The Best Commencement Speeches Ever

For this website, NPR personnel selected over 300 commencement speeches dating back to 1774 on a variety of themes, including Work Hard, Be Kind, Embrace Failure, and Dream. Users may search by name, school, or year; or select a theme tab under the search box, which the Choice reviewer found to be the easiest method for locating speeches. The site offers photographs or other illustrations of the speakers, texts of the speeches, and, in some cases, a video of the speech so that users may analyze the presenter's speaking style. Speakers include celebrities Lisa Kudrow and Oprah Winfrey, Presidents Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy, coach Bobby Knight, and inspirational leaders like Mother Teresa. Many of the links lead to other sites, such as "Graduation  Wisdom  graduationwisdom.com/,  open the door to even more speeches. The "quote image" of the person, a quotation from the speech, and a link to the speech may be shared via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. Although similar sites may be found using various search engines, this website is more selective than most. It would make a good addition to speech class syllabi in high schools and colleges".

Recommended in November 2014 issue of Choice by J. J. Turner, Auraria Library.