Essay on "Graduation Speech"

Quoted Instructions for "Graduation Speech" Assignment:

Hello I*****'m Precious:)

Thanks so much for this

What I need a great speech that will attack the judges

something that will sell I GUESS I WILL SAY:)!

My topic is the importance of education for african american females

I made a web page that consist of my topic for community outreach

on my web page i have

interviews

* i interviewed three middle school african american girls

* 1 in 6th , 7th and 8th grade

* I ask them how they felt about school

* then i talked to them about their ancestors and how hard they worked for their education

* then i got them to write about their view on school then

* I felt as if i made an impact on their lives

my life story:

* my struggle in school

* I have to work harder than others

* sometimes I struggle reading

*My dreams and the only way i can get there is through education

talk show

*I interviewed power full american american women in the community and i had them talk about how their education help them get to where they are today

* My autobiography

Precious Jean Neely

If parents name a child *****Jill***** or *****Sue,***** well, that is only a name; the child has a lifetime to figure out who she is without worrying about the weight of expectations that come with the name. My parents did not name me *****Jill***** or *****Sue,***** instead; they named me *****Precious.***** There is nothing quite like being labeled as valuable to put pressure on a child. However, I realized early on that I had a choice; I could live up to the challenge of the name that they gave me and strive everyday to make every person with whom I interact better for having known me, or I could make a mockery of my name, so that it was uttered in derision and disbelief by people having to encounter me. I have chosen the first path, and, rather than resent my parents for the burden they gave me when they named me, I celebrate them for the challenge they gave me. Precious? I hope to ensure that every person I meet cannot help but answer that question with a *****yes.*****

One of the ways that I strive to bring joy to others is that I smile almost all of the time. It can be very easy to allow negativity and stress to impact one*****s outlook. I refuse to allow external events that are outside of my control dictate how I should react, or, even more critically, how I should feel about things. Therefore, when something bad happens, I acknowledge it, I accept it, and I look for how I can change it, or at least mitigate its impact in my life. Having done those things, I emerge with a smile, because any challenge that can be understood can be conquered. Moreover, I hope that my smile can help inspire people to remember that they all have the choice to view the bumps in life as roadblocks or simply as detours.

One of the ways I hope to bring joy into people*****s lives is through dance. I have been dancing for 15 years. I focus on jazz dancing because I find it the most expressive for my personality. I moved to Charlotte with my father two years ago in order to attend an art school where I could further my art. I have been fortunate enough to dance with the NFL Panther Top Cats on several occasions, and hope to have that opportunity again in the future.

While I know how important the arts are, I realize that art alone is not enough to change the world. Art supplies the vision, and the vision is important, but people must be willing to bring that vision to life. Furthermore, people need to realize that they can bring about monumental change. To remind myself of that, I look to my own ancestors. I am African American, and my ancestors were able to accomplish so much despite the overwhelming odds against them. If they could surmount the overwhelming odds against them, I feel it would be dishonorable for me to refuse to meet the challenges in my own life. That is why I have engaged in a series of projects that aim to have a direct and positive impact on the lives of the people around me. I had a talk show, *****Closer to my Dreams***** on WGIV 103.3 FM; the purpose of the talk show was to inspire teenagers to reach for their dreams. I work at Youth Empowerment Solutions YES! a nonprofit organization that trains other nonprofit organizations. Yes! advocates on behalf of youth to foster partnerships between youths and the adult volunteer to create change in the community. Many traditional organizations ignore the role that younger people can play in volunteer work and community change, and I help work to change perceptions about the value of teenagers in the community, and demonstrate what teens can do to help create change.

I also volunteer with my church, Rod of God Ministries. One of my volunteer positions there is to clean the bathrooms. I mention this, because I feel like every contribution to a cause is important, whether it is one that normally gets recognition and glory, or whether it is a position that many people overlook, but that is vital to having a nice organization, like cleaning the bathrooms. I am willing to be the person out in front leading the charge, and I am also willing to be the person taking care of the nitty gritty details, if that is what is required for success. For all of the above reasons, I feel as if I am an ideal candidate for your school. I want to come to your university and be a campus leader, but I am equally committed to doing the hard work it takes to make good grades and really glean the benefits of a quality education. In other words, I will perform on the stage and clean the bathrooms, all with a smile on my face. That is who I am, Precious Jean Neely.

