This is a collection of sample greetings with encouragement and advice for high school students about to enter college. We’ve organized them to help you give appropriate advice to students at entrance ceremonies and admissions talks in a variety of situations and examples.
Greetings from a cram school instructor at a college admissions presentation
Good morning, students and parents, and thank you all for attending our school’s admissions presentation today. It’s been a long and tough year, and your long journey is coming to an end. First of all, I would like to applaud your passion and hard work that has led you to this point.
Now, with admissions just around the corner, you’re going to need a college application strategy. This is the most important time of your life, when you’re going to have to make the most important decision of your life’s path based on all the hard work you’ve done. Much of the rest of your life will depend on the choices you make now. It’s not an exaggeration to say that most of the big moves in your life are made here, and today is the time to lay out a strategy that will get you there quickly and accurately. The path you want to take is likely to be one with a lot of competition, one that everyone is trying to get to, which is why so many students struggle with college selection and strategy. We hope that today’s admissions briefing will serve as a seasoned guide to those who are struggling with this difficult path, and a lighthouse to those who are lost in the sea. To that end, we have prepared this year’s on-time admissions strategy briefing with strategies for each university based on our years of experience and admissions analysis. We hope that through this time, you will be able to prepare for the entrance examination systematically and strategically, rather than haphazardly.
Some people say that school briefings like ours are encouraging competition and commoditizing entrance exams. But I don’t think that’s the case, because college admissions in Korea is a yearly labor of love, and to survive it, you need someone to give you accurate information, reliable and solid strategies. I’m sure you’ve come here to get those things too. I wish you all the best of luck, and I hope that the road to your destination is as quick and easy as possible. That’s all for now, so please take a look at the materials we have prepared and let’s get started.
Women’s University Personal Development Lecture (What is Beauty?)
Hello, everyone. I’m the presenter of today’s lecture. What are women’s main interests? Most women are interested in beauty, so what is beauty? If you’re thinking big eyes, a big nose, and a sharp face, you’re wrong. I think true beauty is comfort and confidence. If you believe you are beautiful, you are beautiful. You can’t be beautiful if you’re insecure. The simple truth is that every woman is beautiful by default and can be beautiful. Armed with a little bit of the right knowledge and the right products, you can make yourself shine. Natural beauty is something that will make you shine bright and colorful on your own, and no amount of bright lipstick or heavy makeup can make you look natural.
Sometimes I walk down a busy street and see people with pale skin wearing makeup. It’s almost like they’re wearing a mask instead of makeup. I want you to know that properly tanned skin can be more stunning, and that a little bit of makeup and age-appropriate freshness is more beautiful. The trend these days is to keep things simple and unadorned. It’s also a rejection of what’s becoming more and more sophisticated and artificial. I hope that your natural beauty will make you the coolest you can be. Thank you for listening. I wish you all the best for your families and your future. Thank you.
Greetings from the university president at the freshman welcome
Good morning, everyone. I would like to extend a warm welcome to you to our school. Some of you are here because you want to be here, and some of you are here because you were forced to be here.
When I was around twenty years old, I remember thinking that I wanted to leave Japan and live abroad. I didn’t like many things about Japan, especially that I felt stifled and unhappy, and I thought that no matter how hard I tried, success was not mine. I felt lonely, like there were only people in the world who were doing well. But what would have been different if I had moved abroad then? I would have been in denial again, regretting my choices and wishing I could go back to the past. We always miss the past. We miss high school, we miss a few days ago, and we think about those choices we made that day. When we think about it, we feel so stuck in the past. We’re living today by repeating old habits, not progressing, and longing for the glory of the past. How many of us truly live for today? The fact that you and I are sitting here today, face to face, probably started with some choice in the past, long ago.
In history, the past is said to be the mirror of today. In our lives, the past is the things that made us who we are today. We can’t change the past, right? We can’t change the past, but we don’t have to dwell on it. We can live our lives with an eye toward the future. Don’t you want to live your life as if you’re clutching at straws, clutching at this time of the day that will never come again? We’re a competitive society, but we’re being told to get off the competition bandwagon. I want you to put aside your TOEFL, your certifications, and start thinking about your attitude towards life and designing your future. Thank you for listening, everyone. I wish you all the best of luck.
Speech topic – Let’s save the planet!
Dear students, are you familiar with the planet we live on? It may sound like a silly question, but it’s clear that this planet we live on is very sick. Just as every disease has a main cause, the disease of our planet also has a main cause, and that cause is global warming.
