Valedictorian Speech

I am supposed to give a Valedictorian speech at my high school graduation ceremony in a few weeks. I am supposed to write the speech but I got nothing. Any Advice where to start? what should I say? What should I refrain from saying? What is too cheesy what is too boring?
Thx in advance

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Base it around "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Frost. Recite it then talk about how everyone should keep going in life. I guess you could use whatever poem you want though

Please for the love of god DO NOT EVER quote Frost's "The Road Not Taken." That is the most overtaken road there is when it comes to graduation speeches. In fact, don't use ANY fucking Frost. Anyone with an actual education will be rolling their eyes at that shit, especially given you're not bloody likely to do anything new or creative in analyzing and applying it to the situation you're in.

I'll get you started:
>Friends, teachers, honored guests. Four years ago, ...

Got any themes you want to cover?

I think main theme is along the lines of "we've come a long way"

sidenote: the green text rly got me going actually
still got nothing solid but im getting there.. thx m8

>I think main theme is along the lines of "we've come a long way"

Yeah, you can do a lot with that. Here's some other ideas...
>If you're going to tie things to a familiar work or trope, it needs to be something the audience is familiar with. Not just you classmates, but their rube family members in the audience. That's sorta why everyone uses Frost, because everyone's heard it at least once... but it's really overdone, and usually done very badly.
>Consider incorporating some references to popular culture. Keep it classy and don't overuse it. Like once maybe twice. "We learned together, we played together, some of us dabbed together." or maybe a reference to Hamilton.
>Some of Trump's quirky rally speech behavior is actually really cool, like how he always reflects on how "It's about us," and points to the crowd. I'd be careful directly using any of it because it's signature Trump, but some of that audience interaction/call and response stuff can make for a really moving speech.
>A motivational speaker tactic I've seen is to ask the audience to give themselves a round of applause. "We're graduating. We made it. How cool is that? Come on folks, give yourselves a round of applause."
>Another theme set you might go for, that's really folksy but easy to relate to, is "seasons", though it can make people feel a little melancholy because of the inherent reference to mortality. "With the beginning of this summer, we're entering the summer of our lives."

Some other tips:
>Make sure you practice in front of a mirror and time yourself. You're apt to rush through at a breakneck pace and nobody will understand a word you say if you don't practice.
>If you bring notecards up with you, try to go with an outline instead of a full script, so you can avoid reading aloud.
>While you're gonna have a mic, make sure you're speaking with a full voice and NOT muttering or speaking quietly.

>While you're gonna have a mic, make sure you're speaking with a full voice and NOT muttering or speaking quietly.
And while we're on the subject of speaking into a mic, make sure you know how to do this properly. Nine times out of ten, speaking directly into the mic (i.e. placing it directly in front of your mouth) is a mistake and will sound terrible. Especially if you have any "P" sounds, which will make an audible "pop" noise. Better is to have it aimed up towards your mouth from below and speak directly out towards the audience.

>Not just you classmates, but their rube family members in the audience.
And do keep this in mind. While you're the valedictorian and supposed to be smart, it's poor form to talk over people's heads. Metaphors should be simple and obvious, logical connections between subjects should be explicitly spelled out, etc. Not only because not everyone out there is really smart, but also because not everyone is listening with rapt attention; a good speech is one that someone can still get the gist of despite having nodded off for a second.

make lots of Tolkien references

Have u seen that episode from The office (US) where Dwight had to make speech and Jim helped him? Try it

wew