Brad Hawkins, Washington State Representative

How long will your speech be?

I have been allotted five minutes and plan to keep it that way. No one wants a long-winded graduation speaker!

What challenges have you come across writing your speech?

The challenge is to make the speech short and memorable… and avoid all the clichés we have come to know. I find that people always prefer speakers who are authentic, and I have never been someone who speaks with cliches anyway. It is an honor that the students have chosen me, so I am going to be me.

Another challenge is to keep people’s attention so that the words communicated actually have an impact. I want to do more than just deliver words, I need to “connect” with the graduating class. People’s minds can wander on these big nights and for good reason. Family and friends are in attendance, past hard work has led to graduation success, and a major life transition is ahead. Knowing that students may have a lot on their minds, I have structured my speech to be easy to follow and easy to rejoin, in case people take a moment to smile at their family or think about other things.

Can you give us a little taste of what your speech will have in store?

I graduated from WHS in 1994, 20 years ago! My 20-year reunion is this summer, just weeks apart from the graduation. The surprise I have in store builds off this coincidence. I have developed a list of 20 thoughts, words of wisdom, and lessons learned that I have found useful since my WHS graduation 20 years ago. I am calling it my “Top 20 by 20 List.”

Number 1: Be Humble

Alexa Andre, senior

What is the theme of your speech?

I guess it’s about how we are never going to be together again and just kind of the future.

Are there any parts we should look forward to?

Well, I think it has the three things every great speech needs. Which is inspirational stuff and a little bit of feminism, and Harry Potter references.

Would you say your speech is humourous or more serious?

When we found out we were doing the speeches, me and Abe, we looked at each other and I was like, “Ok, you do the funny one, and I’ll do the serious one.” And he was like, “Deal.” So it’s kind of serious, I tried to be inspirational, but I tried to put in funny stuff. I’m not that funny of a person, but I tried.

Was it easy to write?

[It was] Probably one of the hardest writing assignments I ever had because there’s not really a prompt you go off of, you are just kind of like, “Write a speech to the graduates.” There’s a million things you could do, and you just search for hours looking for the right thing to do. Needless to say, a lot of coffee went into the making.

Besides measuring it in coffee cups, how much time did it take you to write it?

Well, I had three weeks to write it from the time they told me and now [May 29]. Kind of in those three weeks, I was gathering ideas and talking to people like what should my speech be about and then just jotting all those speech ideas down. I had to write it in one shot because it’s easier that way because all your ideas flow. Thats why it took me so late last night (until 3 a.m.)

You sound pretty comfortable talking about it. Are you at all nervous?

Yes, extremely. Right now, I don’t really feel it, but like at other public speaking events, when you go up there you have so many butterflies and it’s like “Oh man, I don’t want to mess up.” I guess I’m nervous because it’s like out of an expectation, like the senior class was like “Ok you are one of our speakers, so you have to do a good job.”

Doug Merrill, Wenatchee High School technologies teacher

How were you selected?

The seniors voted from a short list of teachers at a senior meeting. I’m very honored!

How long will your speech be?

I was told the speech should be five to 10 minutes. I hope to be closer to five than 10. I am in the way of students and them walking up on stage so I’ll keep it short.

What challenges have you come across writing your speech?

All the adults make me nervous, so I’ll just focus on the seniors — that will keep me relaxed. Trying to boil it down from 20 minutes down to seven minutes. You know, I can’t remember anything anyone said at my graduation so I’m not going to get too deep.

Can you give us a little taste of what your speech will have in store?

It’s still not done! Seven days to go. More practicing in the mirror. I’ll keep it realistic but definitely on the lighter side.

What is the theme of your speech?

Encouragement, something high tech with a little engineering action.

Abe Sinay-Smith, senior

What’s the theme of your speech?

[The theme] centers around the students, but I won’t go into too much detail — I want the speech to be a surprise to everyone!

Are there any parts we should look forward to?

Everyone should look forward to the middle of the speech. Speaking of which, they should bring a cup of some kind. It will make sense when it happens. A cup is important. A wine glass or a Red Solo cup or anything.

Would you say your speech is humorous or more serious?

It’s a mixture of both. It’s serious in a humorous way.

Was it easy to write?

It was probably medium-hardness to write. It took about two days to come up with the rough draft and I’m still kind of ironing out the kinks.

Are you nervous?

I’m not nervous yet, but I definitely will be when I’m sitting up front and [I know] I’m next!