开学英文演讲稿

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开学英文演讲稿 篇1

win at the starting line good afternoon, everyone. very happy to see so many new faces here. i am wang pengyuan, a senior student from class 1101. today, it gives me a great honor to give a welcome speech here, to share with you some of my experiences as well as give you some suggestions in the beginning of your college life. actually, i am very much curious about your definitions of a good college life at this special point. someone once complained to me that the college life is totally a waste of time and money. do you think so? the answer is definitely no. here i want to tell you that if you try to manage your college life well, you will find that it will be really a valuable part of your life. and now i’m going to share with you my personal experiences of my college life. i remember when i was a freshman, a junior student was giving a speech on this stage i was so impressed by her, and made my mind to study hard. so what i did in my pervious three years was just about making full use of college resources to develop my own potentials. in my first year, i studied hard as i did in my high school, attending every class, listening to teachers carefully, reviewing after class and doing homework by myself. college at that time was a brand new stage for me, i was trying to find my way of adapting to it quickly. i participated in various kinds of activities to improve my abilities, such as joining in the students union, going to the old people’s home, selling newspapers outside campus, taking part in chorus competition and recitation contest. i think my ability is somehow improved through the year of efforts. the second year was a very important turning point for me. i tried to learn more by myself and then apply the knowledge into practice. the very important event for me is the 18th china daily 21st century cup national english speaking competition in which i got the first prize in our school. but what i want to mention is only the benefits i gained from this competition, for example, my english speaking ability has been improved, and no longer afraid of saying a word in public and also i made friends with many students from other universities with whom i can share experience. and some other competitions like hubei provincial translation and interpreting competition, and so many more. another part is the social activities. in july XX, i went to singapore to be a volunteer in the second international traditional martial arts competition. that was also an amazing experience in my life. as you can see that i witnessed with my own eyes a different culture thus broadening my horizons. so here i want to appeal to you all that seize every opportunity to develop yourself, for the college is an integrated platform in the journey of your life through which you are bound to grow up. the third years seems like a great leap for me. equipped with the solid foundation i laid in the previous two years, i further participated in some important major-related contests, such as the outlook talent show held by cctv, the fifth cross-strait interpreting competition and national english ability competition. through all these contests, i found myself much more confident in the road ahead. next i’m going to give you some suggestions to help you manage your college life better. suggestion1: learn as much as possible. for most of us college can be an unforgettable period for us to learn something. some one once said that university is like a dye vat, which means that you may be easily influenced by others. if you want to learn something you will be embraced by knowledge and wisdom; and if you don’t have the desire to learn you will find you get nothing after 4 years’ college life. suggestion2: cultivate your potentials and interests. as we know, university is an integrated platform compared with high school. you do not need to bury your head in the books all day long. you need to conduct your self-cultivation and find where your interests lie in. for example, if you have the talent for dancing, you can join in the dance association. just show it. life will be colorful if there is joy. suggestion3: always be optimistic and hopeful. everybody knows that college life is mostly determined by ourselves. sometimes you may find that teachers can’t instruct you in every aspects. so you may easily come across difficulties with which you will get bored. but please remember that life has its ups and downs, adversity is just part of our lives. be optimistic, you will always find your way out. in a word, combine all the suggestions i’ve mentioned above with your own characteristics and stick to it, you will find success lies in somewhere along the road. ok, since time is limited, i will stop here. if you have further question, come to me, i will always be willing to help. that’s my part for today. thank you.

开学英文演讲稿 篇2

The president:

Hello, everybody! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. All right, everybody go ahead and have a seat. How is everybody doing today? (applause.) How about tim spicer? (applause.) I am here with students at wakefield high school in arlington, virginia. And we've got students tuning in from all across america, from kindergarten through 12th grade. And i am just so glad that all could join us today. And i want to thank wakefield for being such an outstanding host. Give yourselves a big round of applause. (applause.)

