Commencement speech

In Michelle Obama’s Bowie State University Commencement Speech, she talks about the school itself and how it came to be the amazing university it is today, also how hard it was for African Americans to receive an education. Before the Emancipation Proclamation it was illegal for African Americans to receive an education. It was extremely rare for a slave to know how to read and write and if they ever were caught, they would have been thrown in jail or beaten senseless. A few years after the…

Throughout reading “Commencement Speech, Kenyon College”, I found this short story very inspiring to read as I found myself doing more research on this essay because I was so interested in it. Reading this once through I got the feeling of more of a pessimistic and lower toned feeling sine suicide is mentioned and reading the bio notes of David Foster Wallace and how he suffered with depression and committing suicide I realized this was more of a final speech of what he wished he could have…

Continuing this custom, writer David Foster Wallace delivered his compelling commencement speech aptly titled, “Commencement Speech,” to an audience of students at Kenyon College in 2005. His purpose is to make the audience aware of our ‘default-setting’ of thinking. His ability to connect with his audience via word choice and the examples of everyday life he provides, proves his speech to be effective. Within his speech, Wallace uses a tone that is both casual and yet forewarning of the…

U.S Senator Cory Booker, in his commencement speech at UPenn, describes his own courageous experiences after graduating from college. Meanwhile, David Wallace, in his “This is Water” speech, talks about the harsh reality and his repetitive life conflicts he went through after graduating college. Cory Booker’s purpose was to convey the idea that after you graduate college and start living on your own, you start to realize how hard it is to survive for those who do not have homes and are forced to…

Steve Jobs’ Commencement Speech at Stanford University in 2005 is considered an extremely effective speech because of his use of rhetorical devices. Steve Jobs uses his background and upbringing to play upon his rhetorical approach. During his speech to the new graduates, he tells several life stories of love, loss, discovery, death, and adversity to encourage them as they continue on in their lives. He encourages them to pursue their dreams, and do what makes them happy, even if what makes you…

“Liking is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts.” is a commencement speech given by Jonathan Franzen. This intriguing title pulls the reader in right from the beginning, and the message is just as interesting as the title. The context is essential to realize why he chose to write about the future and the world of liking versus loving. There is a set context that Franzen has in mind when writing this as part of the commencement speech genre, he creates a certain structure, and uses different rhetorical…

and will to do so. Streep explains in her 2010 Barnard Commencement Speech that for hundreds of years men have been ranked superior to women, but things are changing now and in this generation man are adapting. Streep begins buliding her credibillity with personal stories and strong sources, citing convincing facts and ultimately successfully showcasing her incentive for young girls to continue to break from sexist tradition. In her speech, Streep got underway by first stating,…

On May 21, 2005, David Foster Wallace held a commencement speech for students and their parents at a private liberal arts school in Gambier, Ohio at Kenyon College. This speech has been titled This is Water, and in this speech Wallace's main proposal to this audience was that the purpose of them getting a higher education is to teach them how to perceive others, and also the world around them, and to learn how to live a compassionate life. This speech was first published in book form by Little,…

amount of knowledge on the topic of Public Speaking. From speech one to speech speech four I have improved in language/style, organization/structure, supporting my ideas, vocal delivery, and physical delivery. Words are anything but powerless language helps the audience to understand and create meaning. Language can bring people together for a common cause, and language can persuade the audience to act a certain way. In my first speech I thought I did a decent job of using language and…

small or bigger group of people whether we like it or not. Public speaking cannot be eliminated, we do it often even without realizing it, and sadly for those people who doesn’t like doing it including myself ended up not not being able to deliver the speech very well. But, what is there to be afraid of public speaking? I was born and raise in the Philippines until 2008 of December when my family and I migrated in the United States of America. Although many foreign people think that we use…