Home along middle path learn to listen from kenyon news may 21, 2016 editors note. December 2017 student commencement speech erin mcnabb members of the board of trustees, president erickson, faculty, staff, families, guests, and my fellow graduates it truly is an honor to speak to you today. How the best commencement speech of all time was bad for. Summary of david foster wallaces commencement speech at.
A commencement speech or commencement address is a speech given to graduating students, generally at a university, generally in the united states, although the term is also used for secondary education institutions. Id like to receive the forbes daily dozen newsletter to get the top 12. Discussion questions 2005 kenyon commencement address. I bring you greetings and best wishes from president bush, and secretary of education spellings. He strays away from the typical commencement speech topics on extraordinary wealth, comfort, or personal freedom 208. The following is a transcript of the address that bestselling author john green 00 h16 gave at the 188th commencement. Congratulations cumberland county college graduates. Special master, september 11 victims compensation fund may, 2011 introduction of the 2011 commencement speaker kenneth r. Introduction and commencement address virginia tech. My role in this gathering each spring seems to be to delay the main event the address you are all waiting for from our distinguished honorand. Forget the kerfuffles over president obamas talks at arizona state and notre dame. Treasurers, parents, faculty, guests, president ungar, i am honored to be asked to be your commencement speaker.
If youre like me as a student, youve never liked hearing this, and you tend to feel a bit insulted by the claim that you needed. In david foster wallaces kenyon commencement speech he discusses the reality of life of a postgraduate after college. Colleges or universities usually invite politicians, experts in a specific field, important citizens and other noted speakers to be their commencement speaker. Joseph wagner and takehide kawashima suggest that the speech be delivered with a conversational tone takeda 99. David foster wallaces brilliant this is water commencement address is now a great short film. This is water by david foster wallace full transcript and. I am still opposed on principle to the idea of a commencement speech. So please feel free to add any in the coming days and well keep this post updated. Alexander sozhenitsyn, who now lives in cavendish, vermont, has twice been exiled by the soviet govern ment.
Student commencement speaker saint xavier university. Atul gawande, commencement speaker failure to rescue we had a patient at my hospital this winter whose story has stuck with me. Composing and delivering commencement addresses is thoroughly discussed in many excellent sources. A commencement speech is commonly given by notable figures in the society. One of the examples wallace uses in his speech is about two young fish who are swimming along and an older fish swimming by nods and says, morning, boys. We know that the commencement speech circuit is not over. He spoke about the importance of listening and the way a liberal arts education can make adulthood actually not seem terrible. Some thoughts, delivered on a significant occasion, about living a compassionate life is an essay by david foster wallace, first published in book form by little, brown and company in 2009.
Below is a summary of and commentary on david foster wallaces 1962 2008 famous commencement speech. Kenyon commencement address catawba catawba college. Ira glass commencement address 2012 goucher college. Graduation day is a matter of great pride for college students, an occasion that represents the culmination of their hard work.
C was eightyseven years old, a holocaust survivor from germany, and shed come to the emergency room because shed suddenly lost the vision in her left eye. The commencement is a ceremony in which degrees or diplomas are conferred upon graduating students. Jim carreys commencement speech at maharishi university of. In other words, if enough people show by the issues they raise and by the way theyre willing to vote that they want changes made, then change becomes possible.
May 20, 2014 anatomy of a great commencement speech. Ten suggestions for a successful commencement address. Npr ed the month of may brings flowers, mothers day and graduations. Some thoughts on the real world by one who glimpsed it and fled bill watterson kenyon college commencement may 20, 1990.
David foster wallaces 2005 commencement speech to the graduating class at kenyon college, is a timeless trove of wisdom right up there with hunter thompson on finding your purpose and living a meaningful life the speech was made into a thin book titled this is water. May 23, 2016 watch peter thiels 2016 hamilton college commencement address and read the transcript below or read a list of highlights from other 2016 commencement speeches thank you so much for the kind. The best commencement speeches, ever back to all speeches. You may not be able to alter reality, but you can alter your attitude towards it, and this, paradoxically, alters reality. Im going to get emotional, because when i tap into this, it. Commencement speeches have become outlets for sharing some of the most important life lessons ever. Peter thiel commencement speech, hamilton college, may 2016.
Student commencement speaker student speaker guidelines for may 2020 commencement. After listening to steve jobs stanford commencement speech, i was inspired to round up the best graduation speeches of all time, so all of you can enjoy the rich insights of the speakers. A transcript of the speech circulated around the internet as early as june. Kenyon college 191st commencement speech wynton marsalis.
