...At my graduation ceremony I received the Spanish award which many of you know, back in 1984, was the most prestigious award a graduate could receive. I know some of you are thinking, well, of course, he won the Spanish award, he’s obviously Mexican American. But I earned it. The other Spanish level 4 student and I shared that Spanish award with pride. Now I’m not saying the Spanish award catapulted me to moderate success in the entertainment business but I’ve done some research. Other people to win the Spanish award:
Tom Hanks
Mr. Richard Simmons
Penelope Cruz -- well, she won some type of award and she is Spanish.
...Today we are here for your commencement ceremony. We all know commencement is an ending and beginning. The ending of your time as a LaLumiere student. The beginning of the rest of your life...You are starting a new journey in your life. You can completely re-invent yourself in college or wherever you go. If you were shy, now you can be outgoing. I know when I got to college I had a new name and a British accent.If this speech has a message, it is this.Find your dream and follow it. Your dream. Not what society, social class or family expects of you. Your dream. And I’m talking to all of you. Well, not you. Or you. Well, half of you. Maybe a third.
There were 23 seniors the year I graduated. 19 guys and 4 girls. I’ll never forget my prom date, Mr. Ballewander. We all know he's is former star running back but that "Booms" knows how to dance.Debonair JimYes, Jim looked just this debonair when he attended high school. My class was filled with a motley mess of smart, driven students. I wasn’t at the top of my class of 23. But I was in the top 20, well top 23. If you held the list upside down I was at the top.
Honestly, I wasn’t the smartest of the class but I believe LaLumiere lit a fire of curiosity that I carry today.
Initially I was going to close my speech by bringing up my two comedy CDs which are available on my web site, w-w-w dot jimgaffigan dot com but I thought that’s tacky. Even if I just mentioned the web site jimgaffigan.com that would be tacky.I’d like to close this speech with a musical tribute to the graduates, but frankly, I don’t know how to sing.So I'll leave you with this familiar quote by a famous and well-respected person whose name I was too lazy to look up. The Quote is, "I know not what the future holds, but I know who holds the future."You hold your future and you control your dreams.
Thank you.
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