Sunday, May 31, 2015

Speaking at Graduation

Graduation is one of those times where you feel genuinely lucky to be a high school teacher.  I am sure that there are perks to being involved with elementary and middle school age groups, but for me, high school is the pinnacle of achievement.  I know that there are plenty of coming-of-age ceremonies, but high school graduation truly takes the proverbial cake.  

I was lucky enough to have known many of the graduating seniors for their entire high school career.  Like every single year, a part of you cheers when they graduate, and a part of you is brokenhearted that they are leaving.  This year was a bit different as I am leaving the school with them.  

I wish I could express in the written word just how powerful the emotions can run when you are leaving a place that truly feels like home.  

I always thought that I liked these kids until they decided that they wanted to have me speak at graduation.  I have dodged speaking at graduation for many years now, and they were not going to take no for an answer.  In the past i have used such tactics as blackmail, extortion, and bribery to make sure that I was taken off of any potential speaking list.  Last year I was able to convince a few kids to change their votes.  I lost by two votes.  It was great.

There was no getting out of it this year.  

Without further adieu, here is my speech.  Yup, my wife video-taped it.  Thanks... not...


Well, I tried.  What more can I say?  With graduating seniors like this, you would be hard-pressed to say no.






No comments:

Post a Comment