Advice for those Graduating from Elementary School


Introduction: I wrote this when I was asked to give a speech to a bunch of graduating 5th graders at my old elementary school.


Congratulations to all of you - this is your first major step in your school career. I'm sure there are many tidbits of insightful wisdom that I could pass on to you, but most likely, they have already been said in one form or another. Instead, I'm just going to tell you the things that I wish I had known before going into middle school.

I wish I hadn't been so scared of rejection. I used to laugh at my mother when she told me to say hello to people, thinking that she knew nothing about the social structure in school. I mean, when was the last time she was actually a student? But it turns out that she was right all along. Those things that sometimes seem so difficult - like smiling or saying hi to someone you don't know very well - really aren't so hard once you have done them once. It's the starting that's difficult. But they do make a difference.

I wish I hadn't cared so much about what other people thought. I thought every thing I did needed to be approved by the majority so that I could survive. I don't know - maybe I thought the Cool Police would hunt me down if I wasn't cool enough. Either way, I ignored some wonderful people just because I thought they were nerds. Maybe I thought it was a contagious disease, like cooties. But either way, now I wish I had been friends with the people I rejected in middle school.

I wish that I had thought about the world around me a little earlier. I know it's often hard to think about anything else when so much is going on around you, but please take some time to look beyond. Make helping people a good habit. If there's a service club in the school, join it. Along with helping people, they usually take some great trips as well. But to quote Dr. Seuss in "The Lorax," "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." Be that someone in the world. Just caring about a cause accomplishes more than you could imagine.

I wish I had realized how much different middle school would be than elementary school. Middle school is not just about lockers and a bigger school, but about making new friends and being independent. In elementary schools, there are built in social groups - your individual classes. Even if you don't really have any friends there, it's constant. In middle school, people are spread out. Most of the people you meet will only be in one class of yours per day, instead of there the whole day. Middle school is a big change. But it's a change that can be handled. It will be difficult - it is never a breeze. But no matter how hard the adjustment is, you will get through it. Good luck with everything that lies ahead.

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