Graduation Speeches
I’ve sat through my fair share of graduation speeches. My latest count is 17, which includes my own (from many schools), my husband’s graduation, my kids’ graduations, and the graduations of congregation members.
Most high school speeches are the same. We’ve had an amazing four years together…success (or another word) is defined as…I’ll always remember…and may our legacy…
College graduation speeches are a bit more diverse. Sometimes the speaker will be an alumni of the institution but most often they are chosen based on their accomplishments. And with the magic of YouTube, we can now watch great commencement speeches online! Here’s one of my favorites:
I’ve often wondered what I’d say in a commencement speech. I’ve never been asked to give one and I have no idea why anyone would ask me. I would hope it would still be as memorable as my commencement from Emory University in 2005. Tom Brokaw shared his thoughts that the only things we really need to know in life aren’t from kindergarten but from Middle School.
I would hope that I could as funny as Steve Carell in his Northwestern University 2025 commencement speech:
I would hope that my message would be memorable, engaging, funny, insightful, and life-changing. This is also my prayer for Sunday morning, but I haven’t perfected it yet.
We spend a lot of time listening to speeches, whether at commencement events, Sunday sermons, or podcasts. We like to hear what others have to say. Sometimes we even want microphones because we think others want to hear what we have to say.
I think we give speeches because that’s how we were created. With words. And our words have the potential to create a brighter future. They have the power to inspire, to educate, and to bring about change. Speeches allow us to share our thoughts, ideas, and experiences with others. They provide a platform for communication and connection.
From the earliest moments of human civilization, people have used speech as a means of communicating with one another. Whether it was through storytelling, oral traditions, or formal speeches, humans have always found ways to express themselves through words.
But why do we continue this tradition of giving speeches? In today’s digital age where we have endless forms of communication at our fingertips, why do we still feel the need to stand in front of an audience and speak?
Because if we neglect to tell the story of humanity, there is a chance we might lose what it is to be human. AI could write our speeches. AI could give our speeches. But AI comes at a cost. The cost of being human.
May we never grow tired of the same graduation speech or the insightful ones. May our words always be ours, and may we always remember we were created with words and are called to transform the world through the Word.
Until Everyone Hears,
Dr. K