Below is my research paper

Freedom Sisters

The importance of education is not an arguable topic. Everybody knows its importance in the building of the nation. Education not only means the acquisition of new skills and knowledge through classrooms and lectures but also meant to be the experience gotten while working under a skilled and knowledgeable person. Over the past century African American women have made great strides in education, however this generation fails to carry the torch.

Many scholars and leaders in the past and today*****s world have thrown light on this topic through thousand of words and enlightened quotes. It is basically a thing which can not only change a person. But in fact it helps in changing the whole society in a further to much larger extent than just a society. As Nelson Mandela said,

*****Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world*****

Nelson Mandela*****s words clearly illustrate the importance of education and its role in the development of society. In the modern era the power of education is accepted globally and it is crystal clear from the performance of literate people that only those nations develop in the modern world which possess higher literacy rate and whose youth and people are determined in getting high standard education. As Edward Everett wrote in his book,

*****Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army*****

The most important benefit of education is that once the people get awareness of it, it just passes from generation to generation and this process never stops. Thus in the long run it just spreads and benefits the whole bloc rather than forced to spread. So one kick-start is required to run this process and after wards it just continues by itself. This process continues from generation to generation and after few decades it becomes the soul of society. This process is crystal clear from the examples of East Asian countries. Once few people get aware and become knowledgeable to good extent then they are actually capable of developing generations of educated people. Gilbert K. Chesterton said,

*****Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another*****

The question arises that if few peoples suffer and start this process, will it continue to produce educated generations in the future? Or will this process be required to be repeated every time? In this aspect Marcus Garvey said that education is actually the name of developing teachers and knowledgeable people in the world, which are capable of spreading the information. He wrote in his book,

*****Education is the medium by which a people are prepared for the creation of their own particular civilization, and the advancement and glory of their own race*****

We have seen that in recent times the African countries which are still living in the dark world due to lack of education has got the teachings of Marcus Garvey and Gilbert K. Chesterton, and they are working hard to develop their passionate people into knowledgeable persons, thus, producing future knowledge spreaders. This will ultimately develop the whole nation in the long run and can make the people aware about education and providing them opportunities to change their lives as well like the people in Europe and America.

In this aspect few bodies are working hard to spread the education in Africa as well. There is lot of problems, which came out as barrier to the process. And biggest of them all is the Racism. Racism is the major cause, which has actually restricted many Africans from getting their most basic right. They got discriminated in getting admission to high standard universities in European and American states just because of their color. As Kofi Annan said,

*****Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.*****

Despite a lot of people have proved racism as the supreme height of injustice and man movements are also passed in this aspect. Scholars also conveyed the idea that it is actually duty of the knowledgeable people to remove the racism part from the society at least from the institutes, which are the source of education.

*****"It is your responsibility to change society if you think of yourself as an educated person.*****"

(Baldwin)

This quote from James Baldwin reflects the duty and moral obligation of modern educators to attempt to eliminate racism in today*****'s classrooms. If the role of education truly is to produce a better society, then the teacher must accept the onus of responsibility for this huge undertaking.

Freedom sisters is one of such movement to appreciate the African Women, who are not only affected by race discrimination but further discriminated through gender discrimination, to get better standards of education by having opportunity which is just for them. This movement has produced big names likes of Constance Baker Motley, Shirley Chisholm, and Myrlie Evers-Williams. They have helped in developing the awareness of education in the society in order to promote the other women of Africa to think beyond the nutshell and helping the others by becoming examples to achieve their dreams.

Freedom*****s Sisters is collaboration between SITES and Cincinnati Museum Center brings to life 20 African American women, from key 19th-century historical figures to contemporary leaders, who have fought for equality for all Americans. The exhibition is introduced by video and electronic projections of strong artistic images that will seize visitors***** emotions. Organized around the themes of *****"Dare to Dream,*****" *****"Inspire Lives,*****" *****"Serve the Public,*****" and *****"Look to the Future*****.

Due to such programs, now African women are going for higher education. And now the percentage of African people in the professional colleges is getting higher by very good growth. Yet in numbers they are still very far but the growth is tremendous. They are now striving hard to get good education from the reputable colleges and universities including the best of the elite schools of United States of America and United Kingdom as well. Even some African countries like of Nigeria