High school graduation is a milestone occasion for each and every member of a senior class. After 13 years (counting kindergarten) of attending classes nearly every day, turning in hundreds, if not thousands, of homework assignments, studying for tests and quizzes, and dealing with the day-to-day drama that comes with school,  the time has come for them to venture out on their own and join "the real world," for lack of a better term. But first, their accomplishment needs to be celebrated with a graduation ceremony, which if you've ever sat through one you know can be long, boring, and a little on the pretentious side. One Boonville, Indiana senior decided to lighten the mood during his graduation ceremony by poking a little light-hearted fun at the whole concept during his valedictorian speech.

Boonville High School Senior Lightens the Mood with Graduation Speech

Full disclosure, that now former Boonville High School senior is my son. He was one of 18 valedictorians who gave speeches during the graduation ceremony Saturday morning, and while the majority of his fellow valedictorians chose to stick with more traditional speeches discussing the high school journey and looking forward to all the exciting possibilities ahead of them life has to offer, my son took a slightly different approach.

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Instead of reflecting on the past and looking at what the future may hold for him and his classmates, he chose to point out that while the accomplishment of graduating high school is a notable milestone, it's not a unique one and that statistically speaking, everyone's paths may not play out the way they hope.

The speech had to be pre-approved by the principal and he did read the speech to me and my wife a couple of weeks ago to get our thoughts. I'll admit, I thought it was funny, well-written, and definitely a non-traditional approach, but I thought there was no way his principal was going to be okay with it. I was also a little concerned he might not get the reaction from the crowd he was hoping for because he was essentially making fun of the whole process and I was afraid there would be people upset with him because he wasn't taking it seriously enough in their opinion.

But those concerns ended up being unfounded. Not only did his principal approve it (with a few minor changes to some of the wording), but the crowd ate it up. They laughed throughout the entire thing and gave him a big round of applause when it was finished. We also had several people come up to us after the ceremony to tell us how much they enjoyed it. It was definitely a proud parent moment.

He'll be attending Western Kentucky University in the fall where he plans to study film production, and I'm excited to see what his mind creates. If this speech is any indication, it will be entertaining.

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