Ellen DeGeneres and Bo Jackson Commencement Speeches In the commencement speeches before the Classes of 2009 at Tulane and Auburn University, well known TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and former baseball and football player, Bo Jackson, deliver two compelling speeches inspiring their audiences to go into the real world and be the best person they can be. Bo Jackson and Ellen DeGeneres both successfully utilize their own techniques in order to get their message across. DeGeneres has a lighter approach often making jokes but delivers her message of being true to yourself and finding who you are. Jackson’s address is more serious tone yet still inspires the audiences to get out of their comfort zone and make your parents proud. After high school, DeGeneres did not know what she wanted to do with her life. At the age of 19, one of DeGeneres’ friends was killed in a car accident and DeGeneres was living in an apartment basement with no money. She suddenly had a calling from God and realized she wanted to be the first woman on the Tonight Show and take the path of stand-up. However, this was a challenge for her to constantly hide her secret of her being gay. She was worried people wouldn’t listen to her and was living with shame and fear. Eventually, DeGeneres came to realization that she wanted to be honest with herself and she told everyone who she really was. Even though she did not receive any job offers for three years she knew she was doing the right thing due to the
President Barack Obama spoke his remarks at Howard University commencement ceremony for the class of 2016. This special moment in the speech is honoring people of color, especially African Americans and made history at this University, having the president to present his speech (Donnella). Obama explained how America was different when he graduated college and society is now accepting new cultures and backgrounds within today’s workforce and education. Obama wants the audience to take opportunities and learning new skills to expand their education.
In May of 1990, Barbara Bush gave a speech that made waves throughout the United States. The First Lady was asked to give a commencement address to the graduating class of Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Her audience was filled with soon to be graduates and their families. As a public figure, her speech was also reproduced to be read and listened to by thousands of people. Being a commencement address, the speech was about life, the future, and the graduates’ time at Wellesley. She explicitly stated, “Today you meet on Severance Green to say goodbye to all of that, to begin a new and a very personal journey, to search for your own true colors.” Her purpose was to impart wisdom onto her audience. Barbara Bush’s speech was an
Lauren Stickler is escorted by her mother, Ann Stickler, father, Tom Stickler, and sister, Meredith Stickler. Lauren will be attending the University of Texas at Austin to study Mechanical Engineering this fall. Lauren is a three year letterman and will be graduating as Ridge Point’s class of 2017 Salutatorian.
Ellen DeGeneres once said that “Life is like one big Mardi Gras. But instead of showing your boobs, show people your brain, and if they like what they see, you’ll have more beads than you know what to do with and you’ll be drunk, most of the time” (DeGeneres). In the 2009 commencement speech to University of Tulane’s “Katrina Class”, she utilizes devices such as hyperbole, allusions, and rhetorical questions to make the speech effective in achieving her purpose of inspiring her audience of graduating students to be true to themselves by following their own path and passions and to realize that one will have to overcome hurdles to reach one’s idea of success. Even though DeGeneres uses a variety of rhetorical devices, her speech mainly appeals to emotions through comedic anecdotes and witty lines infused throughout the speech.
Famed American author David Foster Wallace gave a commencement speech to Kenyon College’s graduating class of 2005. Most commencement speeches focus on graduates’ accomplishments as well as give general life advice. Wallace’s presentation follows this pattern at first, congratulating the students on getting their diplomas. However, most of his speech is dedicated to the idea of thinking beyond ourselves. Throughout the speech, Wallace argues we should live with empathy through his use of humor and appeals to the audience’s empathy.
“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” Lucille Ball. Lucille Ball was a famous actress on the CBS network, starring in the nations most beloved show ever, “I Love Lucy” and continued to be on countless television show and movies, such as “The Lucy show”, “The Lucy Desi comedy hour” and many many more. She is funny, inspiring, a hard worker, interesting, pioneer.
