Stories Change Stories —My Commencement Speech
I was asked to give a motivational speech and a photographer for a high school commencement at the Public Library. Some people asked me to send them a copy of the speech, so here it is!
Hello, everyone!
My name is Willow, and thank you so much for having me here!
I want to give my upmost congratulations to the graduates—this is such a big deal!
How fitting is it that we are celebrating your achievement here in this beautiful and generous library? As you know, this building is filled of books, and most of them have a common structure: a beginning, some kind of messy middle with a plot twist, and an end. But sometimes the structure of our lives don’t always follow what society would consider normal. Life happens. Plans get derailed. It can have you feeling like you missed out on something, or you’re off course from where you should be.
But look at you! Look at where you’re sitting right now. You did something rare and profound. You looked at a chapter in your life that had been left open, you picked up your pen, and you continued the plot.
I was asked to stand up here to give an encouraging speech, but really you are the ones who inspire me—because you remind me of my own high school of my high school experience.
My parents made the decision to homeschool me. However, my mom got sick, and my dad was hardly ever home. I had to make my education a priority all on my own. There wasn’t anyone there to proof read my papers, or to hold my hand through math problems. I too spent hours in the library seeking any sense of normalcy, as if I was taking an exam in a classroom. My dad did help me as much as he could, but it I really had to be self disciplined to get my papers turned in order to receive my diploma. The hardship didn’t end with high school though; I had to navigate entering college, and the public school systems too.
To be honest with you, I played the victim.
I told one of my college professors how I’d been neglected this way, totally hoping for a sympathy grade. Like, “oh poor baby sweety, here’s an A, on the house”— he didn’t do that. What he did do, was he told an old wise tale that had completely shifted my perspective on my adversity.
The story is about a chef who placed three ingredients into three separate pots of boiling water. The ingredients were carrots, eggs, and coffee beans.
- The carrots entered the pot of water strong and unyielding. However, once being subjected to the water, they turned soft and weak.
- The eggs went in fragile, with only a thin shell to protect them. But after facing the heat their insides hardened.
- The coffee beans were unique. Once entering the water, the beans didn’t change. Instead, they changed the water. The coffee beans took boiling hard pain, and turned it into something rich, aromatic, and valuable.
My professor peered at me through his thin glasses and asked me the question that changed everything for me–which ingredient will I choose to be?
I spent the majority of my college career working at a gas station on purpose—no shade to gas stations, it was fun. But I worked there on purpose because I wanted to remind myself every single day that if I didn’t hustle, that if I didn’t chase my dreams, then I would be working jobs like that forever.
I viewed my education as a privilege. It was something that I got to do, rather than had to do. It made me competitive against myself, rather than other people. It made me take my classes more seriously than my peers. I took all of that grit, and tenacity, and I used it to build up to my dream.
Graduates, I am going to be honest with you: there isn’t always going to be someone there to hold your hand when life gets hard. You’re going to have to do things on your own sometimes. But the cool thing is, you get to do things on your own sometimes! You can build anything you want.
And how fitting is it that we get to celebrate this chapter of your lives in this amazing library? Libraries are magical spaces. They are places where anyone can walk through the doors and continue their story. The thing about stories is that they can create riffs on eachother—like a rock thrown into a pond. Stories can change stories. So please, be sure to share yours—even if it’s at a highschool commencement where you get volunteered to give a motivational speech. (please laugh).
Graduates, by earning your diploma, you have proven that it’s never too late to learn, to grow, or to claim an education that belongs to you. Congratulations to the class of 2026, you did it!
