Graduation speeches Essay

A good speech for an elementary graduation would depend on who is going to be doing the speaking. For a teacher, you’ll want to make sure you thank the students for all of their hard work and wish them the best in the next grade they move up to. For kids, they can thank their teacher for a good year and thank their parents for their support.This page contains a funny sample speech for Middle School or Elementary School graduations for principles, teachers or other key note speakers. The speech template can be customized for graduations from preschool, 8th Grade, Junior High School, clubs, high school or other graduation events as well. This speech is humorous but also talks about dedication and personal commitment. We hope this graduation speech for keynote or guest speakers is helpful. Let me begin by welcoming all of you to today’s event and thanking (NAME OF PERSON WHO INTRODUCED YOU) for that kind introduction. I’m very pleased to have been invited to speak here today on what I know is a very special day. It’s special for the graduates, for their proud parents and grandparents, and for their very relieved teachers. Just wait until these students are graduating college. Then their parents will be the  relieved ones. As I begin, I have to say, I think the best speeches are those that have a great beginning, a memorable end, and not much in between. I will try then to make a great speech. Today is one of those great occasions when we get to celebrate our young people – their achievements, their perseverance and their successes as they grow up. It’s one of the times you can take a break and reflect, feeling good as a parent or a mentor, knowing that the kids you care about are doing just fine and they’re on the right path. Graduates, you should know that your moms and dads are very proud of you today. They have high hopes for you, and they believe in you, and you are making them proud by showing what you can do. Take a look at them now, and you can see them smiling and snapping photos so they can record this moment forever. Today is an important day for you and for them. Today they are very, very proud of you. (PAUSE) Today would be a good day to ask for money. Today would also be a good day to hug them and thank them for supporting you, because as much as this is your achievement, this is also the achievement of the people who care about you. That means your mom, your dad, your step mom or step dad, your grandparents, your sisters and brothers, and all the other people who care about you. They want you to be your best and to live up to your potential. Graduations can be seen as a coming of age, a sort of official way to recognize when a person steps into the next stage of life, and graduates, you are stepping into a new stage. With every year, you have become a little more independent. I bet you can still remember your first day here – it might have been exciting and a little intimidating too. I bet when you look at the (INSERT LOWEST GRADE IN SCHOOL HERE, 1ST GRADERS, 6TH GRADERS, ETC) going to class you think, Wow! They look so little! I can’t believe I was ever that young! Get used to it. You’ll be thinking that for the rest of your life. But when you she younger students, you can tell how much you’ve grown up, how much you’ve learned and how much you’ve matured. Think back on some of the exciting things that happened this year, all the things you learned. This year, you†¦ (ADD SOME INFO ABOUT THE CLASS OR SCHOOL HERE. TALK TO TEACHERS OR WHOEVER INVITED YOU FOR SOME IDEAS. IT CAN BE FIELD TRIPS, TOPICS STUDENTS LEARNED, ETC. YOU CAN ALSO ADD SOME FAMILY-FRIENDLY HUMOR ABOUT WHAT KIDS LEARNED). You had some great time this year, and maybe you had some tough times, but you did it and you succeeded. You’re ready for that next step. I ask you as you prepare for this next step to do a few things. First, stop texting your friend about how you wish the speaker would hurry up and finish talking so you could go to (INSERT NAME OF LOCAL PARTY PLACE, MALL OR RESTAURANT POPULAR WITH STUDENTS). Secondly, I ask you to take this chance to dedicate yourself to making the next year even better. Remember that you don’t have to follow the crowd. Do the right thing, even if no one is looking. Study hard and remember that you’re investing in yourself with every test you take and every book you read. And finally, don’t be in too big of a hurry to grow up. These are some great times in your life. Don’t rush past them. There are great things coming, and just as your parents are proud, each one of you should feel proud of yourself. So congratulations to all of the graduates, congratulations to the parents, and finally, congrats to the teachers and everyone else who helped our graduates reach here today. I’ll leave you with this final quote, from a great author with whom I imagine you are all familar, by the name of Dr. Seuss. â€Å"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.† Congratulations again, and thank you for your attention. 2 Welcome to today’s ceremony and thank you for attending. I’m honored to be speaking with you today on such an important occasion. We’re here today to honor our service members and to remember their sacrifices they have made and the courage it take to defend honor, duty, country. The writer Michel de Montaigne once said, â€Å"Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul.† We’re here today to honor our heroes, to remember their achievements, their courage and their dedication, and to say thank you for their sacrifices. Thinking of the heroes who join us in this group today and those who are here only in spirit, a person can’t help but feel awed by the enormity of what we encounter. We stand in the midst of patriots and the family and friends of those who have nobly served. I’d like to ask the service members and veterans who are here to stand. Thank you for answering the call to duty. You have made our armed forces the most respected in the world. [Lead applause] Please be seated. Now I’d also like to ask the family member of any service member to stand. We know you have lived through difficult times and often taken the heavy load to keep the home fires burning. Thank you for what you’ve done. [Lead applause] Please be seated. The service members we honor today came from all walks of life, but they shared several fundamental qualities. They possessed courage, pride, determination, selflessness, dedication to duty and integrity – all the qualities needed to serve a cause larger than one’s self. Many of them didn’t ask to leave their homes to fight on distant battlefields. Many didn’t even volunteer. They didn’t go to war because they loved fighting. They were called to be part of something bigger than themselves. They were ordinary people who responded in extraordinary ways in extreme times. They rose to the nation’s call because they wanted to protect a nation which has given them, us, so much. Since the first shots at Lexington and Concord were fired and our Revolutionary War began, American men and women have been answering the nation’s call to duty. Millions of Americans have fought and died on battlefields here and abroad to defend our freedoms and way of life. Today our troops continue to make the ultimate sacrifices, and even as we lose troops, more Americans step forward to say, I’m ready to serve. They follow in the footsteps of generations of fine Americans. Veteran’s day, originally called Armistice Day, was originally designated as a day to celebrate the end of World War I. The first World War ended November 11, 1918 and the legislation that created Veteran’s Day was, and I quote, â€Å"dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day.† As time went on and we engaged in further conflicts during World War II and Korea, veterans’ groups lobbied for a change. Rather than honoring the armistice and only those who served in World War I, the holiday would now honor all veterans from every war and conflict the United States had encountered. We’ve honored our troops and their service and sacrifice ever since. We have awarded medals to many Soldiers, added their names to monuments and named buildings for them, to honor them for their bravery. But nothing can ever replace the hole left behind by a fallen service member, and no number of medals and ribbons can comfort the ones left behind. Today, people throughout the country will gather together to remember, to honor, and to pay gratitude to those who have served our country. Our gathering is just one small spark in the flame of pride that burns across the nation today and every day. It’s not a lot, but its one small way we can honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can live in freedom. Your presence here today and that of the people gathering all across America is a tribute to those lost troops and to their Families. It is a way to say we remember. From the Soldiers who shivered and starved through the winter at Valley Forge to the doughboys crouched in the muddy trenches of France to the platoon who patrolled the hazy jungles of Vietnam and the young man or woman patrolling the mountains of Afghanistan, we remember and honor them all. Thank you for attending today. God bless you and your families, God bless our troops and God bless America.