BEST COMMENCEMENT SPEECHES

1961 GHS grad

Do you remember the commencement speech given at your graduation?  I don't either.  My dad did not attend his graduation from the U. of W. back in 1936 because he had to work.  His mother did. If I find the program I will add it later. If I find my Groveton program I'll add that too.  

So in thinking about good advice for graduates I'd like to put in my 2 cents. Pray first.  Then act. Here are some commencement speeches which may be helpful. 

Harvard Address by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn - 'A World Split Apart' (English Reading)

This may be the best commencement speech but it is sad as David Foster Wallace committed suicide.

Dana Perino, graduate of  CSU Pueblo.  Her speech rang true with me.

 

“If you’re born here, you already won life’s great lottery. You are American, you are loved, you are educated, and you get to make decisions,” Perino said.

Perino told the students that they have a duty to their families and communities to stay aligned with their values.

“You have to learn, how do you decide how you want to spend your day? How do you want to take care of yourself?”  Perino elaborated. “How do you want to make sure that you are doing the best that you can for yourself, for your families, and for your communities?”

The former White House Press Secretary emphasized that integrity is the most important asset an individual could have, despite the costs it might have.

“[Integrity is] the most valuable asset. And you have the responsibility to protect it at all costs. And that might cost you some things along the way. It could cost you friendships,” she explained. “It might cost you a job. It might cost you something that you would never want to give up that you think

“But if you compromise on your integrity, you will lose your most important and valuable asset,” Perino added.

“Take your education, the fact that you’re American, your personal integrity, and go out there and show us what how you’re going to do it,” the “America’s Newsroom” co-host concluded. “I am honored to be here.”

CSU Pueblo President Timothy Mottet praised Perino’s speech and awarded her a honorary doctorate at the end. 

“Our mission statement at CSU Pueblo is helping students navigate a rapidly changing world, something that I think a lot about.” Mottet said. “And I think her message reflected how she has managed a rapidly changing world… it’s a good model for the rest of us to follow.”

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 Ecclesiastes 2: 24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.