Your Commencement Speech We cannot all be Valedictorians, but we all have something meaningful to say about our high school experiences.

Don’t Panic! So, you've been assigned to give a graduation speech for your high school class. Your first thought may be: “Oh no! I hate giving speeches, and I don’t have anything to say!” But in reality, you have plenty to say. Each of you has been through 4 years of high school plus 8 (or more) years of elementary and middle school. You have experienced a lot together! This is your opportunity to reflect back and look forward. This is an opportunity for closure.

Don’t be like “most people” Some graduation speeches aren't very good. You know why? Because they're too generic. They talk about the future and "spreading your wings" and all kinds of cliché things that can apply to any graduating class. A good graduation speech should be tailored only for your graduating class, or in our case, for this class. Your speech should be unusable by other classes or schools, because it should be filled with details and stories specific to your experiences.

Tips for writing a great graduation speech: Tell stories. The stories should be about the students in the graduating class, the teachers, and other important people in the school. The stories can be funny, or touching, or just descriptive. (But not mean!)

Events Talk about major events. What are some important things that happened in the world, your community, or at your school in the last four years? Include them in your speech, if these events evoke emotion. If the school experienced a great loss such as a death of a classmate, mention them and say how much everyone misses them. If your football team won the state championship, mention this (and expect enthusiastic applause from the audience).

Activities Talk about meaningful activities your class did together. Here's where you talk about the prom, Winter Formal, the awesome school play, etc. Talk about our school’s traditional events, like Wintermas or Homecoming Week.

Be Inclusive Be inclusive Don't just talk about yourself. You can talk about yourself a little bit, but only a little. This speech is for everyone, and it isn't very classy to just focus on yourself.

No Disses Don't speak badly of anyone. This is not the time to get revenge against someone you don’t like. Be nice. You can gently poke fun of quirky things, like that weird green stuff they serve every Thursday at the school cafeteria, or the fact we have about one restroom stall for every 50 students. But do this sparingly, and be careful not to offend anyone.

Thank people Thank your family, friends, teachers, coaches, admin, and classmates. Go ahead and give specific examples of times when people supported you, pushed you to succeed, or were just nice to you.

Common Sense Be appropriate. Use common sense. This is not the forum to discuss the drunken antics of your classmates or other indiscretions. It should go without saying: Don't swear. Use inside jokes sparingly. Your best friends might appreciate inside jokes, but the rest of the audience won't know what you're talking about.

The Specifics This is a written speech – you may not “wing it.” Type it (double-spaced with paragraphs) so that you can easily read it. Make 2 copies of it. You will give me one copy on Tuesday, and keep the other copy for when you give your speech. Plan to take 2-3 minutes to give your speech – rehearse it several times. Have fun with this! This is a time to really wrap up all of your memories of your high school years. Extra points if you make the audience laugh or, even better, cry.