10 Tips for a Great Graduation Speech

Outline - The best thing you can do to help yourself write this speech is to use some notecards and make yourself a physical outline. Tape it to a desk, the wall, just make it so you can move the pieces around; categorize each one and write down the basic thought you want to write about;once they're in order you can fill in the empty spaces. Examples : When Suzy played Titania in drama, Mr. Turcotte's US History antics.

Quotes - You'll want to use quotes. Do yourself and your class a favor - find some that really mean something to your class. What was your class motto, if you had one? If you go to a Christian school, quote a particularly meaningful passage of the bible.

History - Talk about the school's history, your class history, and how you all got where you are now. Make this speech something that wouldn't work for any other graduating class, and make it personal! Do your research.

Include - Don't just include the people you know. If you have to, interview people who don't involve themselves in your social circle. If you're a band geek (I know I was) find a jock to tell you about their four years. Don't leave anyone out - it's their graduation, too.

Stories - Include plenty of stories that a lot of people will know about in your graduation speech. If something happened during a play, on a band trip, during a football game, at prom, those are all great things to talk about. If something changed your class, that is, too.

Future - Where will you all go? Many people are still wondering that while they're sitting on those chairs. Be encouraging; talk about where some famous people were at your age - or even ask some teachers for examples of what they did after graduating.

Be Yourself - Everyone listening will know if you're insincere in the speech. If you're funny, be funny, but if you're not then don't! Just be yourself, and play to your strengths.

Cliches - Avoid them. Just don't do it. Don't talk about spreading your wings, or anything like that. Everyone's heard it a million times, and you can do better! Have a few other people read your speech and look for cliches, just in case.

Thank - This is a good time to make sure people who deserve thanks get it. Parents, teachers, and the other people who work at your school, they all deserve more thanks than they'll ever get for the years they've volunteered to getting your class to this point. Every teacher, even if they're not liked much, has something they gave to you. Patience, diligence, knowledge, they are all things that you've learned. Think about where you learned them.

Read Aloud - Before you get on stage, read your speech aloud to yourself and to others. See if a teacher will let you read it to a class. Get used to reading in front of people, and try to at least partially memorize the speech so you don't stumble over it when you actually make it. If you find yourself getting hung up on a word, find a synonym for it. Relax, don't worry, and congratulations!