I was chosen as the valedictorian for the Class of 2016. At the start, it seems great... However, the dreaded valedictory address looms ever closer.
Like most people, I hate public speaking and to make matters worse, I was completely clueless about what to write. There are 2 main categories of graduation speech: the humorous one and the emotionally-driven one. I was advised to make my speech 'humorous', to mention people by name and recount stories of our time together at school. This type of speech may work for some people, but it certainly wasn't the speech for me.
I took to YouTube, watching countless videos of graduation speeches in search of inspiration. I watched everything, from J.K. Rowling's Harvard Commencement speech, to speeches by normal high school students like me. From this, I realised that you have to make your speech your own, do what you are comfortable with. What you say has to come from the heart, and it's impossible to do that if you are constantly trying to tailor your speech to others' expectations. When writing your speech, think of 2 or 3 key ideas that are important to you (and preferably your peers) and explore them. Failure, the future, dreams, friendship, success, past memories... These are just a couple of things that people normally mention in graduation speeches.
Speech writing is difficult, but presenting a speech is even harder. Parents, teachers, pupils... all watching you, listening to your thoughts and opinions. Daunting? Certainly. However, if it goes well, the rewards can outweigh the negatives. I overcame my fear through practise. Practise your speech in front of as many people as you can, of all different age groups. Practise gives you confidence, and even if, on the day, you feel incredibly nervous, mask it. Faking confidence is essential, it can even trick your brain into believing you are confident!
Also, remember that slow and meaningful is best; give your audience time to absorb what you are saying. If you feel your heart beating like crazy and your voice beginning to quiver, just pause. No one will notice, they'll probably even think it's intentional!
My speech wasn't perfect; it didn't match J.K. Rowling's fabulous address nor does it compare to some of the other speeches by students that I have seen. However, in giving your graduation speech, remember that it's your own unique message to the world, take advantage of that moment.
Below is a copy of my speech:
If there’s one thing that I have learned, it’s that endings never work out the way you want them to—that they’re terrible, and this one is no different. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing the last chapter of a good book , or the last afternoon of summer. Endings are like flat tires and wet pairs of socks and cold dinners. They’re the sort of thing that—no matter the effort, no matter the discipline—no one can get right.
This is one of those days for us.
When we have to say goodbye to everything familiar and safe and be exposed to new challenges out there while leaving great memories behind.
But believe me when I say, there are far greater things ahead than any we leave.
What we can’t do is live our lives always afraid of the next goodbye and the coming beginning, because chances are they’re not going to stop. The trick is to recognise when a goodbye can be a good thing: when it’s a chance to start again. And although our time as fifth years has to end, our love for each other doesn’t.
We’ve all created a lot of friendships over the past five years and when we first came to St. Louis, who would have expected that some of the strangers that we saw around us have now become our best friends? Who would have known that those shy, nervous children we started St. Louis as would grow into confident, self-assured young adults? Who would have known that in such a short time, we’d create life-long memories, be presented with such unique opportunities, yet still have so much more to experience in life?
When we started St. Louis, we were uncertain of what the future held. We have arrived at that future, however, things don’t seem much clearer than they did five years ago… We’ve still got a long way to go on our individual paths, but St. Louis has given us the tools we need to follow that path, wherever it may take us.
We’re about to face the biggest challenge ever presented to us thus far in our school lives, our GCSEs. We all probably feel pretty anxious and unprepared, stressed, maybe even scared. Try your hardest and you will know that it’s your best. Always keep your future goals at the front of your mind and do what is necessary to achieve them. But, if it doesn’t go right the first time, don’t give up. Remember that the grade on the paper only represents a very small part of us, we shouldn’t let it ruin the potential of the rest of us. However, have confidence in the fact that we are being taught at an excellent school, with empowering teachers, and this already gives us an advantage.
We all have the ability to succeed. In life there are going to be lots of set backs, which we’ve all heard before, but we cannot allow them to stop us achieving what we want for ourselves. Whatever your thing is, maybe it’s academics, sport, music, whatever you’re good at… Identify your strengths and focus your energy towards them. Everyone in this year is an individual, with their own skill, have the courage to develop that skill, no matter how abstract it may be. People may not always recognise the value of your skill, but don’t allow yourself to become disheartened because of their opinion. If you’ve been in Mr Mussen’s room, you’ll have seen the poster of ‘famous failures’: Einstein wasn’t able to speak until the age of four, and his teachers said he would never amount to much. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, Oprah Winfrey was fired from her job as a news anchor because she wasn’t fit for television and The Beatles were rejected by Decca Recording Studios because they didn’t like their sound and believed they had no future in the business. This goes to show that not only does failure create determination, but in the face of failure we must never doubt ourselves, we must continue to believe in our goals and find new ways to achieve them.
It’s also equally important that we find something in life that we love to do, it could be swimming, reading, cooking, dancing. And it doesn’t really matter if we are good at these things or not, it’s about how happy they make us, how much they add to our lives and the fulfilment that they bring. The thing that I love to do is sailing, and even though I capsize like 5 times in the space of 10 minutes, or come last in regattas, or crash into yachts, which yes, did happen; it still brings me lots of happiness, and although it would probably be a lot easier for my coaches if I quit, and a lot safer for all the other sailors because I am basically an accident waiting to happen, I still do it because I love it. Yes, life is about success and achievement, but don’t forget to enjoy yourself and do something that you love, find your passion.
Everyone of us has a goal, St. Louis has given us the independence, the knowledge, the work ethic to go out and achieve these goals, all we need to do is believe in ourselves. For some of us, this may be our last ever day at St. Louis, for others, we may return… But the lasting memories we will have of St. Louis will be of the friendships we created, and these friendships have shaped who we are as a person and will influence us for the rest of our lives. We will remember the teachers, how Mr Whiteford is always being facetious about something and how Mr Mussen spreads inspirational 'Mussen' quotes before exams, a personal favourite being ‘If it’s meant to be, then it’s up to me’. We will remember the school as a place where we grew up, found ourselves and our place in the world. In 20 years time, a lot will have changed between about us all, but the one thing that will tie us together is our shared experience at St. Louis. Our lives are only just beginning, let’s make the most of them and build upon this fantastic foundation St. Louis has given us.
"The sun is setting, but that doesn’t mean the night’s not beautiful…"
Thank you and good luck for everything that is to come!