My Graduation

In the USA graduation is different than in Korea. In Korea you have a graduation ceremony every year, but we don't do that in America. In America your graduation will depend on the school you go to. Some schools have an elementary graduation, or middle school graduation, but some schools don't. For me, I only had a high school and university graduation. But, some of my friends had middle school graduation. It's also very common for people to have a graduation from preschool and kindergarten.   I can only explain two types of graduation well, the two graduations I had. My first graduation was from high school. At my high school graduation the weather was very hot, so we held the ceremony outside at our football field. The top students in my graduating class sat in the front rows. I was not in that group -_-;;;   Traditionally three people will give a speech, but not always. One person is an important person. This person is often a graduate from the high school in the past, or an important person in the town. At my graduation, a doctor who graduated from my school gave the speech. There are two important students who will also give speeches.   The person who has the second highest grade point average (GPA) is called the salutatorian. The salutatorian usually gives a short speech for maybe one or two minutes. The main speech is given by the valedictorian. The valedictorian has the highest grade point average in the school. Their speech is usually 10 or 15 minutes and often the valedictorian will talk about how graduation is the beginning of a new future and that all of the students should stay friends. I am still friends with the valedictorian from my school. We are the only people who have lived away from the USA and not been in the military to do so. She works in a company in Denmark.   After my graduation we had a big party at my father's house. Many people came and ate barbecue food and gave me and my sister money. My sister and I graduated at the same time!   The other graduation I had was from my university. The main difference between my university graduation and my high school graduation was how many people were graduating. In high school I graduated with less than 90 people. My university graduation, however, had many more people. Actually, at my university, I did not know most of the people, so it was very boring. There was a person who gave a speech, like at my high school graduation, but she wasn't very famous. She was just married to an important person. It was a little disappointing, because the year before a famous actor gave the speech at my school.   I think the most special part about my graduation was that my father and grandmother were there. It was cool because all of us graduated from the same university. After my graduation my family and I went to a really expensive restaurant and ate the buffet. It was really yummy!