Hi folks, so I am graduating from college next week and as class president I have to give a graduation speech... well, I don't have to if I would have asked my vice president to do it but I said I could do it for some dumb reason and now I am here, struggling to write this speech with no idea what to even say. I was told it needs to be between 3 and 5 minutes long but I can not go over that 5 minute mark. I really don't know what was going through my head. I do not want to write about my achievements and I certainly don't want to write some cheesy thing going on about how we are "all in this together (high school musical moment) despite the struggles of the pandemic." Which is exactly what happened last year, except the graduation was streamed on youtube, done entirely online, and the president's speech was over 10 minutes long (and recieved so very harsh criticism). So I am nervous and begining to panic. I think my big thing is saying something wrong. I want to do a land acknowledgement at the beginning of my speech but some of the names are really hard to pronounce. And i don't want to mess up the names right before I begin my speech. and i really don't want to stumble over my words which I will likely do the second I get up on stage to speak. I haven't done a speech in over 2.5 years. I am just hoping I don't make a mess of this.

i had an online graduation so never needed to do a speech, but i would be so so tempted to list the unholy amount of unnecessary shit i learned in school and how i will never remember them and also the many things like paying taxes and what the fuck is insurance, that i wish i had learned. i hated school haha

best of luck, congrats on graduating soon!

Thank you tons! I am just ready for this year to be over with to be honest. I transfer in August to my new institution to continue my degree which will be fun (I hope). As far as the speech goes, I am fortunate enough to have help. My political sciences and ethics professor says she is "honored" to read over it. I am honestly so honored she is reading over it because she is such a busy person (she actually did a TED talk that will be posted soon which is really cool). And now my speech is looking better. Only thing is, my speech came off very white coded at the end of it so we have rewritten it to call students to action to combat racism in higher education which - because of the politics in this region of the state - will end really well or very poorly. I am hoping it turns out good though because they told me they want me to announce the professor of the year award right afterwards so I will be standing there much longer than I was initially told. As far as the land acknowledgement goes, my professor who is helping me has an indigenous colleage who is more than happy to go over my speech and over opinions. Which will be great since I want to make sure everything is right.

I graduated on Friday and it went really well. There were some hiccups and I did get pretty frustrated a few times with the people running the graduation but overall it went well. First we walked in, I had to stand and sit on stage for the duration of the graduation and gave my speech at the beginning. Immediately after, I had to announce the teacher of the year and give them a plaque. I had to improvise the entire speech because I wasn't given a script as they said they would and I wasn't told that until 3 minutes before I had to walk out. I was told I did good though. And then literally right before I was going to walk and recieve my diploma, they handed me another script and asked if I had it... I'd literally never seen it before. So I went up there, recieved my diploma (an associates (DTA/MRP) in Biology) and then had to grab the script which I'd left on my chair and then went up and did the turning of the tassel. And then after that we walked out. And I guess I was worried about my speech for nothing because I recieved many compliments afterwards. Anyways, thanks everyone for the support <3

Hey, I totally get that! Online graduations do change the dynamics, and your perspective on what's genuinely useful in life versus what feels like unnecessary information is so relatable. It's like, where were the lessons on adulting - taxes, insurance, and all that jazz? I feel you on that one. Also, don't even get me started on graduation stoles – a symbol of achievement, or just another unnecessary accessory? Haha! Despite the ups and downs, though, huge congrats on nearing your graduation! Best of luck navigating the next chapter—may it be filled with more practical life lessons! 🎓🎉