My first graduation speech given was in 2009 at my college graduation. I was never one who participated in student speeches or public speaking events, simply because I had stage fright. While in elementary school all through high school I would always delegate another person on my team to speak on a group project. I remember the feeling still to this day on my stomach getting all knotted and feeling like I wanted to pass out. However, when I was given this opportunity something inside of me told me I had to do this to create a milestone in my life that I would never forget.
My journey starts when my graduation date was slowly approaching and there was a casting call for all students in my graduating class to interview with the event staff and come up with a rough draft commencement speech to read to the panel of judges and then you were called if you were chosen. Just to read in front of the panel of three judges I was already nervous, but I did it with poise and confidence and it took all I had to hide my fear. After a few weeks I did not hear anything and then one day my phone rang and it was one of the judges and he said, Congratulations Michelle, we chose you and your story and feel you will encourage future classmates through your journey with your speech.” At first I think I didn’t speak because all I could think of was how can I back out now? I then responded, “OK, great, now what?” After getting the instructions on how to write my final speech draft and deadline on when to submit it, I called my husband and told him the news. My excitement grew with each person I told and their encouraging words gave me a reason to not back out and please them all at my graduation.
Just a little background on why this was so important to me; I was born with a tumor and was not given very high chances with a normal recovery after a very dangerous operation to remove it from my skull; it was successful and here I am today at 33 years old. I was also a single teen mom and had my first child at the age of 16. The struggles to raise my son and try to finish high school were overwhelming and I dropped out and obtained my GED. To me that GED was the best thing ever, and I was on my way to begin my journey as a working single mother in this very tough world. Years later, I had a daughter and I was immediately back to square one; a single mother raising 2 kids. About eight years later I found my soul mate and eventually added another daughter to my growing family. My husband and I have been married for over 7 years and my youngest daughter was our first child together. I married an Army soldier and my life has never been better! I have survived motherhood on my own as a teen (twice), then conquered 3 deployments with 3 kids in the last 7 years, each being a year or more in length. Now if that wasn’t a crazy 33 years in one simple paragraph I don’t know what is.
The weeks leading into my graduation I had my final draft complete and I asked a colleague of mine, who was a great public speaker and friend, to look over my speech and offer some guidance to capture the audience with my story. She gave me some great pointers and I had even more confidence to give my speech. Now for the final day, the day of my big speech was here and before I entered the building I had no clue how many were attending the ceremony, nor did I know I would speak first!
As we all were seated on stage I looked at the program and my name was first of the 3 students who were speaking for each of their class groups. I was receiving my Associates degree so of course I was first in line. I remember hearing my name to come up to the podium, and then I saw the crowd of over 300 people, I looked down at my speech and took a deep breath and began. As I spoke about my tumor, my children, my husband and our deployments I heard a few gasps and I threw a few jokes in there as well and they were well taken with laughter. Once I was done, everyone clapped and my speech was over. It was a very quick five minutes but I would not change it for the world. I experienced it, I conquered it, and I loved every minute of telling my story.
If you take just one thing away from this article, take with you the experience you will gain if you are given the opportunity to speak at your graduation, no matter if it’s high school, college or trade school. Have fun, don’t be nervous and just think about your journey and the people who supported you through it all. With that you have strength!
