I was asked a few weeks ago to speak to our junior class as a motivation to finish strong for graduation. I took the opportunity to push them further to make plans after graduation. I hope that it worked. Here is my speech:
My biggest fear today is that you will look up here and just see me as another teacher telling you the same thing we always tell you. So I would like for you to look at me and see me as just someone who is trying to give you some good advice; someone who has been in your shoes. It has not been so long that I dont remember what it was like to be a junior in high school. I faced the same challenges you do. Things have not changed THAT much when it comes to that.
I decided since I was asked to talk about graduation today, I would wear my cap and gown from high school. I had to call my mom, dust it off and HOPE that is still fit me. I have not worn this gown since June 6, 1986. That was MY graduation day.
People will ask you when you are in school, “When do you graduate?” or “What day do you graduate?” I can tell you that THAT day is not when you graduate, but that graduation is a process you started when you entered kindergarten. Graduation is a process you started when you entered middle school and graduation is a process you started when you entered North Pitt High. You have been graduating every year, every month, day and hour you have been in school. If you just look at “the day” you graduate, you will never make it. Even the person that fails every class and ends up dropping out of school wanted to graduate at one time or another. So what is the difference? A PLAN! Most of you, by the fact you are juniors, have made a plan to graduate. Whether it was a long range or a day to day plan, you have had one. So today I congratulate you on making it this far, but the journey is not over yet. Next year, you will be seniors, but the journey will not be over yet. Many of you will get what is famously called Senioritis. Don’t fall in that trap. Don’t let the immediate satisfaction that you have almost made it and laziness keep you from your plan.
You have always been told that high school graduates have better opportunities than those who fail to graduate or get their GED. Let’s look at that. According to the Alliance for Excellence Education, statistics show that an average salary for a high school dropout is only $19,500. The average salary for a high school graduate is $27,380. That is a difference of a little less than $6000. But let’s go a little further than just our high school diploma. A college graduate earns around $46,000 a year. That is a huge difference. That will buy a bunch of oodles of noodles.
So since you are all one year away from graduation day, let’s talk about something else beyond that date. That is your next step. You see, just like all of the other dates, graduation from North Pitt is not the end, but it is a new beginning. It is nothing more than a transition to something else. You graduated from elementary school, but it was not ever then. It was a transition to middle school. You graduated from middle school, but it wasn’t over then. It was a transition to high school. So naturally, graduation from North Pitt is merely a transition to something else and hopefully something better.
I love to listen to famous speeches in history and my favorite is Martin Luther King’s March on Washington speech better known as the “I have a dream” speech. About half way through that speech, Dr. King asked in reference to civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” From the crowd a man yelled, “Never!” I challenge you today to never be satisfied where you are. When you leave North Pitt, make something better of your life. Don’t let graduation from high school be the pinnacle of your life. Go to college, go to technical school or join the military. Do something to better yourself and the family you will have in the future. Hopefully you will one day marry and have a wonderful family. So my question for you today is “Are you satisfied?” Are you just going to be satisfied with a high school diploma? That diploma will not do you one bit of good or earn you one penny unless you use it. I have told you that high school graduates make more than drop outs and that college graduates make more than just high school graduates; so what are you going to do with that information. Are you satisfied with living with your parents the rest of your life? Are you satisfied with taking just any job out there and working you butt to death for minimum wage? Are you satisfied? I challenge you to never be satisfied. Don’t just be satisfied with graduating from high school. Graduate, go out and make your mark on this world and make that mark a positive one that benefit everyone. NEVER BE SATISFIED! And no matter what, always remember, Big Daddy Loves YOU!
