Good Afternoon. Fellow teachers, administrators, our wonderful support staff, parents and most importantly, the graduates. Class 169. For those of you that don't know I am Tony Danza, aka, Mr. Danza. Mr. Danza. Boy I like that. I have been here this year teaching and also filming a Television show called Teach, for the A&E Network. This effort has coincided with your senior year. I know it has been a great year for me and looking out at all of you I know it's been a great one for the class of 2010. Amazing how fast the year went by, but much more on that later. I taught tenth grade English this year. I know, talk about ironic. Unfortunately I didn't get to teach any of your class. Unfortunate for me but probably fortunate for you. I did get to know many of the seniors though, through the activities I took part in, the shows we did and by just being here and connecting with some of you during the many times I was lost in the hallways. It's a big school. Actually I was only lost for the first month or two. I have it down now, well maybe not the basement. The kids I did get to know are some of the most positive and exciting young people that I have ever met. Not only interesting but interested in their school, their city, their country and their world. Right from the beginning the seniors welcomed me. My first week before the kids came to school a couple of football playing seniors helped me set up and decorate my room. They were so tall I didn't need a ladder. They helped me put up my fadeless paper. Fadeless paper, that's teacher-talk. Graphic organizer, model it, collaborative learning. Watch out; don't make me say Venn diagram.

I want you all to know how honored I am that I have been asked to speak at your commencement, and how lucky I feel to have been at Northeast for your senior year. By the way isn't it interesting that graduation is called commencement. That's because it's not the end, it really is the beginning of your adult life. Are you a little afraid? I would be. When I commenced I was afraid, and the world you face today is so very different from the one I faced when I graduated in 1968. Please don't do the math. Suffice to say, I can smell sixty, and it's not the worst smell. Anyway, as you know, it is a different world you are graduating into. It has always been tough to support yourself and your family but today the obstacles are many. The good news is you have done something by finishing High School and getting your diploma that almost 50 percent of kids your age don't do. That's right 50 percent, 1 out of 2 kids that start High school in America do not finish. And unlike when I graduated there are few, if any, jobs for people with no education or training. So you beat the odds. You've set the table for a good life. I know your families are so proud and they should be. I think I can speak for your teachers and everyone who works at the school, to say, we are also so proud of all of you. After all, you are the product that we produce and we love seeing the fruits of our labor. Especially when that fruit is so sweet.
When I was asked to speak today by your amazing senior adviser, Mr. Stern. Let's hear it for Mr. Stern. So when he asked me I was flattered but then I started to think, wow, this might be the most important speech I have ever had to make. I was telling a friend how important it was to me and he said, that's because you want to say something that they will always remember." I said no, I couldn't expect that, but I did hope that the graduates would think about it for that moment. That it wouldn't just go in one ear and out the other. So, what to say? I am reminded of something that happened at the beginning of the year before the first football game. I know some of you were there. I was pretending to be a coach, had my whistle and everything. I was such a bad coach I had trouble blowing the whistle. Anyway, Coach Riley suddenly asked me to give a pre-game speech to the team. I was a little shocked, but I swallowed hard stepped up and looked into the puzzled faces of all the players. I heard one player whisper to another, who is this guy? I wasn't crazy about the answer. The kid said, I don't know but I think my grandmother 's a fan. Anyway I start to speak and I was trying to connect the teams challenge, in the game, with my challenge of trying to be a good first year teacher. Didn't work out too well. I finished in a crescendo and said OK? Nothing, crickets. Maybe the worst pre-game speech ever given and we went out and lost the game too. A very bad day and a rotten speech, but, there is always a bright side, it's a Great Television episode.
Like I said earlier, you have achieved something important but it really is just the beginning. All of you have a responsibility to keep learning. To keep educating yourselves, whether you continue your formal education or not. Actually it is easier to learn after high school because it becomes easier to see the relevance of why you need to learn. Why it matters to your life. And it is up to you now to make your life, to find your purpose. While you are doing this, try to remember the absolutes. What's right and what's wrong. The stuff we were all taught. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves of those absolutes when it comes to our own self interest. Just look at the financial crisis or the oil gusher in the Gulf. One way to do that is to keep informed and keep an open mind. The art of listening is something we should all practice. Especially yours truly. By the way, tell the truth, the tassel was worth the hassle. Feels pretty good huh? For those of you not going to a four-year college. Whether you are continuing in a community college or in a vocational training program make sure you do something to make yourself good at what you do. Trained people are and will be the most sought after for employment. There are too many untrained, unskilled workers to expect to find a job that will allow you to make a happy life for yourself. When kids ask me about trying to make it as an actor, I tell them to study it. Go to school for it. Do school plays, read acting books, take drama classes and get good at it. There's a confidence that comes with expertise and confidence is very important when you're after a job or a career. Then try to put yourself where you might get lucky. If you want to be an actor, go to where the actors are, a businessman go to where you would like to end up. Now, in a perfect world it would be great to make a living doing something you love and that should be your aim. But all of us have to be realistic and there sometimes comes a day when you have to put your dreams in your pocket and make a life for yourself. Believe me, this I know about, it's not the worst thing. You'll make a hobby of your dream and what you love, and you'll appreciate that you have work.
