Good evening parents.

I’m sure all of you are most definitely proud to be here this evening;
celebrating the successes of your children, more suitably called my classmates in this instance.
To give a little context on who I am, I am merely a Year 13 student of the school by the name of
Charbel. I come from Lebanon. I studied Maths, Physics, and History last year, and continue to
do so. I am proud to admit that I received all A’s in my 3 subjects. That isn’t the purpose of this
speech though.

The purpose of this speech is to highlight the achievements of the hard working and
impressively successful classmates and colleagues of mine that all certainly deserve a spot in
this ceremony. GES has always been deeply rooted in academia, and the number of students
sitting in front of you is evidence for my claim. These incredible young people achieved great
results in their school and external exams respectively, and I’m sure will continue to do so in
the following school year. However, I have decided to commit the main body of this speech to
raise awareness for the sacrifices of said students, who just happen to be your own sons and
daughters.

Achieving these results come at a cost of mental health, time, struggle, and sacrifice. The
commitment required by your children to make you proud is unlike anything I have seen before.
I applaud all parents here for bringing up such an intelligent group of what should be the next
generation of doctors, lawyers, engineers, creative artists, and many more prospective
professionals. You have done a great job at what may be your life’s greatest task, to provide for
the world’s future. Your efforts are certainly not ignored. However, I think that we can be even
better at what we do in the support of our loved ones. Sure, in front of you we students may be
cheerful, or just look normal from the outside, but trust me: the anxieties and rise in stress I’ve
seen in the minds of several of our students is unreal, and quite frankly, concerning.

From a student’s perspective to the parents in front of me, I make this announcement in
expectation of all of you to boost your emotional and mental support to your children. As I
mentioned earlier, it is not often that one births and raises a child of this intelligence, and
therefore it is your responsibility to provide all means of help to contribute to their successes.
We of course acknowledge all the support you’re offering now, but what do we truly know
about our loved ones? I mean seriously, to u, whatever we’re doing now should be perfect,
right? Its not like we’re incompetent enough not to even want the best for our loved ones. But
please do listen to my following point about my younger brother, Alexiy, who’s somewhere in
this crowd.

I love my brother wholeheartedly and see him as part of the next generation of children who I
must help raise and teach and support; the same feeling you all share with your children.
However, I simply will never be able to understand what goes on in his mind. This is, in my
eyes, crucial in informing me about whether I am being a good brother or not. And since it is
quite difficult and a tough paradox to crack, I recognize that I myself need to begin speaking to
him directly about how he feels, what his everyday thoughts are, and what I can do to be a
better loved one. To make it simple, what I’m asking all parents here is to reconsider your
expectations of your children that sometimes come along with meaninglessly verbally
damaging comments that I know many of us often unknowingly inflict upon our loved ones.
Just please, talk with your children. Start off slow. I know it may be awkward since in the
Middle East the parent-child dynamic isn’t so deeply rooted in understanding one another to
the level which would certainly be beneficial. But please, do try. Every effort counts.

The students of GES have much pride in them, but at what cost? Many believe that school is
their only hope in life, and this is, in my opinion, indoctrinated in them at a young age.
So, if you can take s ingle statement or bubbled up thought out of my speech, let it be this:
Success is the consequence of sacrifice, but the student sacrifice vie seen seems to be the
consequence of many parents not paying enough attention and care to the essence of their
children: their health. Tuition hours alone won’t ensure a better state of mind throughout their
academic years, but rather parental love is what I deem the most crucial bond to develop in
these final crucial years of school. Having gone through similar experiences, I ask for you to
understand my point of view, as I’m sure it represents many of the students here and beyond
this hall. Now that that’s out of the way, let us rejoice and celebrate the victory that we’ve
witnessed in our students. The future may be unknown, but we can all ensure continued
successes with continued efforts will make it easy on us. Last year’s chapter has ended, and
with this ceremony, we open a new one. Congratulations to all the parents who’re here to
celebrate such a proud moment in the lives of your children, and theirs.

Thank you.