Help Write A Swanky Graduation Speech, Pweeze
 

My younger daughter, the one named after Gepetto's fish, is graduating from high school. She's going to give a speech at the ceremony.

And she's drawing a blank. Wanna help?

Muchas smoochas,
3894 .... or Helen

"Good luck, we're all counting on you."

"You made it, now get on with the rest of your lives."

"It was a dark and stormy night..."



A couple of possible ideas
http://dir.yahoo.com/Education/graduation/speeches/
http://www.graduationwisdom.com/
http://collegeuniversity.suite101.co...duation_speech

Rampant unemployment, huge deficits, country divided politically....great time to be headed out on your own!

Blech, yeah.

Thanks for the suggestions and keep 'em coming. Your time and talent are appreciated!

I can't help with what to write but if it helps with the stress of having to think of something reassure her than in a week nobody will remember anything she said regardless of how good or bad.

At least that assumes my experience was typical and I had more reason than most to remember what was said at mine since I was dating the valedictorian and helped her write it.

1) Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking, I have taken the liberty of preparing a few brief remarks. [Unfurl scroll to raucous laughter.]

2) On this solemn occasion, I am reminded of the joke about the priest who complained to his friend the rabbi about the rat problem he was having at his church. . . . . It was easy, said the rabbi. I bar mitzvahed all the rats. I haven't seen them since. Many of us will be like those bar mitzvahed rats, taking our school honors, never to return. And yet . . .

Friends, students and countrymen, lend me your pants, for I am wearing none.

Whip out a cell phone and do the entire speech via twitter?

In the words of William Mulholland: "There it is. Take it."

And then they all run over to the other high school and steal all their water?

Helen, of all the posts on the net, yours have been the most eloquent. And you are asking these people for help? :eek:

Keep it brief. Wearing underwear helps too.

Actually, the old scroll joke is a good call.

Her speech should probably be along the lines of "Make your own path" because in the end, it's your life.

I think a call to hedonism is on order - as you leave highschool, you enter those wonderful years of semi-independence, you can do all the stupid "career limiting" things while in college or bumming around town figuring out what you are going to do. Have fun, make love, mix cocktails, indulge in all you can - as you'll live off those memories and relationships for decades to come.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Aw, you made me blush, RStar. Seriously now, of all the places on the net, the LoT holds many of the most eloquent, informed, and stylish posters I've met. Yeah, I'm talking to y'all.

Well, if I were giving the speech it would be this:

Perhaps if we had a bit more to go on...

See if you can get her started with some brainstorming questions...

What would you like to hear if you were in the audience? Will the speech be looking back or looking forward? Can you combine the two? What about where you have been makes you optimistic about the future? What are your fears/hopes about going forward? Where there any seminal moments to set this class apart? What % serious vs what & humor? How long is the speech time wise?

Also, why is she being accorded the right to speak?

She would like it to be more humorous than serious but serious is okay. The speech is to be 5 minutes. Cleo is used to speaking in public because she is a high school debator who competes on the national level. She's coming up blank with this little speech, probably because she'll know most of the audience.

She is president of the student body.

Was she a uniter or a divider?

A divider, but of course. She didn't just divide; she conquered.

I would like to thank you, the class of 2010. For it is on your backs that I have taken my first steps towards the position of power and glory that is my destiny. I shall remember all of you fondly each time one you serves me dinner, takes me across town in your cab or checks my bags at the airport.

How about we here on the LoT write a progressive speech? Each person takes a paragraph. As each person writes a paragraph, he or she posts it and the next person takes the next paragraph.

For some reason, I would want Alex to take the last paragraph - it just sounds right to me.

If it is a progressive speech then scaeagles should get the last paragraph just so we can see if he bursts into flame.

Once I had stopped laughing, I read this to my daughter. She said, "Oh, if only I could!"