I made it! The longest semester of my life is over, and now (after a much needed month-and-a-half-long rest) I'm here to answer the question several of you have asked: What was it like to be the Student Commencement Speaker?
I applied the week before spring break. I just was in a typing-things-out mood and thought "why not?". Delta was a very special and unique experience for me and I thought it would be really fun to share that on stage. The application took about 15 minutes and I got to tell a lot of stories about Delta. A few weeks later, I found out that I was going to have to actually write a speech and audition in front of a panel. I took myself over to Poppy Coffee, got Nutella Toast with Strawberries (important speech writing fuel), and wrote the first draft of my speech (it didn't end up changing much, what I wrote in Poppy Coffee is pretty much what you heard at Commencement).
The audition was actually the scariest part because I had to talk in front of about 5 people who had paper and a pen. This was harder than giving my actual speech at the Stockton Arena. One pen is scarier than one thousand people because pens mean decisions and judgment. This is not to say that the people in the room were judgmental, they all were very nice and I felt welcome in the room. It was just the pens that were scary.
I found out that I was chosen to be the speaker (via a very fancy email) at Poppy Coffee: the same place I wrote the speech. Once I got back to school I got to work with speech instructors to finalize the speech. I got great feedback on word choice and energy, and knowing that my speech had been analyzed by these two incredibly knowledgeable people helped me feel confident in my performance.
The actual day of my speech was utter chaos because Stockton's State of the City fell on the same day, and I had to go because I was part of the 209 Talk team: a group of people who put on a show that featured the Mayor of Stockton in the first season. We got Certificates of Recognition (I'm getting mine framed to put above my desk), and got to hang out with a lot of cool Stocktonians. I came back to campus for some delicious ravioli and a little socializing before getting on a bus to the Stockton Arena (I LOVED the bus it made me feel so famous). I had a bit of time to go over my speech, accidentally speak on the microphone while testing the height, and get my energy back after my long day. I kept waiting for the nerves to hit (I was actually stressing about not feeling traditionally nervous which is a sentence I never thought I'd say). A lot of people were asking me how I was doing, which I thought was really sweet. The nerves never really ended up being there like they were before my theatre shows because giving this speech felt like a pretty natural way of saying goodbye. I spent most of my time at Delta on a stage or on the radio, so ending my time there on stage felt right too.
I was barely tall enough to reach the microphone, so I did a bit of bouncing around and leaning on the podium to compensate. My favorite part about giving my speech was being able to look at all the students and instructors that made my time there so special. It was shocking to realize how many people out there I knew, given that my time at Delta started during lockdown. I felt so much gratitude for the opportunity to congratulate all of them for revitalizing Delta College.
Next year's Commencement is still quite a ways away, but I hope that sharing my experience will encourage the class of 2024 to apply for this incredible opportunity. Everyone I've met at Delta has a story worth sharing, I can't wait to hear what yours is.
Here's the video my parents took :)