Friends Graduation Speech

So I have a confession. As the end of the year comes to a close and my motivation

declines, I have become addicted to watching Friends. I have been committed to watching at

least an episode a day, and they’re only 20-minute episodes so why not right? Out of 10 seasons,

1 season consisting of about 20 episodes, I am now on season 8. And one of the episodes that

jumped out at me when I heard we were doing graduation speeches was when the group traveled

to London. Now if you haven’t watched friends before the group consists of Rachel (former

princess/ rich popular girl), Phoebe (hard upbringing, hippy-dippy character), Monica (former fat

girl, OCD about cleaning and winning), Ross (paleontologist, nerd stereotype), Chandler

(constantly makes jokes, lowkey nerd), Joey (struggling actor, pretty but dumb stereotype). The

group travels to London and Chandler and Joey who are best friends decide to go site seeing

together. Joey is ecstatic about being a tourist in London and has no shame in his game.

Chandler, on the other hand, is embarrassed by Joey’s big flag hat, the constant pictures, and the

phrase ‘LONDON BABY’ that is constantly shouted by Joey. This scene really stuck out to me

when thinking about leaving high school because Joey was not ashamed about being excited

about something and outwardly pursuing what he wanted to do in London, even to the point

where the boys got into an argument about it. All through high school, we are figuring things out

about ourselves and constantly developing and stepping into ourselves. But that doesn’t stop

after we graduate from school. We are constantly going to be exploring our interests and learning

new things throughout our adult lives. So as my final message to you all I encourage you guys to

be like Joey Tribbiani. Maybe not the side of Joey that puts on maternity pants to eat an entire

Thanksgiving turkey to prove a point (although if that's what you want to do go for it). Take up

the side of Joey that wears a giant London hat proudly and shouts London Baby because he’s so
excited. Don’t care what people think about you and be proud of what you want to pursue,

explore, and are interested in. Those interests and passions are what could make you happy one

day so don’t let other people tell you what you can and can’t do, what you should and shouldn’t

do.

So as we leave Salem, make like Joey and enjoy your personal London, whatever that may mean

to you.