ENGLISH MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH
ENGLISH SPEECH
Good evening year twelves and thank you for having me.
As you begin to reach the end of your turbulent journey through schooling, puberty and teenage antics, I can imagine you all feel very accomplished. Everything from struggling to hand in assignments on time, to English teachers threatening to gouge your eyes out, to spending ridiculous amounts of money on overpriced tuck-shop food, has contributed to your experience of both high school and adolescence in one way or another. Even with all the maths formulas, research booklets and motivational speeches you've had to do in your five years of enrolment, you may feel either ready to step into the world, or nervous as to what the future might hold. And that’s completely understandable. There’s many aspects of growing up that the textbooks at Elanora don’t have chapters on, such as: how will I know what cutlery to buy when I move out of home? How many nights in a row can I go clubbing before my friends start to think I’m weird? and Help, I’m eighteen and have never used a washing machine. These are all questions I have had during my transition into adulthood and I still don’t know the answers to two of them.
Needless to say, I must admit I was still nervous when asked to write a speech for this year’s graduates. I was scared, the same way a select few of you may be about walking out of Elanora’s gates for the last time. Scared that I wouldn’t be able to provide appealing advice to a group much younger than I am, despite having walked in their shoes before.
And that was when I realised exactly what I do have to share with you - fear. Not in the sense that I want to scare you all at once, I think I’d struggle to do that without undressing, but to educate you on one of the most crucial and valued aspects of the human condition, and why it is actually a good thing.
I’m here to tell you today that ‘fear is good’.
Some of you may even feel fear right now - fear that you won’t make it into the
Good evening year twelves and thank you for having me.
As you begin to reach the end of your turbulent journey through schooling, puberty and teenage antics, I can imagine you all feel very accomplished. Everything from struggling to hand in assignments on time, to English teachers threatening to gouge your eyes out, to spending ridiculous amounts of money on overpriced tuck-shop food, has contributed to your experience of both high school and adolescence in one way or another. Even with all the maths formulas, research booklets and motivational speeches you've had to do in your five years of enrolment, you may feel either ready to step into the world, or nervous as to what the future might hold. And that’s completely understandable. There’s many aspects of growing up that the textbooks at Elanora don’t have chapters on, such as: how will I know what cutlery to buy when I move out of home? How many nights in a row can I go clubbing before my friends start to think I’m weird? and Help, I’m eighteen and have never used a washing machine. These are all questions I have had during my transition into adulthood and I still don’t know the answers to two of them.
Needless to say, I must admit I was still nervous when asked to write a speech for this year’s graduates. I was scared, the same way a select few of you may be about walking out of Elanora’s gates for the last time. Scared that I wouldn’t be able to provide appealing advice to a group much younger than I am, despite having walked in their shoes before.
And that was when I realised exactly what I do have to share with you - fear. Not in the sense that I want to scare you all at once, I think I’d struggle to do that without undressing, but to educate you on one of the most crucial and valued aspects of the human condition, and why it is actually a good thing.
I’m here to tell you today that ‘fear is good’.
Some of you may even feel fear right now - fear that you won’t make it into the