Commencement speech at my school’s graduation

This past week the 9^th grade class asked me to be the commencement speaker at their graduation ceremony. Since my town’s school is a K-9, the 9^th graders have a graduation similar to seniors at a high school in the US. For the majority of these kids, 9^th grade will be as far as their education goes, so it’s an equally important ceremony for them and their families.

As with many other events that I’ve experienced here in Honduras, this graduation ceremony was, in many ways, quite similar to its US counterpart, but with a few standout details that made it quite distinct.

Same things

• decorations: balloons, flag, cutouts of diplomas and graduation caps etc
• speeches: from the principal, the class’s teacher sponsor, class representative (and me)
• honors given to the student with the highest grades
• lots of proud family members, lots of pictures
• diplomas were given
• party afterwards

Different things

• started 1.5 hours late, naturally
• it was the first graduation in the new community center, in the middle of town, so bolos showed up outside to noisily loiter for the entire ceremony (bolo is the loving colloquial name given to the town drunks, who are important actors in any town social event)
• they hired a professional soccer announcer to be MC, so the ceremony progressed very dramatically, much like listening to a soccer game
• a local 20 year old was the sound guy and played the Titanic Celine Deyon song, 80s American pop and Puerto Rican rap as the background music about four notches too loud, throughout the entire event, during speeches and all
• each student brought a padrino, or a community member who contributed to their education, whom they respect, who escorted them to the stage to receive their diploma and who danced a waltz with them at the end of the event (see fellow PCVs' post: http://nolanandnicki.blogspot.com/2011/11/pomp-and-strange-circumstances.html)
• secret Santa amongst students and teachers
• the final toast in which the teachers filled the 15 year olds’ champagne flutes to the brim with strong liquor then said congrats and bottom’s up!

Although sitting on stage at the mesa principal I felt much like an American puppet for the teachers, their token gringo that they can show off to the parents, I still strove to take the event seriously, be grateful and give a polite and warmly motivational speech. It was, after all, the first time that I’ve had to wear a tie in almost two years now. But, in all seriousness, I was honored and thought that it was a very nice gesture of my friends and neighbors here in San Luis Planes.