commencement speech
{{Short description|Speech given to graduating students}}
{{Globalize|date=April 2024|Reason=Is this term used elsewhere than in the US?}}
File:Biden giving a commencement speech.jpg delivering a commencement speech to the graduating class of 2015 at Yale University]]
Image:UNHGrad.jpg commencement in 2007, at which George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton spoke|226x226px]]
In the United States, a commencement speech or commencement address is a speech given to graduating students, generally at a university, although the term is also used for secondary education institutions and in similar institutions around the world.
The commencement is a ceremony in which degrees or diplomas are conferred upon graduating students. A commencement speech is typically given by a notable figure in the community or a graduating student. The person giving such a speech is known as a commencement speaker. Very commonly, colleges or universities will invite politicians, important citizens, or other noted speakers to come and address the graduating class.
A student speaker may deliver remarks either in lieu or in conjunction with a notable outside figure. Student commencement speakers are often valedictorians or may otherwise be elected by their peers to represent the student body.
Despite meaning "beginning", commencement may be mistaken to mean "ending" due to its association with the end of one's studies. Its usage originated with students finishing their studies and being awarded a degree, thus commencing as bachelors or masters in a subject and enjoying new privileges within academia.{{Cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/commencement|title=commencement (n.)|last=Online etymology dictionary|access-date=2020-01-26}}
Notable commencement speeches
- Winston Churchill at Harrow School in 1941{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1898670,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090520164648/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1898670,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 20, 2009 |title=Top 10 Commencement Speeches |magazine=Time magazine |access-date=April 9, 2013}}{{cite web |url=https://www.cnbc.com/id/37134742/page/7 |title=The 10 Best Graduation Speeches of All Time: Winston Churchill, Former UK PM |date=13 May 2010 |publisher=CNBC |access-date=April 9, 2013}}
- George C. Marshall at Harvard University in 1947: the Marshall Plan{{Cite book |title=The Cold War: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |isbn=9780199272808 |editor-last=Hanhimäki |editor-first=Jussi M. |pages=122 |editor-last2=Westad |editor-first2=Odd Arne}}
- John F. Kennedy's American University speech in 1963
- Richard Feynman at the California Institute of Technology in 1974: "Cargo cult science"{{cite web |url=http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.pdf |title=Cargo Cult Science|author-link=Richard Feynman|last=Feynman|first= Richard P.|website= California Institute of Technology |date= June 1974 |access-date= 2015-10-25}}
- Joseph Brodsky at the University of Michigan in 1988: "Speech at the Stadium"{{cite web |url=http://brodskiy.su/proza/rech-na-stadione/?lang=en |title=Speech at the Stadium |author-link=Joseph Brodsky|last=Brodsky|first= Joseph}}
- Steve Jobs at Stanford University in 2005{{Cite news|url=https://news.stanford.edu/2005/06/12/youve-got-find-love-jobs-says |title="You've Got to Find What you Love", Jobs Says|date=2005-06-12|work=Stanford News|access-date=2022-07-11|language=en}}
- David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College in 2005: "This Is Water"{{Cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/david-foster-wallace-this-is-water_us_573e1182e4b0aee7b8e962d0 |title=David Foster Wallace's Famous Commencement Speech Almost Didn't Happen|last=Levine|first=Sam|date=2016-05-20|work=Huffington Post|access-date=2017-11-05|language=en}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.humanity.org/voices/commencements/ The art of the commencement speech, an archive]
- [http://www.rightattitudes.com/2010/05/04/three-great-commencement-speeches/ Excerpts from commencement speeches] by Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and J.K. Rowling
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