Dare To Be Great

by Iain Allan
(USA)

I have been asked to give one of the graduation speeches this year with a theme of Dare To Be Great.

I have gone for a formal opening, a quote I like to back up my speech, and I have expanded the theme to be about using the skills learned at school to propel you forward. Graduation speeches make me a bit nervous.


Principal Fellows, faculty members, Mrs Reina, fellow students and their families and friends.

First off let me say Congratulations Class of 2008.

We have been on a long journey full of hard times, self doubt, and some failures. At the same time there have been the most amazing times too.

Thanks to our teachers, mentors, family and friends for sticking with us through the highs and lows. I am truly grateful to my own family who have sacrificed many things to allow me to attend Monkton High. I can never forget what you have done.

So what exactly have we been through.

I think all of us have found the code to some subjects to be almost unbreakable.
I know the struggle I had with Physics till Mrs Hughes worked with me weekly to get through a kind of mental barrier to full understanding. It just seemed to click into place! Persistence and great mentoring are a very powerful combination!

Many of us found the workload hard to cope with. Yet looking back I find we just learned to increase our pace with better concentration and more focussed learning.

Each success seemed hard to gain, but tasted sweeter and they built momentum to propel us on to the next challenge.

If you told anyone going in to High School what they would go through they would not believe they could do it!
Yet they will do it. My advice would be to have faith in yourself and reach as high as you can because you can do anything!

So, perseverance, great teaching and mentoring, focus, breaking a problem down into manageable chunks and building success momentum have brought us all to this graduation day. Congratulations again.


What a great day graduation is. It is great to remember our exploits, achievements, the fun we had and the important people in our lives. I will miss many of you!!


Looking ahead there seems an insurmountable task in achieving our aims. College, careers, family, and financial matters will arise!

These awesome challenges may make you wish to reduce your goals in life. Playing it safe can seem a great idea.

I SAY NO!

Why would you not rise up and take charge of the future. You have a magic formula for achieving success in a positive way. You can take on anything and prove your worth.

I believe we are all here to do the best we can and give as much as we can to others.

If you dare to be great you can make the world a better place.

You can save lives

You can give people great jobs

You can enrich the artistic world

You can build great building and bridges

You can bring different groups together to solve their problems.



Let me give a quote:


Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.



By Marianne Williamson





I urge you to dare to be great. Set mighty goals and use your magic formula for success.


Good Luck!!