Best 2022 Graduation Speech, by Jakob Cabaleiro: "What do I know?"

This year's best graduation speech is by 4 ESO B student Jakob Cabaleiro who has not only written a brilliant commencement address, but he has delivered it in style and grace, and with excellent pronunciation, intonation and stance, and with remarkable composure, serenity and good spirit. Congratulations!

As usual, this student is the chosen one to speak on behalf of their 4 ESO classmates at the graduation ceremony to be held at 1 pm on Wednesday 22nd June.

WHAT DO I KNOW?

Good afternoon, everybody!

Thank you very much for attending this ceremony. I’ve practiced this speech in class and at home, but… gosh, it’s just not the same with all you here. And, I mean, why shouldn’t it? Today’s the day! Today’s the fricking day! Now, where was I? Right. I hadn’t even started yet. So, what I was about to say is that… I don’t know. I may have thought I knew when I wrote this, or when I practised it… I may even think I know it right now. But the truth is that I don’t. In a few minutes, days, weeks, months or years, I’ll look back at this speech and think: “what the hell was I saying there?” Let me explain:

You’ve probably heard the stories of kids who wanted to be cowboys, astronauts or aristocrats, later football stars, firefighters or aristocrats, and now scientists, teachers or, you guessed it, cryptobros. You can see a gradual change from cool to normal, except for the ones who just want to be rich and do nothing. Don’t get me wrong, that’s cool, but not very realistic, and… I’m drifting away again. So, for me, it was a bit different.

First, I wanted to be on the telly, then I wanted to be a sports journalist, after that, I wanted to write about movies, and now I want to make movies. You can see that change there too, just into another direction. Instead of going from the most to the least cool, it goes from the most to the least rich. The funny thing, however, is that, back when I still wanted to just be on the telly, I was asked if I ever wanted to make movies. And my answer was: “Of course not, why would I?” But what did I know back then?

Looking back now at that chain of desires, you can see a thread uniting all of my ideas. The thing is: I’ve always loved stories. And even though I also liked to tell them, I preferred hearing them. And even so, it wasn’t one of my main hobbies. Audiobooks were rare, books were acceptable, movies were okay, and comic books just existed. That changed in 2016, when I was invited to the cinema for someone’s birthday. I’m sorry I don’t remember whose it was, but I think it was Beltrán’s or Victor’s. One of the

two invited me to his birthday and the other one spent the entire movie answering my questions about who that guy was, or that other one. The movie, I remember. Captain America: Civil War made me love a movies like never before. It’s not a perfect movie, but at that time it was a lot better than other movies I’d watched at the cinema, say Mall Cop 2 or the Annie remake. Additionally, it made me want to know more about the characters I’d seen. That’s how I got into superhero movies, which eventually led me to the entirety of cinema.

But these superhero movies also had another effect on me. I started comparing my choices with those these characters would take. And, since then, this moral compass is something I’m deeply grateful for.

And all these superheroes go back to Superman, the ultimate archetype. So one could say that the ones responsible for how I am right now are, besides Víctor and Beltrán, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of the Big Blue.

But that’s of course not everything. It’s impossible to get through sixteen  years of life without any help whatsoever. That’s why I’d like to thank my mum, my dad and especially my brother for always trying to answer my ridiculous questions. Then I would also like to thank my friends. The… the seven of them. They know who they are. Also, my teachers, all of them. That’s too many to name one by one, and I’d probably forget some, so I’m only going to highlight Lorena, the first teacher I had in my entire life, and Cándido, who still was teaching us with all his energy less than a year before his passing. Additionally, saying that my classmates were of no importance would be a lie, so thank YOU too. And congratulations for graduating (if you did) and have a nice end-of-year trip (if you’re coming).

Wow, graduation. Saying the word out loud and knowing it’s the day, knowing it’s your turn… makes you feel all grown-up. But, considering thaI will spend the next years of my life studying and learning even more, I see that I’m really not that grown-up. I think I’ve learned stuff in these thirteen

years here, but what do I know? Nothing.

Well, actually, there’s one thing that I DO know. I know for a fact that we have some nice drinks and desserts here, so please enjoy them, now that I’m done. Or am I? What do I know? I think I am. That’s all, folks!

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