Why is global warming happening? Greenhouse gases that cause the greenhouse effect are the most likely culprits, with carbon dioxide being the most prominent, and its amount has been increasing with human industrialization. In particular, it is reported that the freon gas molecule, which began to be used in modern times, causes the greenhouse effect the most. There is also a credible hypothesis that the warming phenomenon is intensified by human destruction of forests and shrinking coral reefs due to environmental pollution. The idea is that with fewer trees and corals, the natural world is unable to absorb the carbon dioxide in the air, and the amount of carbon dioxide continues to rise. In addition to these hypotheses, solar radiation is also contributing to rising temperatures. Of course, the dwindling ozone layer is also a factor. It’s a combination of these things, and the planet is showing its pain. Whether it’s sudden torrential rains, earthquakes, tsunamis, or killer heat waves, the planet is vomiting and diarrhea. Recently, red flags of warming upheaval have been detected around the planet. Everything is happening fast, and temperatures are rising as we speak. If the average temperature rises by just 1°C in the future, the future will be dramatically different. Global warming doesn’t just change the average temperature, it changes the climate system entirely, causing droughts and floods to occur in one place after another. Increasingly dry forests are also opening up areas to wildfires, as we’ve seen in Australia.
What would happen to the planet if global temperatures increased by 6 degrees Celsius? The deserts will spread out, natural disasters will become a daily occurrence, and some of the biggest cities will be submerged or in ruins. Therefore, it can be concluded that if the temperature rises by 6 degrees in 100 years, global catastrophe is inevitable. A 6-degree increase in global temperature is tantamount to the doomsday of the planet. In order to prevent such an extreme event, everyone on Earth will have to be sensitive to the global environment from now on. To conserve energy resources, we need to reduce heating and cooling in our homes and workplaces, conserve water, avoid idling cars, use public transportation, and encourage carpooling. We will also need to shift our consumption to more environmentally friendly products, and recycling waste is an important way to do this. In addition, let’s take care of trees and plant them to make our lungs healthier. Let’s work together to lift the dark cloud over our planet. Let’s save the planet. Let’s all do it!
Remarks by the President of the University Event (Let’s be creative!)
All students in this room! The world needs creative people now. Do you know what creative thinking is? It is difficult to think creatively when you grow up and adapt to the organized society for a long time. All organized societies operate on a systematic basis to achieve good results, so you have to move and think according to the system. It’s hard to think outside of that box because it’s the sum of many people’s efforts, one or two at a time, and you have to define your role within it, like dominoes, where if one falls, the others will follow. Our society wants creative people, but it’s easy to forget how to think creatively when you’re working in a social system. But you haven’t stepped foot in a company yet, so everyone has new ideas, and if you start organizing those ideas now, and develop an eye for looking at things from multiple angles, you’ll be able to blend your creativity into the organizational social system.
Indoctrination is a product of a bygone era, and every young person has to forge their own path. It can be a very heavy burden on your shoulders, but with more possibilities to do what you want, you’ll have more and more choices about how to live your life and what you want to do with it.
There are no right answers in this world. Our school will do its best to help you develop into a creative person by respecting your individuality, and our faculty members will give you advice and guide you in a good way to shape your individuality so that you can become a person who can benefit society. I hope you will never lose your creative mind.
University Commencement Lecturer Advice (Raise your standards!)
Hello, everyone. I’m an admissions expert. Congratulations on becoming a college student. I’m sure every student entered college with their dreams and goals in mind. There’s a saying. “Dream big, like a mountain!” How do you dream big, like a mountain? It’s simple. You have to raise your own bar. If you truly want to make a difference, you must first raise your own bar.
There are many people in history who lived great and wonderful lives because they raised the bar for themselves. Changing the world starts with the simple act of changing ourselves. It doesn’t matter how big or tall the mountain is, once you’ve climbed it, it’s already a small mountain under your feet, but it all starts with the first step. That’s how you raise the bar, by taking the smallest steps and perfecting them. Raise your standards, and dream big. If you keep a positive attitude about everything and take it one step at a time, your dreams will come true. We all have so many untapped possibilities in our subconscious minds, and with love and praise and encouragement, we can become better and more confident.
Thank you for listening. I wish you all the best for your families and your future. Thank you.
Greetings from the CEO of the Self-Development Lecture
Hello, everyone. I am the CEO in charge of the personal development lectures for university students. First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you for inviting me to this event. I was just an ordinary student, but I always tried to be extraordinary in the midst of the ordinary. I always wondered what kind of person I was, how much potential I had, and what I would do with my life. I thought about it before I went to sleep, and even more so when I was alone. In college, I chose my majors based on my scores, never based on my interests. I felt like I had to have at least a minimal interest in it to make it work, so I chose what I wanted to study. I wish I could have graduated from high school, had a couple of years of social life, found a job that suited my aptitude, and then enrolled in a related major, as is the case in other countries, but I didn’t. I was an average student, and it wasn’t easy to break out of that mold.
