INSPIRATIONAL SPEECH FOR GRADUATION CEREMONY 2030

WRITTEN BY: MAY JOY M. VILLANUEVA

Good morning parents, friends, teachers, and of course, the graduating class of
2030.
I am very pleased to be speaking in front of you today. I hope that you feel excited as
I am to be part of this wonderful event to be witnessed in front of us. I'd like to ask your
attention for a few minutes to share with you how important this day is to all of us.
I was invited to be the guest speaker for today's graduation ceremony. As I see the
invitation I asked myself “Why? What's special about me to be able to talk in front of
everyone?”. These are the questions lingering in my mind, but as I stand in front of you, I
realized there must be a reason. A special reason why God made me accept the invitation.
As I looked into your face full of happiness, excitement, looking forward to the next
chapter of your life, I reminisce about my high school life. As I graduate elementary and
enter high school, our family suffer from a financial crisis. I have 2 siblings and I am the
middle child. The older one than me is already in college taking up a bachelor of science in
geodetic engineering at that time, while the younger one is starting as an elementary
student. My parents asked me if I want to study high school and I said “yes, of course!”.
Those in their right mind will continue to study and graduate. As I answer yes, they discuss
to me that they can't afford to send me to high school. I was devastated as I hear the news.
It's like cutting up my sprouting dreams that I looked forward to in the future. After a week,
good and at the same time, bad news reaches us. My father's cousin, that is working in
America proposed a win to win negotiation. She is willing to provide for my study but at the
same time, I need to stay and accompany her friend to her house. I am excited and feeling
grateful as I hear the news but it struck me the fact that I need to stay far away from my
family, not just days, weeks, but years. As I try to decide together with my parent's approval
on what to choose, we accept the proposed negotiation and transfer into the place where my
aunt's friend living with. Moving into that new place made me realize that this is the reality. I
need to sacrifice to achieve my dream. I am not living there for free because I also do
household chores as a payment for the basic needs they provide to me. Days, weeks, and
months of staying there makes me sad and longing to go home already. I miss my siblings,
parents, relatives, friends, and the place itself that I am born with. I stay at that place for 2
years until my parents decide to get me back under their care. I was extremely happy at that
time since it is the first time for me to go home after 2 years. As I finally stay at my parent's
guidance, I continue to study until I reach college and graduate. And now look at me, I am
now a certified public accountant thanks to the hardship that I conquer together with the help
of my family, relatives, and of course friends that is always there for me at the time when I
needed them the most.
Looking back at that time, I am grateful for that problem god gave to me because that
problem makes me strong and dedicated up to this day. It becomes the foundation and
inspiration for me to reach my dreams. As I stand here today I am proud to say to all of you
that poverty is not a hindrance to reaching our dreams. We just need to move forward and
grab every opportunity in front of us to be successful. Before I end this speech let me leave
you a short quotation. “To be able to become successful, sacrifices are a must to achieve it”.
That's all everyone. I hope you are inspired by my speech today. Thank you and God bless.