Barbara Bush - Personal Thinking Essay

In my mind Barbara Bush did an excellent job at adapting her message to the graduating class at Wellesley College. Being the first lady Barbara Bush was probably used to speaking to older an older audience, not people graduating from college. However, even though that may be true she did a great job getting the students interested. She made it extremely easy to follow and it was obvious that she was talking to the graduating class and no one else. She talked about the beauty and spirit of the campus which all of the graduating students obviously agree with.   She also mentioned a quote from the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day off which was a huge hit at that time. She makes what she is saying relatable to the graduating class of 1990 and that is why she adapted so well to her audience.

Considering all of the discussion surrounding Barbara Bush making the commencement speech at Wellesley College she did a wonderful job adapting to the situation she was in. There were many people that were upset with the choice of having her make the speech. Students at Wellesley were taught that a woman’s hard work and education can lead them to success in the future.  However, Barbara Bush had dropped out of college to marry George Bush, so there was obviously some controversy about letting her give the speech. Even with all of this commotion going on Bush makes the speech fun to listen to.  She starts with the story about the mermaids and fitting in which grabbed the audience’s attention. She also made jokes about how she knew that she wasn’t the college’s first choice.  She stated, “ Now, I know your first choice today was Alice Walker” and then continued to make a joke about the color of her hair. She was inviting and even though she didn’t have a college education people were genuinely interested in what she had to say.

Giving a graduation speech is very different from what Barbara Bush usually does, however she did an excellent job at adapting to this occasion. When I think of graduation speeches I think of someone talking about how far we’ve come and everything in life that we have to look forward to. This is exactly what Barbara Bush did.  She talked about what is truly important in life like having a family and being a human being above everything else.  This is a topic that everyone in the auditorium could relate to.  She explains that the students are never going to remember the tests they failed, but they will remember the time they wished they could’ve spent with family and friends.  In my opinion she did a great job focusing on the future, which is what a graduation speech is supposed to be about.