We read more than 300 speeches and singled out the qualities that made them rise to the top. Under a microscope initial responses what the essay made us think target audience gave us perspective to be welladjusted wouldnt want to hear on graduation difficult to understand different type of commencement speech. Wallace discusses the real importance to having a degree that it is more than just a material payoff. This speech, written by david foster wallace, was delivered to the graduating class of 2005 at kenyon college. Introduction and commencement address virginia tech university kenneth r. Bestselling young adult author john green 00 addresses the 415 members of the class of 2016 at kenyon s 188th commencement ceremony. May 16, 2016 sheryl sandberg spoke publicly about her husbands death for the first time at the university of california at berkeley commencement ceremony on saturday, may 14, 2016. The text originates from a commencement speech given by wallace at kenyon college on may 21. The following is the prepared text of the address delivered on the occasion of kenyons 191st commencement. Feinberg administrator, gulf coast claims facility. Check out our handpicked selection of commencement addresses, going back to 1774.
Commencement speeches are one of the great collegiate traditions and the last lesson students get before entering the real world. Popular author and blogger john green was a commencement speaker this year at his alma mater, kenyon college. Saint xavier university invites students undergraduate and graduate to apply to be a commencement speaker. Sheryl sandberg commencement speech, university of california. The following is the full transcript of matt damons mit commencement speech, june 3 2016. May 28, 2015 the 146th annual meeting of the harvard alumni association at the 364th commencement of harvard university.
Npr ed what makes a good commencement address great. David foster wallace, this is water commencement speech at kenyon college 1. Transcription of the 2005 kenyon commencement address may. Rhetorical analysis of the 2005 kenyon commencement adress. The significant occasion in question was the 2005 commencement address at kenyon college, which you used to be able to watch on. The exhausted west was delivered in russian at this years harvard commencement. It is a distinguished honor for a student to be selected to present a commencement speech. David foster wallaces famous commencement speech almost. Founded in 1824 in gambier, ohio, kenyon college is a highly selective liberal arts college offering 1,600 students an academically challenging curriculum in a closeknit community.
I believe it is a doomed form, cloying and impossible. The following is a transcript of the address that bestselling author john green 00 h16 gave at the 188 th commencement ceremony may 21. In his commencement address, wynton marsalis reminded graduating seniors that your life is your art. I was going to give the entire commencement speech about. Denzel washington at dillard university, may 9, 2015. In his commencement speech to the kenyon college graduating class of 2005, david foster wallace asks the graduates to pay attention to the world around them. Its themes include solipsism, loneliness, monotony, education, and the importance of sympathy and conscious awareness. Transcription of the 2005 kenyon commencement address may 21.
Below are 10 important things we all need to take away from john greens commencement speech. It is a great pleasure to be here with you today and to deliver this years report of the president to the alumni. Kenyon s 191st commencement ceremony for the class of 2019 took place on saturday, may 18, on the lawn outside samuel mather hall. May 14, 2008 drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, steve jobs, chief executive officer and cofounder of apple computer and of pixar animation studios, urged graduates to pursue their. Matt damon mit commencement speech june 3 2016 matt damon actor all right.
Heres the text of a speech bill watterson gave at kenyon college, gambier ohio, to the 1990 graduating class. Transcription of the 2005 kenyon commencement address may 21, 2005 written and delivered by david foster wallace if anybody feels like perspiring cough, id advise you to go ahead, because im sure going to. David foster wallace, this is water commencement speech. Search over 350 speeches by name, school, date or theme and find out what they have in common with pop songs on our blog. Apr 30, 20 kenyon commencement speech david foster wallace brings a completely different approach to commencement speeches in his kenyon commencement speech. Transcription of the 2005 kenyon commencement address. Commencement speech final northern michigan university. In fact im gonna mumbles while pulling up his gown and taking out a handkerchief from his pocket.
David foster wallace wanted to know who had thought bringing him to kenyon college to deliver its commencement address was a good idea. Some thoughts, delivered on a significant occasion, about living a compassionate life. May 21, 2016 bestselling young adult author john green 00 addresses the 415 members of the class of 2016 at kenyons 188th commencement ceremony. Its a particular pleasure to welcome former governor deval patrick of the college class of 1978 and the harvard law school class of 1982. Look where i am, look what i get to do everywhere i go. My choosing to free people from concern got me from to top of the mountain. Nov 14, 2012 in david foster wallaces kenyon commencement speech he discusses the reality of life of a postgraduate after college. May 30, 2017 i agree to receive occasional updates and announcements about forbes products and services.
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