Toastmasters International -Life Lesson Plans

I started brainstorming ideas for a column on graduation speeches when I remembered that, once, many years ago, I had given one myself.

It was not a college graduation speech. Not a high school one either. Younger. My junior high school is where I shared my distinguished remarks, as a graduation speaker at C. E. Utt Middle School in Tustin, California. As one of two student body presidents that school year, I was called on to dispense words of wisdom to the matriculating class of eighth-graders.

What hard-earned insights could I have offered my fellow 13-year-olds? The only struggle I had known up to then was sharing a bathroom with two younger sisters.

I have no recollection of what I spoke about that day, and the speech is nowhere to be found. Likely, I said something about the adventures, opportunities, and challenges awaiting us in the next path of life, the brave new world we were entering: high school.

Author Richard Russo urged students at Colby College, in Maine, to be bold and true and kind. Also: to “rotate your tires.”

In the coming months, May and June primarily, an assortment of speakers around the world will offer words of advice, hope, and inspiration to 2025’s graduating students. It’s a high-profile gig: Colleges recruit heavyweight figures from the fields of politics, entertainment, sports, and media. Even Oprah has been an orator for this annual rite of passage.

Sitting in their graduation gowns, eager to toss their mortarboards into the air, what does the restless group of youth want most from these prestigious speakers? Time-honored pearls of wisdom? Advice on navigating life’s twists and turns? My bet is something more concrete—like a job offer.

Film director Steven Spielberg had fun with his 2016 graduation speech at Harvard University. Recalling how he dropped out of college but then re-enrolled when he was in his 50s, he noted that the school graciously gave him course credit in paleontology—“for the work I did on Jurassic Park.”

Other speakers mix the profound with the practical. Author Richard Russo urged students at Colby College, in Maine, to be bold and true and kind. Also: to “rotate your tires.” Mary Schmich used her Chicago Tribune newspaper column to write a hypothetical commencement speech to the class of 1997. At the top of her list of life lessons: “Wear sunscreen.”

If I could go back and address my fellow eighth-graders again, I would advise them to take more risks, to listen more, and to find a fulfilling career—and a good razor. That close, comfortable shave really is a difference maker.

A number of Toastmasters have been commencement speakers over the years. When Michael Notaro, DTM, was tapped to deliver a graduation speech as a senior at the University of California, Berkeley, he joined a local Toastmasters club to help him prepare. Good decision—in 2011, he became the International President of Toastmasters.

Oceanside, California, resident Erica Alfaro is the daughter of Mexican immigrants who never received an education. As a senior in college, she auditioned and was selected to give the graduation speech at California State University, San Marcos. Alfaro had joined Carlsbad-Oceanside Toastmasters, and the club helped lift her skills and her confidence.

Though she was nervous beyond belief, she said that delivering that graduation speech was a turning point in her life. Alfaro was subsequently asked to speak at other events, where she shared her motivational story of pushing past obstacles. (She had dropped out of high school at 15, became pregnant, and endured domestic abuse, before deciding to attend college.)

Alfaro now works full time as a professional speaker. She typically gives more than 50 keynotes a year, and has spoken at a number of California high schools and colleges, often at commencement events for Latino students.

“It’s hard to describe, but I feel like I’m happy that I went through a lot of adversities, because that gave me a purpose, and finding Toastmasters gave me that voice,” she told me.

“And that combination is what has allowed me to be a keynote speaker and go and speak to students … and show them that they can succeed despite adversity. That’s my life purpose.”

Adds Alfaro: “It feels beautiful when you’re following your purpose.”

Perfect words for a graduation speech.