I am a big commencement address fan. I guess in part because the form is set and most commencement addresses are forgettable. Some people every year, though, figure out how to deliver a message that is remembered. For me, the Steve Jobs speech at Stanford in 2005 may be one of the best ever.
Here are my favorites from this year and few thoughts why.
Speeches that surprise you always are memorable. After that, funny speeches are always memorable. Being thankful -- especially if you are a student -- is really important. So here is a speech from an 8th grader in Arlington Heights that may be the best of the year. It combines all those elements -- thankful, surprising, and really really funny.
Here is Jack Aiello from Arlington Heights.
Many of the adults speaking this year got kind of political and the next few speeches may have some allusions to political stands. That's not why I am posting them. It is their other messages that resonated with me.
Linn-Manuel Miranda creator of Hamilton gave the commencement at the University Pennsylvania. I happened to love his stories of his life and decisions he had to make.
I was surprised to hear that Coach K of Duke University has never done a commencement address until this year. Sometimes the best advice is the simplest and Coach K is able to deliver simple advice easily.
Matt Damon at MIT -- well it's Matt Damon and he's pretty good. A friend of mine pointed out that the MIT audience didn't seem to be too into this speech. Who knows why, but its a good one.
Robert Kraft at Yeshiva -- I loved the stories about his life before he owned the Patriots.
And if you don't like that then here is Bloombergs compilation of all the best including many others -- Bloomberg does a yearly video summary. Click on the below link to view.
Bloomberg's 2016 Compilation of the Best Commencement Addresses
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