Sherri in MI Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 Our homeschool group is planning our first graduation ceremony this year. Do you have suggestions for graduation speakers? It is a multi-denominational Christian homeschool group. I'm thinking we would want a Christian speaker, but not one that represents a specific denomination. And one whose speech would target the students as their audience and be congratulatory, inspiring and movitating for them. There was also talk of having one of the studens speak as well but i am nervous about that. Just the selection process. The student would have to be chose by an impartial committee and that is very hard to find around these parts. Not just in my homeschool group, or homeschool community but in the broader community/tri county area. Everyone seems to know everyone else or be related to everyone else. People are connected that I never dreamed were connected and I've lived here seven years now. Many people here have married their high school sweetheart. Any pros and cons for having a student speaker as well and any suggestions for selecting one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 How many seniors are there -- could you let them all speak? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2att Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 I coordinate graduation for a group in my community. I like to a speaker who is a huge supporter of education and is comfortable with addressing a large group, in addition to being knowledgable of/sympathetic to homeschooling. I ask them to give an address to inspire the graduates which can be Christian in nature but should not be a sermon. I use connections that I have in the homeschool community to look for people with these qualifications. One year we had a homeschool dad who is a pastor of a local church give the address. Another year I heard one of the administrators of the local community college speak and he mentioned how his wife had homeschooled their son. So we asked him if he would be interested in speaking at our graduation. He turned out to be my favorite speaker so far. We have not had a graduate speak, but we have had a graduate sing the National Anthem to open the ceremony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherri in MI Posted November 27, 2013 Author Share Posted November 27, 2013 How many seniors are there -- could you let them all speak? I don't know yet how many there will be. I appreciate the suggestion. I hadn't thought of that. There is a different HS group that usually has the graduation in the area and last year they had 30. Which is one of the reasons the leaders in our HS group wanted to have our own graduation. I'm sure it won't be that large. We usually have anywhere from 5 to 10 seniors, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BakersDozen Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 We had two young people (20yo) who had been homeschooled as the speakers. They had a great message and a big impact on the graduates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherri in MI Posted November 28, 2013 Author Share Posted November 28, 2013 I coordinate graduation for a group in my community. I like to a speaker who is a huge supporter of education and is comfortable with addressing a large group, in addition to being knowledgable of/sympathetic to homeschooling. I ask them to give an address to inspire the graduates which can be Christian in nature but should not be a sermon. I use connections that I have in the homeschool community to look for people with these qualifications. One year we had a homeschool dad who is a pastor of a local church give the address. Another year I heard one of the administrators of the local community college speak and he mentioned how his wife had homeschooled their son. So we asked him if he would be interested in speaking at our graduation. He turned out to be my favorite speaker so far. We have not had a graduate speak, but we have had a graduate sing the National Anthem to open the ceremony. Are you willing to share with me your bulletin/program from some of the last few graduations? I would so love that, if you don't mind if we share some of the ideas. I'm on the content committee, which plans the ceremony. I'd like to have a few suggestions for speakers when we have our first meeting. I don't personally know anyone in our area that might be a good speaker and I'm not sure how to go about finding one. I don't have a lot of contacts and I don't want to step on toes by asking openly on FB or the group email list. You know, if someone suggests someone or volunteers themselves. Thank you for your suggestions. I was thinking of contacting some of the local colleges. I'm also worried my dh will expect us to ask him. Well, at least I am not in charge of the committee. It's possible the woman in charge already has someone in mind, but I want to be prepared with a few suggestions. I also used to schedule the speakers for my MOPS group years ago and just loved doing that. But that was a little different - I mostly asked women from our church - we had so many good teachers. Did you have any particular reason(s) for not having a graduate speak? I was kind of surprised when they suggested it, but I couldn't tell you why. I guess i was thinking it's not like a school where you have an obvious valedictorian. Even if all the parents give grades, everyone might have different standards, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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