Graduation Speech

 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 11^th,10^th 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.