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it's your first day in a new school, so it's understandable if you're a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now -- (applause) -- with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you're in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer and you could've stayed in bed just a little bit longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When i was young, my family lived overseas. I lived in indonesia for a few years. And my mother, she didn't have the money to send me where all the american kids went to school, but she thought it was important for me to keep up with an american education. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, monday through friday. But because she had to go to work, the only time she could do it was at 4:30 in the morning.

Now, as you might imagine, i wasn't too happy about getting up that early. And a lot of times, i'd fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever i'd complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and she'd say, "this is no picnic for me either, buster." (laughter.)

So i know that some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But i'm here today because i have something important to discuss with you. I'm here because i want to talk with you about your education and what's expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now, i've given a lot of speeches about education. And i've talked about responsibility a lot.

I've talked about teachers' responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you to learn.

I've talked about your parents' responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and you get your homework done, and don't spend every waking hour in front of the tv or with the xbox.

I've talked a lot about your government's responsibility for setting high standards, and supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren't working, where students aren't getting the opportunities that they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, the best schools in the world -- and none of it will make a difference, none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities, unless you show up to those schools, unless you pay attention to those teachers, unless you listen to your parents and grandparents and other adults and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. That's what i want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education.

I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something that you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a great writer -- maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper -- but you might not know it until you write that english paper -- that english class paper that's assigned to you. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor -- maybe even good enough to come up with the next iphone or the new medicine or vaccine -- but you might not know it until you do your project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a senator or a supreme court justice -- but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life, i guarantee that you'll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? you want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? you're going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got to train for it and work for it and learn for it.

And this isn't just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. The future of america depends on you. What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You'll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and aids, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You'll need the insights and critical-thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You'll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents and your skills and your intellect so you can help us old folks solve our most difficult problems. If you don't do that -- if you quit on school -- you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country.

Now, i know it's not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what it's like. My father left my family when i was two years old, and i was raised by a single mom who had to work and who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn't always able to give us the things that other kids had. There were times when i missed having a father in my life. There were times when i was lonely and i felt like i didn't fit in.

So i wasn't always as focused as i should have been on school, and i did some things i'm not proud of, and i got in more trouble than i should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But i was -- i was lucky. I got a lot of second chances, and i had the opportunity to go to college and law school and follow my dreams. My wife, our first lady michelle obama, she has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn't have a lot of money. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don't have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job and there's not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don't feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren't right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life -- what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home -- none of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude in school. That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. There is no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you, because here in america, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That's what young people like you are doing every day, all across america.

Young people like jazmin perez, from roma, texas. Jazmin didn't speak english when she first started school. Neither of her parents had gone to college. But she worked hard, earned good grades, and got a scholarship to brown university -- is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to becoming dr. Jazmin perez.

I'm thinking about andoni schultz, from los altos, california, who's fought brain cancer since he was three. He's had to endure all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer -- hundreds of extra hours -- to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind. He's headed to college this fall.

And then there's shantell steve, from my hometown of chicago, illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods in the city, she managed to get a job at a local health care center, start a program to keep young people out of gangs, and she's on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

And jazmin, andoni, and shantell aren't any different from any of you. They face challenges in their lives just like you do. In some cases they've got it a lot worse off than many of you. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their lives, for their education, and set goals for themselves. And i expect all of you to do the same.

That's why today i'm calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education -- and do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending some time each day reading a book. Maybe you'll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you'll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like i do, that all young people deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you'll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, by the way, i hope all of you are washing your hands a lot, and that you stay home from school when you don't feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

But whatever you resolve to do, i want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

I know that sometimes you get that sense from tv that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality tv star. chances are you're not going to be any of those things.

The truth is, being successful is hard. You won't love every subject that you study. You won't click with every teacher that you have. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right at this minute. And you won't necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That's okay. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who've had the most failures. J.k. rowling's -- who wrote harry potter -- her first harry potter book was rejected 12 times before it was finally published. Michael jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. He lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "i have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that's why i succeed."