When you’re in college, you should do what you want to do rather than what you have to do, and I tried to make my college years fulfilling and regret-free because I thought it was my last chance to do those things, and that would help me find my way in the future. My friends were busy building common sense, writing, reading newspapers, English magazines, studying, and attending conferences. I looked at them and was afraid that I would be left behind. But I knew the answer was within me. I wanted to find the answers for myself. Opportunity only comes to those who are prepared.
There was a college student CEO boom around the time I started my own business, so there was a lot of information and help available. But most importantly, it was followed by thorough research and preparation. You have to be crazy to succeed in business. Finding what’s crazy in you is the first step.
We live in an age where the average life expectancy is increasing, and I was frustrated as to why I had to decide everything in my 20s when life is so long. I wish I had more time to think about it, experience it, and slowly decide what I really want to do. I’m sure the answer is within me. Thank you all for listening. I wish you all peace in your homes and in your futures. Thank you.
Greetings from a university commencement speaker
A beautiful eleven-year-old girl named Edda Van Hemstra was studying ballet at a dance school. She was skilled and beautiful at heart, and since 1944, she had been secretly gathering people together to perform ballets to raise money to help the Dutch resistance. By the end of each performance, the crowd would be stunned and silent with emotion. But after D-Day, things took a turn for the worse in the Netherlands. Allied bombing raids intensified, while the Germans blocked supply routes.
It was not uncommon for Dutch people to starve and freeze to death in the streets. ‘Edda’, like many others, used to make bread from tulip roots, which she ground into flour. She experienced extreme poverty and hunger. After the Netherlands was liberated from Germany, trucks with relief supplies from the United Nations came in, but Edda drank whole cans of condensed milk and ate so much sugar in her oatmeal that she got sick. She wanted to succeed as a ballerina, so she asked a specialist for advice, but the answer was that she was too tall for a ballerina. And since she was malnourished during the war, it was unlikely that she would be able to make it as a ballerina because she was too thin. In addition, after the war, her mother’s odd jobs were not enough to support their poor family, and Edda needed to earn money. For this reason, she gave up ballerina and chose to become a movie star. Edda’s choice heralded the birth of a star in Audrey Hepburn. She starred in ‘Roman Holiday’, ‘How To Steal A Million’, ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’, and ‘Wait Until Dark’. Audrey Hepburn’s brilliant acting and dazzling beauty made her a household name. Why did she succeed as an actress?
You’ve completed three years of high school and are now taking your first steps into the world of work. Some of you have chosen the majors you’ve always wanted, some of you have chosen the majors you didn’t want, some of you came to university because your parents wanted you to, and some of you got in based on your grades. The important thing is that you give it your all, whether it’s because you wanted to or because you had no choice. I want you to think that if you can’t give it your all, you can’t give it your all. Because at the end of the day, we’re standing here today as a result of our choices. Thank you, everyone, for listening.
Greetings from the University President at Commencement
Good morning, everyone. I would like to extend a hearty welcome to all of you who have been admitted to the University of Tokyo. We all have dreams for our lives as university students. Some of us will read self-help books and constantly build up our resume to win, while others will travel alone to find our true selves. Are we just dreaming without taking action? Are we simply dreaming of success without the fear of failure?
Students who are trying to build their specs are looking to the future; they can’t give up. Success promises a nice car, an apartment, luxury goods, and the possibility of a stable marriage, but failure pushes them into the so-called underbelly of life. The door to success is narrower, and the gap between the successful and unsuccessful lives grows ever wider. Self-care has become a survival instinct for young adults, so we’re insecure, so we don’t play. We don’t play freely, but we play frivolously. We’re not playing, we’re not studying, for example, we’re compelled to study for a test while we’re watching TV. How much willpower have we been living with?
We feel compelled to do something, but how much action do we take? I’m sure there are some of us who only think about it, and some of us who put in a little effort and get frustrated that the world doesn’t recognize us. There will be the 1% of people who do their best and get what they want.
We’re big proponents of a winner’s world. I believe Korea’s economy will continue to grow, and I believe I will be a winner too, but only the 1% will make it. One in 100 people. Think about whether that could be you! Think about it, act on it, but don’t forget that you have to be the best you can be! You have to go beyond reading self-help books and try to follow them. Don’t blame the times for making you this way, let’s rise above the times we live in. Everyone can do it. I hope you have a great college experience and grow into a more mature person. Thank you.
