CASD1707 Fall 2024

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Module 12 Response

by

Shiraz Biggie (she/her/hers)

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Module 12 Checklist:

Go Back to Commencement Speeches
Go back to Overview
Go on to Final Reflection for the Course

Discussion Response

Which commencement speech were you most drawn to? Why? How was the speaker able to capture your attention? Were they giving advice you’ve heard before? What made it new? What advanced speaking tips would you pull away from their speech that you might use?

Comments

22 responses to “Module 12 Response”

  1. Rosy Gadeh Avatar
    Rosy Gadeh

    I was most drawn to Taylor Swift’s commencement speech at NYU. Taylor shared her personal journey of taking lessons from failure and growing from it. Her use of humor and personal stories made the advice feel real and relatable. It was advice I have heard before but it felt so much more personal yet relatable due to the way she spoke. What I would take away from her speech in order to use myself is her ability to use humor and vulnerability to engage the audience.

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  2. Hibah Hashmi Avatar
    Hibah Hashmi

    Of the commencement speeches discussed, Taylor Swift’s address to NYU’s class of 2022 is the one I was particularly drawn to. She started her speech by joking about wearing a cap and gown instead of her usual performance attire, instantly creating a relaxed and relatable atmosphere. While she touched on common themes like embracing failure and learning from mistakes, her personal anecdotes and self-deprecating humor made the advice feel fresh and authentic. She effectively used humor throughout her speech to engage the audience and make them laugh, even when discussing serious topics. Her ability to weave personal stories with universal life lessons made her message impactful and memorable, demonstrating the power of storytelling in public speaking.

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  3. Nylissa Vanmanen Avatar
    Nylissa Vanmanen

    Of all the commencement speeches I watched, Taylor Swift’s speech to NYU’s class of 2022 resonated particularly with me. She began in a light vein by pointing out that this was the only time one would see her in cap and gown instead of one of her weird stage outfits. While she touched on some very familiar themes-things like embracing failure and learning from mistakes-her use of personal anecdotes and self-deprecating humor lent a unique and authentic twist to the advice. Throughout the speech, she balanced humor and serious reflection with ease, keeping the audience entertained even while discussing profound topics. Her ability to intermix personal stories with universal life lessons made her message impactful and memorable, further showing the power of storytelling in public speaking.

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    1. Nylissa Vanmanen Avatar
      Nylissa Vanmanen

      I agree with Hibah

      Reply
  4. Alan Jiang Avatar
    Alan Jiang

    I was most draw to Steve Jobs speech because I have heard it multiply time and every time I think about different things. Steve Jobs grab people attention by talking about the high and low of his life. How he was successful and unsuccessful. How death is reach him but he live. I like how he structure the speech, how it go from the begin of his life to now.

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  5. Kimone Atkinson Avatar
    Kimone Atkinson

    I like Michelle Obama’s speech, one she gave that speech at a CUNY, and secondly she is a black woman I look up too when it comes to taking my education seriously. Michelle was able to capture my attention because she was calm and collected throughout her speech; she did not try too hard, and you can tell that this was natural for her. Yes, Michelle gave advice I have heard before. One thing I will do that Michelle did is make sure that I practice my speech so that my body language can be relaxed, and I can connect with my audience.

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  6. Adam Hasan Avatar
    Adam Hasan

    Steve Jobs’ speech resonates with me the most. The topics he brings up caught my eye from the beginning as he motivated his audience. He begins by speaking of how, in life, we may tackle some difficulties, but we must strive and push forward because ease and success are the product of hard work. These are topics that I can relate to as its something that motivates me to keep pushing and trying my best daily.

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  7. Diana Moiseyeva Avatar
    Diana Moiseyeva

    I was most drawn to Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford University commencement speech. His ability to connect deeply personal experiences to universal themes made it incredibly compelling. The stories he shared about dropping out of college, being fired from Apple, and facing his own mortality felt authentic and relatable, giving his advice a sense of urgency and sincerity.

    While some of his advice, like “follow your passion” or “learn from failure,” is familiar, what made it feel new was how he illustrated these lessons through his own life experiences. His emphasis on “connecting the dots” and trusting that your choices will lead to meaningful outcomes added a unique perspective that made his advice resonate.

    One advanced speaking tip I would pull from his speech is the use of storytelling to make abstract advice more tangible. His conversational tone and deliberate pacing also helped maintain attention and gave listeners time to reflect on his words. These techniques are ones I would use in my own speeches to create a stronger connection with the audience and make my message more memorable.

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  8. Leslie Avatar
    Leslie

    The commencement speak that resonated to me the most is Taylor Swift’s commencement speech at NYU in 2022. This speech resonated to me the most because she emphasizes how she’s failed and through her trials and tribulations she able to persevere and succeed in the way she did. Taylor swift was able to capture my attendance because she used jokes which captivated me to her speech immediately. This was advice I’ve definitely heard before but hearing it from a celebrity whom most people enjoy the music of intensified the words and gave hope. I would probably implement humor in my speech as well.

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  9. Matthew Herman Avatar
    Matthew Herman

    I was most drawn to Taylor Swift’s speech because she is in the arts. I also just thought it would be the most interesting and captivating for me. She was able to capture my attention by seeming so calm, but also so captivating. I really liked where she chose to pause during her speech. I also found her speech to very motivational. They were giving advice that I heard before, but hearing it from a different perspective made it different, and gave it a different outlook as well. I also liked the humor she added to her speech, especially about her doctorate.

