Graduations can be full of pomp and ceremony or a simple low-key handing out of certificates. Whatever about the ceremony there is one thing certain and that is that someone will give a speech. It may be a dean or a dignitary but whoever speaks should bear in mind exactly what this occasion means to the graduates. They may have studied law or medicine or simply done a course in freelance writing or photography. Whatever the subject or the status of their accomplishment it is worth noting that, for those students, it is an accomplishment. . It may be an end in itself or the beginning of some further course of study. Either way it says, “We have studied and we have succeeded.” So your words should be congratulatory in tone. They should be motivational and inspirational. That graduation day is a day that stands out from the rest and your speech should reflect that fact. Put simply graduation day is a day to make an impression and make a memory.

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Mature graduates are different. That is why your speech should be different if you are speaking at a graduation ceremony for them. They are, after all, quite likely to be very committed. They will often know just what they want in life and be working towards a certain goal. They will usually have more family responsibilities and less free time. So your speech should reflect your understanding of these facts. It should also be inspirational because sometimes such students are stuck in a rut of working, studying and home commitments. They may not have considered a wider horizon or new opportunities. Just as younger students do they will appreciate some humour in your speech and you can make references to people or places younger students may not know. There are thousands of different courses which are attended by such mature students. If you are speaking at their graduation ceremony make sure your speech is relevant to them and their age.

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Leaving elementary school is a time for leaving childhood behind. It’s a time of mixed emotions and hormonal changes. It’s a time when a teacher addressing an elementary graduation ceremony can really make an impression. Usually that teacher has the advantage of knowing the pupils who are graduating. He or she knows of their backgrounds and their future prospects. At such an age children are impressionable and if he said the right things to them he might, hopefully, make an impact they will remember. It could be only one suggestion in his speech that would capture the imagination of the students. He might speak of someone who shared their background who succeeded in business in some way. He might challenge them to be involved in the community as a volunteer. He could suggest that the environment is their responsibility. All these may sound like high ideals to place before the students but said in the right light-hearted way they could inspire a future environmentalist or a future entrepreneur. All the greats in history were their age once so compare them to those inspiring figures and tell them that they too can be great.

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Nursing graduates are a bit like Santa Claus. They bring lots of joy and cheer to the world through their caring. In this age of technology and science that caring is still the most important part of their job. That is not to say they are not professionals. They study hard, they learn about the body and all its wonders. They learn how to use all the latest gadgetry that helps save lives. They are totally committed to giving a professional service to patients. Yet behind all this is the kind of people they really are. Nobody joins nursing to make a fortune. People become nurses because they want to help the sick. They become nurses because they see a need. They become nurses because they want to make a difference, to help to cure those who are ill and in pain. The world would be a sadder place without them. When a hall full of graduates disperses after the graduation ceremony the world become a richer place.

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Kindergarten graduation speeches have to be tackled differently. After all you cannot talk about colleges and careers. Instead you have to focus on the fact that young children are a gift to us. You should speak about their inquisitiveness, their wonder. You should address the parents in terms that apply to such young children. Kindergarten is about fun and friendship. It’s about children learning basic lessons without realising that they are learning. Their teachers are special people with a love for children that enables them to cope with the worries and problems of little ones. Their parents realise this and are happy to hear a teacher talk about children’s individuality, their talents and skills. They want to hear about how their children have mastered learning their colours or their alphabet. Above all Kindergarten graduation day is a day for happiness. It’s a day to celebrate the start of schooling and all that will mean.

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Every graduation has a guest speaker. In fact lots of ceremonies, especially award ceremonies have such speakers. Somebody always has the job of introducing them and that is a real challenge. Such a speech has to be welcoming to the speaker. It also has to be informative. In other words you should have done your research on the speaker so that you can speak appropriately when introducing him or her. You should know if he or she has campaigned against racism, won an Olympic medal or saved a whole village from drought. Depending on the occasion you should be able to say how fortunate you are to have such a speaker who is a leader by example. You might say that he or she will inspire others by his or her achievements. If you are also the M.C. you should make the guests feel welcome too and included in the atmosphere of the evening. In other words introducing a guest speaker is like bringing in a birthday cake with candles blazing. You are setting the scene for what is to follow.

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Going back to college is not easy. Mature students have all sorts of commitments that younger students do not have. They may have demanding jobs. They quite possibly have families which means that there are already demands on their time and energy. So when they graduate they deserve to be congratulated for their achievements. They deserve to have their extra efforts noted. Those addressing a graduation ceremony should be aware of this fact and take it into consideration when addressing their audience. They should speak too of the fact that such mature students have much to offer to employers because of their experience in life. So when you are addressing such mature students speak of their maturity and what it can mean in an employment situation. Note too that such students will recognise references to incidents that younger students wouldn’t recognise. So if you want to refer a special song for instance it may be more relevant to this mature audience. When you are speaking remember too that instead of parents these graduates are more likely to have spouses as their guests. Despite these differences your speech should, as in any other graduation speech, refer to the challenges and opportunities ahead.

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Make your graduation speech topical. If there has been an earthquake, an assassination, a controversial election or a war that’s in the news speak about it. Use it to explain to graduates the real world they are entering where such things can or will affect their lives. College is, after all, a place of privilege. Students may have to study hard but the outside world does not really impact on them. When they are leaving that topical event may, if nothing else, affect their possibility of getting a job. It is a fallacy to think that only those studying politics need to know about suchhappenings. Obviously your speech will be congratulatory in tone. Naturally you will speak about the challenges ahead. You will too speak of the debt of gratitude they owe their parents and tutors. You will speak too of the opportunities they will have. Modern technology means our world is getting smaller all the time. What happens in China can affect what is happening in Connecticut. Many of those graduates will travel extensively. They need to be aware of what is happening outside the campus. They may go to help earthquake victims. Their political views maybe shaped by that assassination or election. That war might kill them or someone in their family or affect trade between their country and the one at war. So tell them about the real world. Tell them like it is!

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Nurses are very special people and nurse’s graduation speeches should express that fact. In a materialistic world the work they choose to do shows that that there are still those who put the needs of others first. Let’s face it they won’t get rich working as nurses but the term job satisfaction could have been coined just for them. Certainly being a nurse gives you the opportunity to travel because nurses are needed worldwide. Then too there are so many nursing fields from which to choose a speciality. Those who adore babies might choose to train as a midwife. Those who love children may find their happiness working in a children’s ward. There are nurses who fancy using the latest technology who will usually choose to work in intensive care wards. So your graduation speech should stress the opportunities available in the field of nursing whether it’s in the compassionate field of hospice work or with the army caring for injured soldiers. Your speech should not neglect to mention that nurses are people too and should care for themselves as well by having their own interests and differing lifestyles. Finish your speech with a challenge to them to make their work help to make a difference.

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Paint a picture of the future and its opportunities. That’s the challenge to a speaker on Graduation Day. It is up to that speaker to inspire, to inform and to show those graduates exactly what they can do to make a difference. It is up to him or her to speak not only of their careers but of their personal lives too. Many speakers have their own story to tell and they will usually be successful in some field. That means that the graduates can actually hear someone else’s life story and hear what they have done or achieved and, of course, they may hope to emulate that speaker. Yet such speakers must stress the fact that each graduate is unique and has something special of his or her own to offer. They must explain to those graduates that they live in a fast changing world and that they must be adaptable to take advantage of those changes. The most successful speaker will leave those graduates saying, “I never thought of that.”

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