How to Write an Awesome Graduation Speech

It's that time again: time for cap and gown, pomp and circumstance. Time to bid farewell to the graduating seniors. Do you have to write a graduation speech? It's a great honor, but it can be intimidating, too. Here are tips to write a graduation speech that leaves them speechless (with admiration, that is).

Remember K.I.S.S - Keep is short and simple. Whether you are a professional speech maker, seasoned veteran speaker or novice senior making giving your first public talk, use this rule of thumb. Make your point. Don't belabor to fill time. With graduation speeches, less is more and more is boring.

Take a note from President Lincoln. wrote his speech dedicating Gettysburg National Cemetery on the train, just before he arrived. The famous orator Edward Everett also gave a speech. His talk lasted slightly longer. Everett said of Lincoln's speech, which has become the famous Gettysburg Address,

"I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea in two hours as you have in two minutes, Mr. President."

Talk to the audience, not at them. As you write your speech, think of your listeners. Address them as friends and individuals. Look for friendly faces the crowd. Connect with them. Don't sermonize or lecture. Don't proselytize or pontificate. A graduation speech is a valediction (farewell tribute) not a sales pitch.

Call to mind shared memories. These need not be all happy memories. Along your educational journey, some friends were inevitably lost. Their parents will never get to celebrate graduation. Honor their memory with few kind words. End with happy memories. Did your school earn a sports trophy, science award or give a special performance? Touch on that.

Include everyone in the glow. Don't make your speech about you personally. That you were chosen to give your graduation speech is an honor. Everyone knows you did something exceptional to earn the right to speak. A graduation speech is not an award acceptance speech, however. Families come to graduation to see their children, even (and maybe especially) those who graduated in the bottom ten percentile of their class. This is a time to celebrate everyone's achievements.

Speak to your common experience. Some graduating classes are huge; you may not know everyone in the audience. You share a common bond, your alma mater. You walked the same halls, sat in the same classrooms, were taught by the same teachers.

Sprinkle your speech with many heartfelt thank-yous. Graduating seniors have very much to be proud of, but remember what John Donne said, "no man is an island". You didn't get where you are alone. You had help. Parents, family, teachers, lunch ladies, bus drivers, parapros, custodians, principal and counselors supported you.

I am a teacher. I have sat at many a graduation. It is a very sentimental and moving time for us educators. We are filled with pride to watch that kid who started out angry and rebellious kid, or that shy, awkward girl walk proudly down the aisle and receive their diplomas. In a few short years, you blossom before our eyes. We miss you very much when you leave. Take a moment to acknowledge that.

In the final analysis, when last (school) bell has tolled for thee, Polonius (sneak though he may have been) said it well,

"This above all else, to thine own self be true.
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell, my blessing season this in thee."