Amy Poehler gave the 2011 Harvard Commencement address to graduating seniors, their families, and their guests on May 25, 2011. Poehler combined her classic comedic humor with a serious underlying message to create an engaging speech. Poehler began the speech with humor and explained her prior knowledge about Harvard. She went on to discuss her own college experience, her career, and some of the best advice she learned throughout her life. Her main message of the speech was that “no one can do it alone.” She explained that no
In her commencement speech to the graduating class of the of the University of Virginia, Rita Dove, a professor and acclaimed writer, delivers an unexpected outcome of what a commencement speech usually is, offering wishes to them in terms of independence and resilience, which are heavily amplified by personal accounts and stories from other successful people, ultimately inspiring her young audience to act in a relentless way that leads them to be successful and daring in their own right. Dove’s main goal with having to give a commencement speech is not to give “life advice”, but to give wishes that resonate with her audience’s sense of independence. By arguing the traditional role of a commencement speaker, Dove emphasizes the personal level
Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. came to Montevallo High School auditorium on March 3 2017 to talk to the student of Montevallo High School about being together. At the beginning of his speech, he told everyone about his life. Then , he read the , “ I Am Somebody” poem by Rev. William Borders, Sr. At the end of his speech, he called all the 18 year olds to come up to register to vote.
Most graduates have a lot of stress and worry about their futures, the uncertainty of where they are going or what they will become. Ellen is relatable when she tells the graduates how she didn’t know who shes was, considering that, she was still dating men. Another use of a rhetorical question “But why am I here today?” to introduce an anecdote about her growing up in New Orleans. This question takes the audience’s attention back to her, because, consequently, they know that Ellen will explain why she is there; giving them a reason to listen to her words. Once again, Ellen asks “What else can happen to you?” in order to commend the graduates of having success after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. She uses the hyperbole and rhetorical question, “So what I’m saying is, when you’re older, a lot of you will be gay. Anyone writing this stuff down? Parents?” this keeps everybody’s attention and loops the parents into relating the commencement speech to them as well. Rhetorical questions help Ellen by giving the crowd small moments to reflect and invites them into her speech, connecting to them and allowing them to smile during serious content.
In the 2005 commencement address at Kenyon College, David Foster Wallace delivered an unusual message to the graduates. He uses a unique approach to the typical conventions of a commencement speech in order to catch the attention of the graduates and to reinforce the honesty of his message. By defying their expectations, he urges them to consider their own obliviousness and to look past their own natural biases in order to see what’s truly right in front of them.
Famous actors, musicians, politicians, artists and authors are often called upon to deliver commencement addresses at prestigious places of higher learning. It doesn't take Nobel-Prize-winning social scientists or psychologists, or speech professors to predict what these elite guest speakers will say on such occasions such as these. The speaker will tell the graduating class to aim high, never give up, make the most of opportunities, and do as our forbearers did: pull yourselves up by the bootstraps. But when Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks showed up at Vassar College to present the commencement address, his presentation avoided those clichés and platitudes. Hanks was refreshing original and yet remarkably pragmatic. This paper critiques Hanks' themes, examines his rhetorical techniques, and editorially analyzes his purpose.
As Denzel Washington stood before the graduates of Dillard University at their commencement ceremony, he sees an opportunity to encourage them of future success through his “Make a Difference” speech. Having been a student himself, he speaks to them of possible failures and greater prosperities. The speaker wants to be a relatable example, as well as a guide for all the graduates that he is standing before. Throughout this speech, Washington efficiently utilizes diction, tone, and repetition to appeal to the graduates and encourage them to dream.
on April 27, 1997 Ellen Degeneres came out on her television show to everyone. Now 20 plus years later she is still using her tv show to change the world on joke at a time. She has won multiple awards and has starred in two blockbuster animated films and has been hosting her award winning television show for 15 years now. Ellen has become a major advocate for lgbt rights and women's right. Ellen is an influential advocate of lgbt rights through her actions of risking her career to come out on her show, speaking out on her show for what’s right, and donating to multiple charities.
"The Ellen DeGeneres Show" almost didn't make it to the air. A decade ago, Warner Bros. struggled to license the show to TV station groups around the country. Station chiefs worried that DeGeneres' humor would be "too dirty" for the middle-aged homemakers who watch daytime TV, Warner executives recalled. Producers sent DeGeneres to do her stand-up routine for station executives to demonstrate that her comedy was tame. (James,