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  10. Leonardo Avatar
    Leonardo

    Steve Jobs’s speech lured me in because he is an individual like all of us who spends money on college from his family, and it’s like an investment, just like we all are people who don’t know our future. Furthermore, he establishes his credibility by mentioning his parents and childhood background, which shows that he was part of a middle-class family that wasn’t successful. His advice about love and loss how he lost his company became so relatable and it was new because most speeches are very bright and positive. This speech talks about the grueling difficulty of his ups and downs as there was so much failure that he got fired but it brings him up just like everyone else. This speech helped motivate me and continue my passion, especially in art with how he mentioned love and that it propels us to never give up on our creativity through our failures. Speeching tips that I should take away from are being more relatable by including a story and breaking parts of the speech for their specific theme and then connecting them all at the end of the speech as each of these points represents his life from beginning to end.

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  11. Nichelle Julius Gordon Avatar
    Nichelle Julius Gordon

    The commencement speech I was most drawn to was Chadwick Boseman’s because he had such valued college to life lessons. They have gave advice I’ve heard before like every opportunity may not be meant for you. But what opened my eyes to it was him realizing that this experience made him realize he wanted to go into acting. I also resonate with this because with my failures made me realize the exact steps I want to take to succeed. The speaking tip’s i would take away from this is, even if you make a mistake you have to keep going becuase it’s better to finish head strong then to make people remember you made a mistake.

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  12. Liridona Hyseni Avatar
    Liridona Hyseni

    Steve Jobs Speech is the one that stood out to me the most. Despite any challenges that may come our way Steve makes it clear that theres an end goal, and that end goal is where they are today. The speech he gave is motivating and strives me to do well and finish strong myself at Brooklyn college.

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  13. Ahmed Eladdly Avatar
    Ahmed Eladdly

    I was most drawn to Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford speech. His personal stories about dropping out, being fired from Apple, and facing mortality made his advice to “follow your passion” and “learn from failure” feel authentic and relatable. What stood out was his idea of “connecting the dots”—trusting that things will make sense later. I’d take his use of storytelling, pauses, and clear pacing as tips to make my own speeches engaging and impactful.

    Reply
  14. Bendly Oriental Avatar
    Bendly Oriental

    The commencement speech I was most drawn to was Chadwick Boseman’s. As a black man myself going through the college experience, being aware of his current success and college journey made it relatable. He was able to capture my attention through his poetic style of speaking. At the start of the speech, I had trouble figuring out if this was a speech or just a really long poem. The story with Muhammad Ali contained excellent imagery which made me feel as though I was there. The advanced speaking tips I would definitely take is his style of speech. Being able to communicate seriously and beautifully and aleviate it with a joke in the next few sentences. I have heard the advicce that was given before but it was still great to see how he gave credit to every type of student and he gave the reminder that we are not defined by our grades.

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  15. Kadin Blanc Avatar
    Kadin Blanc

    Taylor Swift’s NYU commencement address drew my attention the most. Taylor talked about her own experience learning from errors and using that to help her career.She  felt genuine and approachable because of her use of  jokes made it feel very intresting to watch . The way she was connecting with her audience was very cool to watch . The way she kept the crowd intrested with her jokes is something ill take from her speech to help better mines

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  16. Darnell Prudent Avatar
    Darnell Prudent

    Out of all the speeches that I have read, the one that affected me most is Steve Jobs’ speech at Stanford University in 2005. His personal anecdotes about leaving college, getting dismissed from Apple and facing death highlighted the authenticity of the messages that he wanted to convey to the people to pursue their dreams and learn from the failures. The idea that he spoke about the ‘dots’ I found to be quite interesting as it is about believing that one day everything that is happening around you will add up. I will use the lessons from Jobs’ storytelling, temporal pauses, and rhythm to make my speeches more compelling and compelling.

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  17. Alexander Szczesny Avatar
    Alexander Szczesny

    I liked Chadwick Boseman’s speech the most as I feel that it held the most value to the words mentioned repeatedly as well as the meaning behind it now looking at it from a point of view that includes the fact that he is now no longer with us, it could mean that he had even greater reasoning behind what he meant when speaking.

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  18. Muhammad Uddin Avatar
    Muhammad Uddin

    The speech that impacted me the most was Chadwick Boseman’s. I watched him on the big screens as Black Panther. Knowing he was battling a chronic disease even when he was acting and the fact he has passed away is what really changed my perspective on his speech and what he was trying to let the audience understand. I really liked how he was very humble; he described everyone’s different situations and did not criticize them but instead said we all made it.

    Reply
  19. Muhammad Uddin Avatar
    Muhammad Uddin

    The speech that impacted me the most was Chadwick Boseman’s. I watched him on the big screens as Black Panther. Knowing he was battling a chronic disease even when he was acting and the fact he has passed away is what really changed my perspective on his speech and what he was trying to let the audience understand. I really liked how he was very humble; he described everyone’s different situations and did not criticize them but instead said we all made it.

    Reply
  20. Emily Ramzy Avatar
    Emily Ramzy

    The commencement speech I was mostly drawn to Taylor swift. Because she’s such an icon in expressing her college career, not only as a celebrity but the way she experienced it as a student. The speaker was able to capture my attention by her tone and calm body language.

    Reply
  21. Su-Dony Bryan Avatar
    Su-Dony Bryan

    I like Michelle Obama’s speech, one she gave that speech at a CUNY. She’s a black woman who was the vice president. She say give us some good advice. One thing I will do that Michelle should do is to practice the speech more.

    Reply

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