Speech by Principal Dr. Rafiee
Ladies and Gentlemen!
My dear students; Parents; Honorable colleagues, teachers and my wonderful staffs
Greetings and welcome to McCanny Secondary School graduation of the class 2018.
Congratulations! You made it!
Perhaps, it was hard for some of you
Perhaps, it appeared an impossible task for some others?
But you made the “mission impossible” a possible mission now.
So, congratulations again for your successful completion of the high school and receiving multiple offers from several Universities.
That was your goal number 1.
I hope you have made a wise decision for your future. Because, today is not the end of your story. It is not the end of your education, although you are graduating from high school.
Today, indeed, is the start of a new epoch in your life. By leaving high school and joining the university, soon, you will gain proper skills to join the workforce of the future society. Soon, you will become a productive member of our beautiful planet. You will create wealth, new devices (perhaps), new games and gadgets, etc. You will add value to the society.
When I was asked to make a speech for your graduation! I looked back in my own life and I saw:
Well, I have never attended any graduation ceremony. I found it very boring process. But now, I had to make one speech for you. So, I asked myself. What do you want to hear if you were among the students? So, I wrote that letter.
A letter to you and a letter for you. Or you might say, a letter to me when I was your age. A letter from a father to his children moving on to a new world. A letter from a teacher to his best students. A letter from heart to heart. A letter that I wanted to hear when I was graduating high school. Here is the letter!
In this letter, I want to give you some joy and some advice.
To my graduates!
I cannot be prouder than what you, all, have achieved.
You have been true to yourself and who you are and what you want to become. You have become a beautiful person both inside and out.
You may like and may try to slowdown the time passing, but the time will pass very fast and no one can stop it or slow it down. So catch up with the time and move forward. And here you are, in this moment of space and time in your life. Graduating from high school. This is not going to be a unique event in your life. You are going to repeat this kind of steps over and over in your life.
What’s unique in your life, is not the events, it is YOU.
So, always remember, to be yourself. Live your life to the full extent. It’s your life. so, Be unique and leave your signature in history.
Create art, music, building, devices, tools, games and gadgets etc. Do it all. But do it the way it represents you. do it the way, people see you in that art. Make “your mark on history” if you can. Let’s people remember you reading the story of your life in books and movies.
Be unique. Be yourself.
Never accept “No you can’t”, “No you can’t create”, “No you can’t invent this or that”.
Just try it.
If it is not against the laws of nature, then you should find a way to create it, to invent it. Don’t give up. Be polite, always. But never accept no.
You are not like anyone else, so don’t expect your life and its challenges, to be like others.
One challenge may look simple and easy to you, but it might be a huge struggle for others.
So, Be unique. Be yourself.
Never compare yourself with anyone. Because, to compare, you need to see something in its last stage, fully made. But you are in the making. what you make of yourself in future will be you. and it doesn’t stop until you decide to stop it.
There is no end to human success. You just need to plan it and work hard to make that plan a reality.
So, congratulations again.
I wish you all, a very successful life after high school. We are going to miss you all.
Dr. Alireza Rafiee