Voices of Wisdom from Students and Superintendents

Graduation Speeches 2025

During graduation season, some of my colleagues at AASA, the School Superintendents Organization, have been sharing quotes from student commencement speeches in their districts—raving about their wisdom.

As a long-time proponent of youth voice, I wondered what I might discover if I searched for student commencement speeches online. I found friends proudly posting excerpts of their own kids on social media, but little else. The few talks that seem to have had more public traction are what you would expect: teenagers being a bit smart-alecky.

What IS to be found online? I’m sure you know the answer—celebrity commencement speeches! I listened and watched quite a few and some were amazing, but I think it’s also time to share voices of wisdom from on-the-ground people during graduation season.

So, I reached back to my AASA colleagues, asking them to send some of their favorites. The three excerpts I share—from two graduating seniors and one from a superintendent—all focus on people from the past, people from the high school years, and on the people they’re becoming and the skills they need to do so.

I hope you will post your favorite on-the-ground quotes in the chat too!

People from the Past

Superintendent Matthew Montgomery from Lake Forest (Illinois) Districts 67 and 115 asks graduating seniors to think back three centuries ago:

Somewhere around the year 1725—300 years ago—someone with my last name, or maybe someone with yours, was waking up to tend a small plot of land. Or boarding a ship. Or starting a family. Their life might not have appeared in any history book. They may have been a lord or a lady, but more likely they were… A farmer. A miller. A weaver. A blacksmith. Or a soldier. Likely they never traveled more than 30 miles from where they were born. Likely they couldn’t read or write.

And yet… they made a choice. To survive. To stay. To move. To love. To hope. And in doing so, they placed one brick in a foundation that would eventually become you.

Now multiply that story—not by one or ten—but by 4,094.

That’s how many direct ancestors each of you had just 12 generations ago.

4,094 individual lives—each with dreams, struggles, and sacrifices—converging into this singular moment: your high school graduation.

Some of those ancestors probably dreamed of a better life for their children. Some just dreamed of making it through the day.

But they all made it possible for you to be here.

Student Body President of Lake Forest High School (LFHS), Kat Yakes asks students to think back 70 years to people like them:

This past month our class of 2025 received a letter from [a graduate of the] LFHS class of 1955 wishing us well on our future. For those of you who did not have the opportunity to read this letter, it was titled “Here’s To You.” At the top [was] a grainy black and white photo of a group of boys huddled together around a table. These young men with their short haircuts and tight bow ties look no different than those sitting in front of me today.

The letter shared that some became doctors, teachers, priests, business owners, pilots, and so much more. Though these former Scouts [the name for their school community] graduated 70 years ago, I realized that they walked the same hallways as us, avoided the same senior star, walked through the same front door, played on the same front lawn, and even sang the same fight song. Everything that they had done, we have done for the past four years.

Most likely they had similar dreams and fears for their future as we do now. At the time that old grainy photo was taken their stories weren’t written, and ours are just beginning.

Natasha Kalombo, speaker from West Valley High School in Yakima Washington talks about her own past, listening to the Dr. Seuss children’s book, “Oh the Places You’ll Go” as a child and at the end of every year in high school.

In preparation of this speech, I began reminiscing on some of the littler things from high school that are ingrained in my memory.

One, without a doubt, is how for the past four years, at end of every school year, Ms. Larsen read “Oh the Places You’ll Go” by Dr. Suess to our Ram Strong class [the name for their school community].

My history with the book begins before I could even talk. I remember it being read to me as a small child and while I didn’t quite understand the full meaning, I got the gist: the world is big.

Fast forward to the last day of my freshman year, antsy with anticipation for the end of the day, Ms. Larsen sat our class down and pulled out “Oh the Places You’ll Go.”

She read and I listened as she approached the end of the book:

“On and on you will hike,
And I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are…..”

I left school that day honestly not thinking much about the book’s deeper meaning, but now, four years later, I realize how so profoundly relevant it is. It’s not just that the world is “big”—it’s that the world is big, so we need to learn from it.

People in High School

Natasha Kalombo continues with the lessons from and about the people in high school

We’re now at a point where learning isn’t simply done in a classroom anymore. From now on, our "classroom" becomes the world. Nature, cities, politics, friendships, careers—all of it is part of our education now. That doesn’t have to be a scary thing, though, because we’ve already had some experience with this.

In Mr. Burn’s class, on the first day when he made us stand on top of our desks and sing at the top of our lungs, we learned how to get out of our comfort zone and not take things so seriously.

When sub-par music was played at school dances, we learned that it wasn’t the food, decorations, or dancing that made our school events fun; it was each other.

When Elijah decided to buzz and bleach his hair right before graduation, we saw the importance of thinking before we make a decision.

When Bryce broke his collarbone diving for a handoff in the 4x100 race, and still won, we learned the power of perseverance and being dedicated to a team.

People They’re Becoming

Superintendent Matthew Montgomery asks the seniors at Lake Forest High School what they’ll do to build upon the legacy their ancestors left them because, as he puts it, these graduates are stepping into a world that their forebearers—and even adults today—can only barely imagine:

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping everything: how we work, how we learn, how we communicate, even how we make decisions. It’s breathtaking—and yes, a little overwhelming and possibly scary.

So, it’s fair to ask:

What role do I play in a world that moves this fast?

And here’s the answer:
You don’t have to outpace it.
You have to out-human it.

Technology can generate answers—but it cannot generate purpose.
It can imitate conversation—but it cannot create empathy.
It can provide information—but it cannot offer wisdom.

That’s your job.

Because the world doesn’t just need smart people—it needs grounded people. Brave people. People of character….

Behind me at Lake Forest Community High School, 90 years ago, carved in stone, is a Latin phrase that often gets overlooked:

Ambuent Studia in Mores: “They leave, striving after morality.”

It’s not a slogan. It’s a challenge.

It means we don’t just want you to leave with knowledge.
We want you to leave with purpose.
With the courage to do what’s right, especially when it’s hard.

With the empathy to include others in your journey for the good of the future.

With the wisdom to ask not just Can I do this?—But should I?

Because no matter how advanced technology becomes, the world will still be shaped by the quality of its people.

Your choices—how you treat others, how you lead, how you respond to challenge—those are the real legacies you’ll leave.

West Valley High School’s Natasha Kalombo also says that success in the future depends on the people they’re becoming and the skills they’re learning to help them succeed.

These little tidbits of learning throughout our high school years were just as valuable, if not more, than the actual educational content we were taught. They molded us to become better friends, teammates, classmates, and people, and that will always be more valuable than a diploma.

So, as you leave here today, remember that real learning doesn’t end when you walk across the stage— it's in mistakes, relationships, new jobs, traveling, taking risks. So, stay curious. Ask hard questions. Don’t be afraid to fail. And then fail again. Choose to be a lifelong learner and a student of life, not just today—but every day.

I join in congratulating the Class of 2025. It’s been people who’ve helped shape you. The world of the future will be shaped by the people you become. You give us hope in an unknowable future!¹

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I'm so grateful you're reading Research to Thrive By on Substack! My book, The Breakthrough Years is available for purchase here.

1. Thanks to West Valley School District #208, Yakima, Washington for the commencement photographs.