Comments on: 7 Memorable Commencement Addresses

By: anna

anna — Sun, 22 May 2011 18:44:34 +0000

@Ellie – I remembered that too!

By: Tahoe Mom

Tahoe Mom — Sun, 22 May 2011 16:14:14 +0000

When I graduated with my Masters from TCU, we had a new chancellor and he was asked to speak. He leaned over the lectern and said, very confidentially, “You are Not the center of the universe.” It’s the only thing I remember from either of my graduation speeches.

By: Jill

Jill — Sun, 22 May 2011 05:26:50 +0000

The Evergreen State College, 2001: Ken Kesey was the speaker. He read part of a short story he was working on, then turned around to the Regents on the dais and asked them if they had seen the “rest of” his speech. They hadn’t, so he said something along the lines of, “Oh well,” and walked off stage.

By: Thirsty

Thirsty — Fri, 20 May 2011 21:18:03 +0000

I agree with Adeline. David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech was brilliant. It’s actually been published into a short book dubbed, “This is Water”. I highly suggest reading it.

By: JEMRICHA

JEMRICHA — Fri, 20 May 2011 19:20:27 +0000

What about Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel) and “The Art of Eating Popovers…” the best ever

By: Darbi

Darbi — Fri, 20 May 2011 15:41:43 +0000

Hey! Michael Bloomberg spoke at The George Washington University’s graduation this year too!

By: Heather

Heather — Fri, 20 May 2011 13:10:30 +0000

Our graduation speaker was called in at the last moment, after our scheduled speaker was forced to cancel due to a family emergency (or something like that). She did her best (I think), but she was nervous and woefully unprepared… a few of her remarks came out vaguely sexual, and that was all it took to make the less mature in the audience start laughing… she lost us after that.

I was embarrassed for her, but not so embarrassed that I didn’t laugh about her speech afterward (NOT during the ceremony, thank you).

By: Ellie

Ellie — Fri, 20 May 2011 11:44:18 +0000

Seriously, I can’t be the only one who remembers Everybody is Free to Wear Sunscreen? Can I? That fake Kurt Konnegut speech isn’t just from some random article, it was put to music and they played it non stop on the radio in the late 90′s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI

By: Lee

Lee — Fri, 29 May 2009 22:03:00 +0000

When I graduated with my M.S. from Colorado State in 1997, our university president wanted to have an all-university graduation in the football stadium, the only venue in town big enough to hold all the graduates and family & friends. Columnist Ellen Goodman was paid a fee to speak. Most of the graduates had no idea who she was, because they didn’t read newspapers except for the campus “rag”. She gave a good speech, but only about a third of the graduates came, so the football stadium was way too big. We were all baking in our black robes in the beating sun, and all we wanted was to get out of there.

The next year the president bowed to the storm of criticism he had received, and we went back to having several graduations, by college, indoors at whatever university ballroom, gym, or arena can hold the crowd. Each college now has to find its own speaker. Most are recruited by a harried professor on that college’s graduation committee, who has neither time nor resources to poll the students re whom they’d like.

By: Bri

Bri — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:11:00 +0000

I don’t think my class (Wheaton College 2008 – the original one in MA, not the religious one in IL) even considered a commencement speaker. One of the recipients of an honorary degree, who happened to be an alum, spoke and I honestly didn’t realize that is who our big COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER was until the ceremony ended and no one else (except the President – who spent the entire time talking about himself) spoke. What a disappointment (in both of them). I didn’t get anything out of her speech. I *think* she spoke on her own pursuits in life but I can’t be sure.

I wish they had at least considered asking the student body for suggestions on a speaker. My class leaders were inept and apparently only capable of harassing the student body for annual fund donations (literally tracking you down on campus and knocking on your door to ask why you had not donated yet).