<p>Just wondering how many days before graduation day did you guys write your speech?</p>
<p>When my older sister was valedictorian…I think I was still helping her edit her speech the morning of the ceremony. I’m sure she had the rough draft done about…one or two nights before, though.</p>
<p>Cool. I’m trying to finish it tonight as my graduation is this Friday. I was afraid it’ll be too late, but I think I should be okay.</p>
<p>How long (in terms of time) is the typical speech?</p>
<p>They gave me a time limit (which i doubt they will enforce strictly), but I think the time limit they gave me was rather short.</p>
<p>Probably less than a week beforehand, though I had thought about it a bit before. My speech was 428 words. So that’s a little over 2 minutes?</p>
<p>^ Wow that’s rather short.</p>
<p>I don’t think people want to hear you go on. I went to 4 graduations before mine (3 in the orchestra, 1 for my brother) and most of the speeches tend to be the same - and not especially interesting.</p>
<p>Find something unique and interesting that relates to graduation, briefly expand on it, then conclude. My speech was based on an essay I’d read on chaos theory.</p>
<p>Wow, that sounds really cool. How did it relate to graduating from high school though?</p>
<p>My advice, make it as funny as possible. No one wants to here some boring guy talk about chaos theory on one of the biggest nights every.</p>
<p>Mine is on Friday too. Here’s what I wrote:</p>
<p>We started off a large part the same,
Without a penny to our name;
Our days were filled with naps and toys,
And parents irked by all the noise.</p>
<p>Soon came a change, I’ve yet to pardon,
We were sent off, to kindergarten;
Our lunchables and dunkaroos,
Were little help, to calm our blues.</p>
<p>But soon our sadness did abate,
These little minds grew less irate;
We settled in and made new friends,
And hoped these days would never end.</p>
<p>But time ticked on, as it tends to,
Against our will, we slowly grew;
Lessons on how to write and read,
Advanced at an alarming speed.</p>
<p>And thus began our grade school years,
Much like our bikes, our minds switched gears;
From drawing and the alphabet,
To math, English and still more yet.</p>
<p>The years went on, no end in sight,
Our rate of progress seeming slight;
Yet we pressed on, we always do,
Letting our minds, in knowledge, stew.</p>
<p>But finally, an end did come,
High fives were shared with all our chums;
For another chapter saw an end,
And high school we would soon attend.</p>
<p>Less focused to do work and learn,
Our friends became a large concern;
For we became more self-aware,
And to fit in, we took great care.</p>
<p>Man, we thought we were so darn cool,
But looking back, I was such a tool;
We were awkward and sometimes jerks,
Growing, I guess that’s how it works.</p>
<p>Those high school years, we changed a lot,
Far more than I’d have ever thought;<br>
I grew up and you all did too,
Now standing here is something new.</p>
<p>I guess that brings me to CEGEP,
Much more than just another step;
The past few years changed me the most,
I entered bread but now I’m toast. </p>
<p>Though days spent here weren’t all sublime,
The memories will last all time;
Now standing here, things come to mind,
How at Heritage, each day I’d find:</p>
<p>The computer labs, always full,
With most the people on Farmville;
Jacque’s uniform, without a crease,
And our morning call, “sp</p>
<p>My salutatorian speech was 3-4 minutes long. My goal of the speech was to make a speech that appealed to all the graduates through common experiences and humor/inside jokes. I totally agree with ThisCouldBeHeavn…nobody wants to listen to a long, boring speech. Keep it short, simple, and funny.</p>
<p>Ironically, the valedictorian speech was the antithesis of mine. She went on a 27 minute (my grandfather timed it, no joke) rant on how contemporary society is so screwed up. In one of her opening sentences, she said, “Look at the people around you…what do you all have in common? The answer is…DEATH!!” (I was thinking more along the lines of “we’re all graduating” or “we’re all going to party tonight”)</p>
<p>So don’t make it too long-winded. Everyone wants to get out of there and party anyway.</p>
<p>WOW 27 minutes?!??! How did people react?</p>
<p>if i were a valedictorian my speech would go like this:</p>
<p>“I’m not going to bore you with all that standard valedictorian crap. I’ll leave that to my second in command (point to salutatorian). Instead I’d like to impart with you fellows some practical advice. Just kidding, after party at my place.”</p>
<p>Which is probably why you aren’t valedictorian. Just sayin’…</p>
<p>Normally the salutatorian goes first right?</p>
<p>I think so.</p>
<p>
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<p>I can’t remember which way it was at mine, but they changed it between the first graduation I went to and my own.</p>
<p>Usually salutatorian goes first.</p>
<p>I did a joint speech with my friend, a sort of clever banter thing - it was 3 minutes and we got to speak after a speech competition was held at my school 
(we tied)</p>
<p>The sal doesn’t give a speech here. In fact, the sal doesn’t do anything. The sal gives the Cul Laude speech, but that’s to 30 students, not 320. I wonder what they do if the sal isn’t Cum Laude, which is possible considering that the 3rd in class wasn’t Cum Laude on account of discipline and it was only the sal’s taking an unweighted class that removed him from being 2nd.
Val speech was pretty funny. There were references to The Hangover (one man wolf pack). I didn’t get them, but most people seemed to. Our vals always start early, because all of them (usually between 3 and 6) have to give a joint speech, and since the last day for seniors is also the last day of AP testing, the vals are all over the place not in school for the half-day study period or in the test room for the last two weeks of school. But since mention on activities on the last day of school was made, they evidently didn’t finish early.</p>