well, my 8th graders are graduating on wednesday!! very exciting. we've had a variety of fun events to get ready for graduation and they have a dinner dance the night before. they're looking forward to it.
at graduation, there are five student speakers. two of them are the valedictorian and salutatorian. then, the 8th grade teachers chose three other students from the class to represent the kids. all three of those kids turned out to be my students, actually three of my favorite students. (it's true that you're not supposed to play favorites but it's very hard to not have favorite students!)
i have helped my students write their speeches, so i want to post them here for you to read. enjoy! by the way, the theme for graduation is "a time to remember" so they were all required to work that idea into their speeches.
Good afternoon ladies, gentlemen, and fellow classmates. I’m honored to be here today. My name is _________.
Three long years ago I came to Roosevelt as a sixth grader who was full of fun and games. When I received my first report card I knew fun and games were over. I hadn’t applied myself academically. I knew I had to bring my grades up. At that point I challenged myself to set a goal of bringing my GPA up to a 3.0. I had to keep myself motivated and be at school every day. I had to make sure my homework was turned in each day. I had to make my teachers know that I wanted to learn. I participated much more in class and I was motivated to keep working hard by my mom and my teachers. I was also motivated by my goals that I wanted to reach in life.
I joined Higher Learning as a beginning step to reaching my goal. Even though I wanted to be at home after school, I could tell by my work habits that I was improving. My mom would go over and help me with my homework on a daily basis, and even help me with my class projects. I kept up with my homework and my class work. Even though my GPA was moving up I still hadn’t reached my goal.
Moving into my eighth gade year I knew I had limited time left to reach my goal. I knew the work would get harder but I didn’t give up on my goal. By the second semester I had reached my goal of earning a 3.0! With my goals in mind, I know I can do anything in life I choose. Louis L’Amour said, “No memory is ever alone; it’s at the end of a trail of memories, a dozen trails that each have their own associations.” My trail to meeting my goal at Roosevelt is a time I will always remember. We all should think about what we want to do in life and set our own goals. I wish the best of luck to all of you.
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Good afternoon. My name is ________. I would like to thank all of you for coming today. It is great having you here because it is a special day for everyone, and a day we will always remember. This is the end of our time in middle school, and the beginning of many new experiences we will have in high school. Roger Wilcox said “ Each of us is given a pocketful of time to spend however we may. We use what we will. We waste what we will. But we can never go back a day.” We should all make this day a time to remember.
Remember, we have all had our ups and downs in our lives, whether they’re related to school or to family. In my personal experience, I’ve always done well in school. That started to change this year. At the beginning of the 2nd semester my GPA dropped. I began to worry because I didn’t know why I wasn’t doing as well in school. Soon I realized that it was because I had too many things on my mind, and I was worried about the choices my friends were making.
It was hard to watch my friends making bad choices like skipping school, using drugs and drinking, and being involved with gangs. I never knew when I was going to lose one of them. After I realized why my grades were dropping, I thought about some advice that I hear often: “it’s never too late to make a change.” I decided it was time to make a change in my own life and take responsibility for my own life, and maybe my friends would follow.
I remember hearing my friends who are 13, 14, and 15 years old saying that they have already ruined their lives by making bad decisions and no change can be made. However, I believe that it’s never too late to decide to change your life. I will bring my grades up, and stay on the right track by having a schedule where I’m going to have time to go to school, have a job, do my homework and have time for family and friends. I also need to see life in a positive way and think of the consequences of what I do before I do them. I also believe that my friends and others in middle school can make a change in their lives. High school is a good start. If you’re already doing well, keep on going with your life. Just remember that it’s never too late to make a change, and that it is always good to remember that these are the best times of our lives.
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H e l l o , m y n a m e i s _______ . I t i s a n h o n o r a n d a p r i v i l e ge f o r m y f e l l o w c l a s s m a t e s and me t o b e h e r e t h i s a f t e r n o o n . T o d a y , we are graduating from middle school. T o m e , m i d d l e s c h o o l w e n t b y q u i c k ly. A s I ’m m o v i n g o n t o h i g h s c h o o l , I w i s h I c ould s t a r t a l l o v e r a g a i n . Many challenges wait for me in high school, but I can take them on. I r e m e m b e r m y f i r s t d a y a t t h i s s c h o o l . I w a s s o s h y . N o w I ’m v e r y o u t g o i n g a n d f u l l o f f u n . T h r o u g h o u t t h e y e a r s a t R o o s e v e l t m i d d l e s c h o o l , I ’v e c h a n g e d p h y s i c a l l y , m e n t a l l y , a n d m o r a l l y . I w a s n ’t a l w a y s a hard-working k i d w h e n I s t a r t e d m i d d l e s c h o o l . B u t I ’v e i m p r o v e d . M a n y p e o p l e h a ve h e l p e d m e i n m y s u c c e s s i n s c h o o l . I ’d l i k e t o t h a n k m y p a r e n t s f o r a l w a y s p u s h i n g m e i n s c h o o l . M y t e a c h e r s , M s . B o g i e , t h e s t a f f a n d a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , a n d l a s t , b u t n o t l e a s t , m y f r i e n d s a n d p e e r s a n d a l l o f t h o s e w h o h e l p e d m e i n any w a y . A s w e m o v e o n t o h i g h s c h o o l , w e ’l l a l l h a v e d i f f e r e n t p e r s p e c t i v e s o n w h e t h e r to continue s c h o o l o r n o t . D i d y o u k n o w t h a t o n l y 46 % o f t h e p e o p l e y o u g o t o s c h o o l w i t h n e x t y e a r a r e l i k e l y t o g r a d u a t e ? T h a t m e a n s t h a t 5 4 % o f f r e s h m e n t h a t a r e f r o m O a k l a n d w i l l d r o p o u t . I h o p e t h i s d o e s n ’t h a p p e n t o a n y o f y o u . I n s t e a d , s t a y f o c u s e d on w h a t y o u d o . D o n ’t b e c o m e a p a r t o f t h i s s t a t i s t i c . It’s important to st a y i n s c h o o l a n d b e c o m e s u c c e s s f u l . I w i s h t h e b e s t o f l u c k t o y o u a l l . I ’m g o i n g t o m i s s a l l o f y o u w o n d e r f u l p e o p l e . As Marcel Proust said, ‘Time changes people but it does not alter the image we have kept of them.” I l e a v e y o u t h e s e words a n d I w a n t y o u a l l t o j u s t r e m e m b e r , t h a t y o u w e r e t h e c l a s s o f 2 0 0 7 a t R o o s e v e l t M i d d l e S c h o o l , and this is a time to remember.
