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Student Graduation Speeches
Graduation at Newport is a uniquely special day for each of our graduates. We have no outside guest speaker; instead each of our graduates speaks of their personal journey through the halls of Newport. Below are some of our alumni perceptions:
Dai Zhu, Class of 2007
The graduation speech below was delivered by Dai Zhu who entered Newport her senior year. Dai came to us from a public school in Washington State where she had been a one year foreign exchange student from China.
Dai reports that Newport prepared her well for her first semester at Virginia Tech. She is particularly grateful for Mr. Tyson’s AP Calculus Class. She had little to learn for her Engineering Calculus Class because well over half of the material had been covered by Mr. Tyson.
–Janet Brennan, College Counselor
Last summer, on Newport Orientation Day, I was overwhelmed by the stress of my upcoming senior high school year. I'd heard that kids in private schools were very competitive and I would not even get a chance to make friends. "The movie “Mean Girls", somebody told me was based on true stories in American private high schools. So, I had a marathon style smile on my face for 3 hours. Not because I was happy, but in fact, I was just too stressed out to do anything else and I wanted to make a good impression.
But soon, I realized something: Hey, Newport doesn't fit the stereotype at all. Actually, I came to understand that it was like a family styled, nice little school far from stress, where everybody knew and cared about each other. I could always receive warm greetings while walking around the building, and I always could find somebody I would like to talk to. So I changed my mind. "Newport; it was like a family." That was my impression.
Time flies. Today, I'm standing on this stage saying goodbye to Newport, and I realize that I'm going to miss the Newport family forever.
I can never forget Mrs. Brennan, my college counselor. She helped me go through the whole process of college applications. I don’t think I could have gotten into my ideal college so easily without her help. What’s more, she was always a good listener, and she was the first person in school I would talk to if I had any problems. I appreciate your help so much Mrs. Brennan.
I give my thanks to Mr. Cupp. He helped me with my preparation for the SAT writing test. I always wrote something that I didn't ever want to read again, and I even made up my mind not to be a teacher if I had to read those essays every day. That was a pain! However, Mr. Cupp picked up every single one of my grammar errors. I really appreciate that. And I would also like to thank Mr. Tyson for being very helpful with my AP Calculus test; and Ms. Wendling for her organized lectures. These teachers always tried their best to help me learn and overcome my language problems.
This summer, I'm going back to my hometown in China to visit my parents and friends. It will be my first time back after studying two years abroad. I will tell them that there is a nice little family styled school called Newport at the other end of Atlantic Ocean
My experience here in America makes me believe that life is wonderful.
Esmond Sekgwa, Class of 2007
Good afternoon, I have been at the Newport School for four years, and I will never forget my time here.
I would like to thank all my teachers and everyone who is part of the Newport community for making my four years here the four best years of my life.
Thanks go to Mr. Gill and Mr. Campion for the fun and interesting social studies classes, Mr. Cupp and Mr. Mazzochi for the fun English classes, Mr. Tyson and Mrs. Smith for the challenging, but fun math and science classes, Mrs. Browne for the interesting Spanish classes, and Mr. Clark for teaching me a lot about computers. I would also like to thank Mrs. Brennan for helping me get into college. And of course, last but not least, I would like to thank all my friends.
Thank you for everything, and goodbye.
Esmond Sekgwa
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