These people succeeded because they understood that you can't let your failures define you -- you have to let your failures teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently the next time. So if you get into trouble, that doesn't mean you're a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to act right. If you get a bad grade, that doesn't mean you're stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one's born being good at all things. You become good at things through hard work. You're not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don't hit every note the first time you sing a song. You've got to practice. The same principle applies to your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right. You might have to read something a few times before you understand it. You definitely have to do a few drafts of a paper before it's good enough to hand in.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength because it shows you have the courage to admit when you don't know something, and that then allows you to learn something new. So find an adult that you trust -- a parent, a grandparent or teacher, a coach or a counselor -- and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you, don't ever give up on yourself, because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of america isn't about people who quit when things got tough. It's about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It's the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and they founded this nation. Young people. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded google and twitter and facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, i want to ask all of you, what's your contribution going to be? what problems are you going to solve? what discoveries will you make? what will a president who comes here in 20 or 50 or 100 years say about what all of you did for this country?

Now, your families, your teachers, and i are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books and the equipment and the computers you need to learn. But you've got to do your part, too. So i expect all of you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down. Don't let your family down or your country down. Most of all, don't let yourself down. Make us all proud.

Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. God bless america. Thank you. (applause.)

开学英文演讲稿 篇3

You will no longer fear making new sounds, showing new facial expressions, using your body in new ways,approaching new people, and asking new questions. you will live every single day of your life with absolute passion, and you will show your passion through the words you speak and the actions you take. you will focus all your time and effort on the most important goals of your life. you will never succumb to challenges of hardships. you will never waver in your pursuit of excellence. after all,you are the best, and you deserve the best!

As your coach and friend, i can assure you the door to all the best things in the world will open to you, but the key to that door is in your hand. you must do your part, you must faithfully follow the plans you make and take the actions you plan, you must never quit, you must never fear. i know you must do it, you can do it, you will do it, and you will succeed!

Now stand firm and tall, make a fist, get excited, and yell it out: i must do it! i can do it! i will do it! i will succeed! i must do it! i can do it! i will do it! i will succeed! i must do it! i can do it! i will do it! i will succeed!

开学英文演讲稿 篇4

Good morning ladies and gentlemen,I’m Jiang Lin from Shandong Province.It's my pleasure to be here in front of you to introduce myself.I’m now studying in Grade 3 in No.1 middle school of my hometown and I'll finish my study here this summer.

About my character, I can’t describe it well, but generally speaking,I am a hard_working student especially when I do the things I am interested in. And I am optimistic and confident. Sometimes I prefer to stay alone, reading, listening to music, but I am not lonely, In my spare time,I often go shopping with my friends,surf on the Internet and do some sports,such as running,table tennis and roller_skating. I even got the 4th place in the 1500-meter race in my school sports meeting,which was a very glorious memory.But now since I’m faced with National College Entrance Examination,I can’t spend too much time doing sports.But this busy life has also taught me how to balance between study and entertainment.Also I love English very much.I often write compositions to improve my witten ability, but I know my english is not good enough,I still need to make an effort.

This is a brief introduction of myself.At last I really look forward to being admitted and becoming part of the NUS team. Thank you very much.

开学英文演讲稿 篇5

It’s a very intresting topic today.

I think my dad was a hero for me when i was a young child. wed go fishing, walks, and other fun things for a kid.

every child has a good and great father, and so do i. my dad played a very important role in my daily life exactly speaking, in my past 16 years.

My father always stands in the center of my life， from past till now and possibly in the future.

My family was rather poor when i was in my childhood. we didnt have our own house and had to live in a shabby， small room rented from my fathers factory. the room was so small that there was little space for people to walk. i didnt have my own bed and had to sleep with my parents. this is terrible both for my parents and me. but father made this all different！he works very hard on his own business, now we have our own 2 housese,surly,i have my own room.and he take our family so much happiness, richer and richer.

