A loving graduation speech by a high school senior

The flood of graduation speeches is down to a trickle here at Vital Speeches. Which gives us a chance to savor what we get.

Erie Insurance Group executive speechwriter Kathy Felong sent us a speech that moved her; it was delivered by graduating senior Leah Taylor at the commencement of the Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy, in Erie, Pa.

“I want you to know how truly singular you are,” Taylor told her classmates, in part.

You prove that intelligence does not mean dull, that goodness does not imply weakness, and that eccentric does not constitute abnormality. 

You are the people I want to meet during the first days of college, the people I want to live next to when we buy our first houses, and the people I want to be seated next to during the graduations of our own children, because while the world may be full of academically impressive individuals, you show that being intelligent means understanding not only the subjects we are taught in school, but also the unlimited facets of the creative psyche and the undeniable importance of individuality.

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