Graduation Speech
Jenkintown high school
Jenkintown PA
June 1985
For one school year, I was the guidance counselor for
this sweet school right outside of Philadelphia. There were only 200 students
in grades seven through 12. Most of them lived in intact families. Most of them
were well adjusted. Most of them liked to come to high school. Most of them
liked the teachers and we liked them. This was a pleasant year.
By October I had met with
every senior at least once. By December I have met with all the 11th,10th
and 9th graders as well. With this small group of students, I could spend a lot
of time with them and get to know them.
In April, the senior class
officers came to see me. They asked if I would give the graduation speech. I
was touched but I didn’t want to do it. I wasn’t a public speaker and so this
was going to be a very uncomfortable obligation. I wanted to say “no thanks”
but I couldn’t because the honor was too great. It was bigger in my fears. I
just decided I was going to have to push myself and rise to the occasion.
As graduation day grew nearer
I became more and more tense about this commitment. I wrote speech after speech
of saccharin vomit. I tried so hard to be profound but I had nothing profound
to say. I was only 29, I didn’t have experiences or life lessons that would’ve
offered any profound moments. I was going to have to come up with a different
approach for my speech.
And then I perused the
yearbook. The theme was potpourri. The class saw themselves
as a potpourri of personalities, talents, contributions and goodwill. So, I
decided to take that theme and make it my speech. With only 40 students in the
graduating class I could write a speech that allowed me to mention two positive
qualities of every student in that class. I loved writing my speech. It came
from my heart and it was so easy. I knew these kids so well that I could come
up with something unique for each class member.
The speech was well received.
I felt the energy from the crowd which helped me forget about my fear of public
speaking. There was a genuine give-and-take as I spoke. What I finished, the
crowd cheered, I was relieved and all was well.
After the ceremony, I climbed
down from the stage and mingled with the students and their parents. One parent
came up to me with a piece of paper which she scribbled a long list of her
son’s accomplishments. “You forgot about these”, she told me “you didn’t
mention about my son’s role on the basketball team. You forgot that he had a varsity
letter. He was also the debate club but you didn’t mention that”. Her tone was
condescending. She seemed generally annoyed with. I mentioned to her that I
limited myself to two comments per student so that I had time to speak about
each student.
“I know”, she rebutted,” but my son did so
much more. He should’ve gotten more time, don’t you agree?”
I was speechless and offended
and want to tell her off. But I stopped myself. The moment still felt great to
me and I don’t want her to spoil. So instead I just pivoted slightly to the
right and begin to address the line of parents which formed to thanking me for
recognizing the spirit and genius of their child. This was a great night.
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