Commencment Speech

Three lessons of things not to do in highschool 

Hello fellow classmates of 2025, as I stand here in front of you today, you may hear my shaky voice or hear me stutter, so don’t worry, I will make this short and simple. I’m here to talk to you about 3 lessons that I’ve learned throughout my 4 years of being a student at Oak HIll and want to tell you not to make the same mistakes I did. What I can tell you about my experience is that it hasn’t been easy for me and I’m sure it hasn’t been easy for you. unless you like high school but for me I didn’t. I was considered the weird introvert that nobody heard of, I didn’t like having to go home and do homework as a kid and even now I still don’t , I didn’t talk to classmates like others did, and I would almost never turn my work in on time.

 I later realized that these actions I’ve made had caused me not to enjoy and miss out on my 4 years of highschool, so i would like to tell you 3 things NOT to do in highschool, starting with not being more engaged in my high school classes. Throughout my classes at Oak Hill I’ve always been really shy and introverted, so nobody would ever hear a peep out of me. if you don’t believe me which I’m sure you all do since this might be the first time you have heard me talk unless you personally know me. Not participating and engaging in class honestly made me feel very alone, caused me feel like I had nobody to turn to, made me worry if other students thought I was dumb. I missed out on having great friendships, and not having better memories of my 4 years at Oak Hill. The consequences of my actions due to overall anxiety and being an introvert have taught me that we should all be able to speak our mind, be able to feel like we are getting our point across without feeling judged, and be able to have the ability to talk to others or even read a speech in front of a class. Which brings me to my second lesson on what not to do in high school, is not to participate in after school activities. 

As we started our long 4 school years we all heard about the opportunities and achievements that Oak Hill has to offer and I definitely should have taken advantage of it considering some schools don’t have a club that you can relax in after a school day. At Oak Hill you could play sports, have a group of people with the same interests, and make social connections. Now that I look back while writing this speech I’ve come to realize that I should have done those after school activities, and reached out to other classmates even if it’s not school related, because once you make those connections it will feel like the best achievement ever. So don’t do what I did and just go to school for the diploma. Go to school to get an education, go to school because you want to build those relationships, go to school because you want the best for yourself. Go to school because you want it. don’t risk the chance to lose opportunities just to make it through. Although these opportunities are great and have good benefits it only works if you have good grades which brings me to my last lesson of turning your work in on time!. 

Now you may be wondering why I’m mentioning school work when I barely could do my own, but that was because of my actions and my consequences. It’s like running by an open pool when your parents tell you to walk, you hear your parents say it but it goes in one ear and out the other. Which sounds alot like just like when our teachers would tell us to turn work in on time and use class as work time, the words would go in my ear and out the other like a fresh breeze flowing into your open window. As we reach the end of the school year, we start getting emails from concerned teachers, emails about staying after school or emails of work you need done by graduation, and even lists of work that needs to be completed by the official last day of high school. As you listen to me talk you might not understand where this is going or if you even are listening, but I can’t stress enough about listening to those emails and listening to your teachers. If it wasn’t for Mr. Young’s hard work and dedication of sending out lists of missing work I probably wouldn’t be here reading this speech today, don’t risk your future on assignments that help you shape who you are today

I know I said I would keep this short and sweet so just bare with me. I think to be able to be here today and listen to everything everyone has said after their reflection of our high school experiences, lessons, memories we should be proud of who we have become today and where we stand in the future of the rest of our lives. If I was to take anything away from my last 4 years of highschool it would be not to let anyone make you feel as if you are less than based on the type of person you are today which leads me to a quote of staying positive and to stay strong. Said by 2010 singer Andy Grammer, “Fine, oh you’ll turn out fine / but you gotta keep your head up” (Grammer 12-13).

“E-learning Graduation Cap” by leanforward_photos is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.