watching Fowler soccer. She had a bad habit of drinking Diet Pepsi every morning. I remember every morning she drinks Pepsi. She played field hockey in college and basketball in her early age. Her eyes changes color depending on the clothes she wears and, then green when she’s upset. Mrs. Dawn is fashionable during the week she always dressed up except Fridays. Friday she wears her soccer t-shirts. (She really loves wearing sweatpants after work). Dawn Pollman Kivlehan is hardworking, helpful, and very beloved teacher. (I can really say that she is one of the hardest working person I know)

I was sure when I graduated high school I was ready for college. My senior year in high

Society then and now is filled with people that chase their dreams of being famous, smart, or a pro sport competitor. What separates those who succeed and fail is the amount of dedication they put in, whether or not it started early in their life. For me it began when I was a freshman in high school. I was very active in playing in the marching and concert band. I played the saxophone and impressed a few other students during class. About a week later, after my class period ended, two friends of mine came up to me and suggested that I try out for the show choir band. I asked what it was and found out that it was a band playing with a singing and dancing choir. I was not at all hesitant to say yes and I remember having to ask my mom if it was okay that I was trying out for the band and she surprisingly said yes. I was filled with excitement being offered an opportunity like that and so I quickly walked to the choir room after the school day was over, played my audition piece, and in the end I made the band. Later on I talked to a few of my other friends from band and encouraged them to try out and so they did. They all ended up making the band as well and so the beginning of a new show choir band began. Once all of the try outs were concluded my friends and I were all given a schedule and informed when the first practice was. I looked at the schedule thinking that practices were not going to be long, but looking at the first practice made me realize that this band is going to

dad had been hired at a company nearby, and Saline was said to be one of the best school districts in the state. At Saline, I grew in my love of reading and most everything else (expect for math), and the classes offered there challenged me to work hard. In high school, I enrolled in all the honors courses I could, taking math a year above the majority of my class and studying hard. My school offered many AP classes, and because of the classes I took there, I entered IUS in my first year as a sophomore according to my credits. No matter what, I know education is important to me and that I will continue in my education for many years. I’m good at school, though sometimes I worry that it’s not so much that I am intelligent than it is that I know how to give people what they want.

12:00 a.m., I am wide awake. I keep forcing my eyes to rest yet they pry open. My body is overloaded with joy and excitement. 7 p.m. seemed nearly impossible to arrive. The time has come and I have crossed the finish line. " I present to you the graduating class of 2017". The tears began to fall and my mind instantly began to replay the restless nights and early mornings. I have now received my high school diploma and a new has begun.

Early teenagers look forward to one thing during their final year in middle school, high school. Some high school graduates may consider those four years the best years of their life because of the minimal stress and care free living. The purpose that high school serves in the twenty first century is to prepare students for college. A few minor reasons for high school are preparation for the workforce, community building, and socialization. With approximately only twenty five percent of freshmen classes graduating, the high school education is in danger. A high school diploma in the twenty first century is a necessity. According to Koenig, “high school dropouts make $200,000 less than a high school graduate in a life span” (76). As poverty increases, the high school drop out rate is increasing as well. Many high school dropouts do not fully understand the importance of a high school diploma. The outcome of not receiving a high school diploma should be made visual through a students time spent in school. The high school education is in jeopardy because of family background, students themselves, and academics.

In the beginning of 8th grade we were asked to write a letter to ourselves explaining how our year was going so far. You were to write the letter, place it in an envelope and open it on the last day of school. Although it was a mandatory assignment, I enjoyed reading my opinions from the first couple days of school and I thought I would write one again. This week I completed my first week of high school, and I thought I would share my POV so that I could later look back on this and see how a “naive” freshman saw things.

My legs where tired, my mind was racing, my hands were shaking, and I had nowhere to run. Walking up the stairs to a pair of large glass doors just terrified me. I know I was going to be able to survive. I had to; there is no other way. Every step I took towards the entry way I could feel my heart rate accelerated as I cautiously looked around for a seat. I sat in the third row of an auditorium looking room. There were around twenty to thirty people sitting around looking at a blank projection screen waiting for my new teacher to arrive. In my head I had a description of a college professor which would be a older gentleman with brown laptop case and look intimidating and make me want to cry on the first day by assigning paper after paper for the enjoyment of watching me fail. I didn 't feel prepared at all high school was so different students didn 't live there and no one to remind students to do all homework the homework there assigned. My high school failed to prepare me because in high school we didn’t receive homework, and didn’t mentally prepare me for the new independence that I now possess.

When you think of students in college you think of hard homework assignments, long essays with short due dates, the last minute studying for exams and of course the partying that everyone looks forward to when it comes to being in college. Do you ever think about what happens when you don’t do the homework, not turn in the essay on time and do horrible on the exams and party a little too much? When this happens, grades tend to fall and when grades tend to fall it usually means you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing, and when you’re paying thousands of dollars for an education most people can’t afford to take college as a game being played. For most students they don’t have a choice but to drop out because of all these outcomes.

When did you decide your major in a university? Some people find their dreams when they’re kids, and for them this question is meaningless. I chose my major when I was in a senior year of high school. To tell the truth, in Japan, this is late. In Japan, students have to state a major when they apply for a university, and majors hold their own enrollment examinations. This means that high school students have to finish deciding their major while they are in high school. In order to be ready for this, teachers ask high school students their first, second and third choices of universities and majors right after starting their freshman, and then they will study for the enrollment examinations, which is the biggest purpose. What if students cannot decide these major yet? They probably choose well-known universities and interdisciplinary majors. However, most students are careless about how much the decisions mean to their lives. If they have specific plans or views of their lives, they can begin preparing for the next steps that mean they are able to be a few steps ahead of other students. More preparing has a lot of worth. Therefore, the best way to succeed in Japan is thinking about an educational decision early because of the better quality of study, the connection among majors, universities and jobs, and the correlation between majors and our personalities.