If you are going to college whether you are going away to school or staying at home make it count. You won't believe this but college actually seems to go by faster than your high school. I know it's hard for young people to look years ahead but believe me the years will fly by. Didn't you all just get to Northeast? I gave one detention this year and by the way I didn't know that when I gave a detention, I had to be there. Don't they go to some detention place? I had a conversation with the girl and asked her how long did she think she would be in school. She said "oh forever". I said no. Here's your whole life, this much is school. You don't want to be over here looking back saying why didn't I make the most of it. So make the most of your college years. Know, that you can be a good student AND have a great time. It's not one or the other, but it is up to you to set your priorities and budget your time. Your family won't be around and you will truly be, for the first time in your life, on your own. Free to make your own decisions and enjoy or suffer the consequences of those decisions. You, who ARE going on to four-year colleges, aim high. I read somewhere that most people don't aim too high and miss, they aim too low and hit. Take advantage of your youth. You have the time and the opportunity to find your passion. But remember that time is finite. I will just remind again you how fast High School went by. Don't waste it. And, if the time you have now is well spent, your whole life will be enhanced. It's that important. Shakespeare says, "there is a tide in the affairs of men (and for our purposes today, women) which taken at the flood leads on to fortune, omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. So work hard and make the most of your opportunities. By being here today, you've already seen hard work pay off.
Now here are some general AFTER high school tips. Make sure you take care of yourselves. That means don't abuse your bodies. Understand that even you will get older and your body will hurt if you don't take care of it. TAKE YOUR TIME WITH LOVE. Don't be in such a rush. For you girls, know that the guys are up to no good. For the guys, be responsible. Both men and women must understand that the choices you make are pivotal. One wrong move and YOUR life is very different, and there are other lives involved. I have two daughters and a son. People often say to me it must have been harder raising the girls. I admit girls do present some unique challenges but I think it is the way we raise our young men that is also important. Remember; get your own lives in order before you have to think about taking care of someone else. Another good lesson for all of us is to learn to try to make the best of bad situations. Not all situations are truly bad but often they can be trying, because you have limited choices. It is how you handle these kinds of situations that say more about you than how you deal when things are going well. Here's a silly example, this year I was able to take my kids to NY to see a play and eat at my friend's restaurant. A&E wanted me to do a show for them so I traded the show for a trip for the kids. The situation was that our great principle Ms. Carroll decided to come on the trip as a chaperone. That's not really a bad situation but you get the idea because the kids, upon hearing this, were in an uproar. "We don't want the principal on our trip". It wasn't Ms. Carroll it was just the idea of the principal on their trip. I told them this was a great lesson. Because Ms. Carroll was going on the trip and we could handle it one of two ways. We could tell her we didn't want her on the trip and hurt her feelings. I hear she has a great memory. Or we could write her and ask her to join us. Show we love her and have a friend in the principal's office. That's what we did and we had a great time. The lesson is making the best of things. No moaning no groaning. Even try looking for a way that it can work to your advantage. We love you Ms Carroll.
I want to take a moment to speak to the parents and families. First congratulations to you all. You have stood by your child and it has, so far, paid off, but we all know your work is not done. Please don't stop having high expectations for your child. Be there for them but call on them to start being an adult. Not all the way but get them started. Sorry graduates it's time. And kids remember that if you have someone who cares about you and is committed to your education and your future, you are very lucky. Many kids don't have that. Don't waste their concern. Honor it by being the best you can be. As a teacher I appreciate parents and families that stress the importance of education because the schools and the teachers can't do it alone. We need your support. We need a culture that celebrates education that holds it up high where it belongs. That understands that it is education, whether vocational or collegiate, that is the only hope for a productive and happy life.
Now I would like to speak for you the class of 2010 and thank your teachers. Thank you to the teachers who were there every day, the teachers that put up with your moods, told you to put away your phones or take out your ear buds. Watched what you wore, once again, I had nothing to do with the uniform policy, Thank you to the teachers who agonized over your grades and tried as hard as they could to give you what you will need as you continue on in life.
Lastly I would like to thank everyone here at Northeast. This has been the greatest year of my life. I learned more and worked harder than I ever have. I met people I will always look up to and students I will never forget. I don't know what the future holds for me or the show, but I do know that I am a different and better person because of all of you and I thank you for that. I don't want to show off but as I was teaching a poetry segment this year I learned a great poem and I think it fits the occasion. So if you will indulge me? The poem is "If" by Rudyard Kipling. If you can keep your head while all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you but make allowance for their doubting too. If you can wait and not be tired by waiting or being lied about don't deal in lies, or being hated don't give way to hating. And yet don't look to good or talk to wise. If you can dream and not make dreams your master, if you can think and not make thoughts your aim, if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same. If you can bear to hear the truths you've spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools or watch the things you gave your life to broken, and stoop and build them up with worn out tools. If you can make one heap of your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch and toss and lose and start again at your beginnings and never breathe a word of your loss. If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone, and so hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says to them Hold on. If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with kings nor lose that common touch, if neither foes or loving friends can hurt you, if all men count with you but none to much. If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds of distance run, yours is the earth and everything in it and which is more you'll be a man or woman each one.
Thank you everyone congratulations graduates. Make your lives count. One last thing. Any Vikings in the house?t