畢業典禮英語演講稿

畢業典禮英語演講稿

Chancellor Mrs Bobbi Brazil, Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Jan Thomas, guest speaker Dato’ Seri Clement Hii Chii Kok, VIPs, invited guests from SEGI University College, academic staff, proud parents, friends, and above all, my fellow graduates.

Good afternoon.

First I would like to thank USQ, for giving me this extraordinary honor. I got carried away with excitement (iksaikment) when I was first informed of my selection as Valedictorian (validictorian), which is defined as the student who delivers the farewell address on behalf of all graduates at the graduation ceremony. I screamed happily to myself and my parents and even shared the news on Facebook. Being a Valedictorian is going to be one of the most wonderful moments in my life. Anxiety (ansaety) and fear, however, started to hit me when I spent several sleepless nights cracking my head for what I ought to say today and at the thought of delivering the speech. Kylie told me that we will have approximately 700 of guests, graduates, family members and friends today. We are not only from Malaysia; there are graduates with home countries from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand and Iran as well. Now, all I have to do is take a deep breath (breathe).

Tothe graduates from a mix of faculties (fairco), Arts, Business and Law, Education, and Engineering and Surveying, I would like to congratulate (kenn) you on your great success!All of us here know how long and arduous (arjues) this journey has been–we have spent many late night hours studyingfor examinations, faced various challenges and emotions to cope with the assignments (er sain ment) while trying to meet deadlines and strike (straik) a balance between family, friends, work and study. But I’m am pleased to say our hard work and dedication have paid off. We make ourselves proud to have come so far. Please give a big round of applause for you and me!

To study in another county with a different cultural background and lifestyle was not too difficult for me as I am happy to adapt to new environments, new people and new food. In fact, Australia is a fantastic place with good weather, friendly people (p-ple) and beautiful scenery. What made things tough was the language barrier. I have been learning English for more than 10 years in Malaysia, but I will say I am better at writing than speaking it. It is a true story that I could only understand 60% of the content of each conversation I had with the people in Australia for the first few months. A different accent and slangmade me frustrated when I could not make sense of what other people told me or give an appropriate response.

This has become a big obstacle for me as a journalism student who has to conduct interviews with the local people for almost every piece of assessment. I remember one of the assignments for the course News Reporting was to attend the Magistrate (mehgistrate) Court and wrote a court story. Due to the language barrier, I could not work it out and I failed that assignment. There was another heavy blow when I didn’t get a sport’s story right. I felt fear and depressed at the thought that I might need to retake the course and my parents would have to work harder for my tuition fee.

What helped me was the power of positive thinking. I told myself that I would be a fool to give up because the goal was so near. Looking back I had come so far and I wanted to carry on. I tried to overcome the fear of being failed again, flush away all the negative thinking and work hard on the last assignment. I can now say, at long last, I have survived the storm and here I am. Steve Jobs once told a story about connecting the dots of life. He said that people cannot connect the dots looking forward; they can only connect them looking backwards. Whatever failure, challenges or problems you are encountering (incountering) right now; they might be useful in your future. So you have to trust your gut, destiny, life, karma and whatever. People, don’t ever lose faith, you must not quit when things seem their worst, stick to the fight when you are hardest hit, as only through this, success will come to you.

Now, on behalf of my fellow graduates, I would like to acknowledge and dedicate our earnest gratitude to all the people who have contributed to us being here today.

To our beloved parents, who gave us their endless care, love and patience (peitience) through the ups and downs of our university lives.

To our best friends, whose companionship (kermpehnion), understanding and jokes that never failed to double our joys and divide our sorrows.

To the helpful lecturers and support staff, who showed us constant guidance (gaidens), assistance, encouragement, and were very open to questions and debate.

We thank you for everything.

I would say the tough courses in each program we studied in USQ has strengthened and deepened our knowledge of the subject matter at hand. The learning process has sharpened our critical thinking and this is going to make a difference to our work in the future. Sincerely, we appreciate all these as well.

Dear graduates, I am sure enough that you will carry on with even more successes. Good luck in your next voyage. But now it’s celebration time!

Thank you.