Graduation speeches

This week, it is all graduation speeches one hears.

How many of us remember the speeches delivered by the guest speakers during our graduation? Meaning, how many graduation speakers are really effective and whose speeches are remembered?

Then, of what use are graduation speakers? Or, if you are a graduation speaker can you make it a point that your speech will be remembered by the graduates?

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I can recall only two graduation speakers in my own graduation. I don't know if you can remember who was your own speaker.

When I graduated from the Iloilo City High School our graduation speaker was then Iloilo City Mayor Dominador Jover. I cannot recall his speech but it was something like his plans for new buildings of the school.

This was 1951 and some of the buildings were Quonset huts from the materials left by the American soldiers and the rest were all nipa huts.

I don't know what lessons the graduating students could get from that. We were graduating already, anyway. It was more intended for the principal Vicente Cornelio and the teachers, not the graduates.

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When I graduated from college in 1956 at the University of San Agustin our graduation speaker was Dr. Francisco Dalupan, then president of the University of the East.

I recall Dalupan then spoke of his world travels to observe modern trends in education in other countries. He spoke particularly of educational trends in the U.S., Britain, and Japan.

I cannot remember the rest.

I also have heard other graduation speakers. There were many who were good. There were also mediocre ones who did not have even a message. Nothing to share except to praise the school officials, the parents, and the student graduates. Very hollow.

Many spoke of themselves and the trials they met in life in probably with the hope the graduating students get lessons from them.

Whatever topics, this all depends on how a speaker organized it. It can be made interesting depending on how the speakers wave the topic into a coherent theme.

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Inviting politician as speakers? Good, but most often they forget they are speaking to graduating students and speak as though they are in the Halls of Congress or their political stand on issues.

Most schools, in getting graduation speakers, look for a very popular personality, national one, so that their school gets carried in the publicity.

Get President Arroyo as commencement speaker and the following day your school is mentioned in the news, even just in passing, as the place where the President took up the subject. If not in the speech itself but in an interview because news writers would tell the readers why the President is in the area.

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I used to be graduation speaker also. I am not a good graduation speaker but I always put it in my mind what would I do that the graduating students would remember what message I imparted.

And this is difficult.

One approach I used was giving them an acronym to remember, like CASH. This is because everybody loves money.

In C, they must remember traits like Consistency, Cooperation, Commitment. Then I would cite examples of successful people because they were consistent, cooperative, and committed.

Then A, they must remember all the good traits that start with letter A like ability, amiability, acceptability, and many others also citing people who succeed for their special ability, for their friendliness or amiability, and others.

Then I would go into the letter S and the traits that start with that letter like sacrificing, sociability, and others.

Following it also with citation of people who succeed for having those traits.

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Then letter H and traits that start with that letter, like hard work, honor, and honesty again with citation of successful people with these traits.

I would challenge them to remember these because many graduation speakers do not leave messages to remember and live by.

Then the closing which is important. I always told the graduates the future is in their hand. It is in them, not in other people. They will succeed or fail is theirs.

Then I would end it with an anecdote of a wise man who lived in the foothills of Mt. Canla-on. One day two young boys wanted to test his wisdom. They caught a bird and agreed to find out whether the old man really wise as was his reputation.

The boy held a bird in his hand at his back and asked the old man if the bird was dead or alive. If the man would say, it's alive, he would squeeze its neck and the bird would die.

If the old man would say it's dead, he would let the bird fly.

The boys thought they put one over the old man. But the old man placed his arm around the boy's shoulder and very nicely told him, "My boy, it is a very nice question. But the answer is in your hand."

Then the speech would end with "Graduates, the answer is in your hands."*

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