Sample 8th Grade Graduation Speech

    Thank you to the teachers, staff, families, and friends that made middle school everything it is. Each one of you has made an impact on the graduates who sit here today. Today is the day that concludes our 3 years of hard work. It might seem like the end of a chapter, but there is still the rest of the book to go.

Let's flip back. We walked into 6th grade with our backpacks as heavy as bricks, loaded with pencils, wipes, markers, binders, and notebooks. We were fascinated by not walking in lines and all the freedom we had. I learned many valuable lessons in my 6th-grade social studies class such as, ‘don’t play animal sounds during Mr. Dixon's class’ and a lot more. 

Fast forward to March 5, 2020, at 5:32 PM. We got a call. A call that would eventually change my life and my peers' lives. “Hi _________ County schools, this is __________ speaking, all schools will temporarily be closed to deep clean our facilities due to the Coronavirus”. Call after call week after week, we kept getting the same call. 

Another fast forward to 7th grade, while most students went in-person, I stayed online with a couple of other students. What school meant to many of the in-person 7th graders was a whole different definition to the online kids. We really just watched some videos, took notes, then answered questions. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t hard. It was boring. Some days you’d finish your work at 10 pm and other days you’d finish your work at 10 am. It was not an enjoyable experience. 

7th grade made me grateful for the normal ‘______ ______Middle School’ I used to go to. At the school I once dreaded going to every morning, I started missing it. I learned that you should never take things for granted. 

Fast forward to 8th grade. By the way, I promise you this is my last fast forward. Anyway, entering 8th grade felt like a new school once again. I was so used to staring at people reading off scripts that I could rewind and pause, that this normal school was harder. You had to pay attention at the moment. I struggled for the first few weeks, but I started to get a hang of it. Hours of studying, going to soccer on time, and playing my Xbox, all at once was a challenge, but I overcame it. So did everyone else that is here today, with their own problems. You can overcome anything. Thank you ____ _____once again.