When i was little, i did everything with my dad. you could always find me sitting on his knee or walking and doing everything with him. every night he would read me a bed time story and make the voices of each character.

I learnt a lot from my daddy. i learnt to never take things to seriously and to always smile.

Years pasted, my father is over 45 now. it is time for me to look after him and i am sure i will do and we will live an even better life. and i will say,i really love you dad,cause you are the hero in my mind.

Thank you so much!

开学英文演讲稿 篇6

The president:

Hello, everybody! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. All right, everybody go ahead and have a seat. How is everybody doing today? (applause.) How about tim spicer? (applause.) I am here with students at wakefield high school in arlington, virginia. And we've got students tuning in from all across america, from kindergarten through 12th grade. And i am just so glad that all could join us today. And i want to thank wakefield for being such an outstanding host. Give yourselves a big round of applause. (applause.)

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it's your first day in a new school, so it's understandable if you're a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now -- (applause) -- with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you're in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer and you could've stayed in bed just a little bit longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When i was young, my family lived overseas. I lived in indonesia for a few years. And my mother, she didn't have the money to send me where all the american kids went to school, but she thought it was important for me to keep up with an american education. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, monday through friday. But because she had to go to work, the only time she could do it was at 4:30 in the morning.

Now, as you might imagine, i wasn't too happy about getting up that early. And a lot of times, i'd fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever i'd complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and she'd say, "this is no picnic for me either, buster." (laughter.)

So i know that some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But i'm here today because i have something important to discuss with you. I'm here because i want to talk with you about your education and what's expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now, i've given a lot of speeches about education. And i've talked about responsibility a lot.

I've talked about teachers' responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you to learn.

I've talked about your parents' responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and you get your homework done, and don't spend every waking hour in front of the tv or with the xbox.

I've talked a lot about your government's responsibility for setting high standards, and supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren't working, where students aren't getting the opportunities that they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, the best schools in the world -- and none of it will make a difference, none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities, unless you show up to those schools, unless you pay attention to those teachers, unless you listen to your parents and grandparents and other adults and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. That's what i want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education.

I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something that you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a great writer -- maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper -- but you might not know it until you write that english paper -- that english class paper that's assigned to you. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor -- maybe even good enough to come up with the next iphone or the new medicine or vaccine -- but you might not know it until you do your project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a senator or a supreme court justice -- but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life, i guarantee that you'll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? you want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? you're going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got to train for it and work for it and learn for it.

And this isn't just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. The future of america depends on you. What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You'll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and aids, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You'll need the insights and critical-thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You'll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents and your skills and your intellect so you can help us old folks solve our most difficult problems. If you don't do that -- if you quit on school -- you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country.

Now, i know it's not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what it's like. My father left my family when i was two years old, and i was raised by a single mom who had to work and who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn't always able to give us the things that other kids had. There were times when i missed having a father in my life. There were times when i was lonely and i felt like i didn't fit in.

So i wasn't always as focused as i should have been on school, and i did some things i'm not proud of, and i got in more trouble than i should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But i was -- i was lucky. I got a lot of second chances, and i had the opportunity to go to college and law school and follow my dreams. My wife, our first lady michelle obama, she has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn't have a lot of money. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don't have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job and there's not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don't feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren't right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life -- what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home -- none of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude in school. That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. There is no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you, because here in america, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That's what young people like you are doing every day, all across america.

Young people like jazmin perez, from roma, texas. Jazmin didn't speak english when she first started school. Neither of her parents had gone to college. But she worked hard, earned good grades, and got a scholarship to brown university -- is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to becoming dr. Jazmin perez.

I'm thinking about andoni schultz, from los altos, california, who's fought brain cancer since he was three. He's had to endure all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer -- hundreds of extra hours -- to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind. He's headed to college this fall.

And then there's shantell steve, from my hometown of chicago, illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods in the city, she managed to get a job at a local health care center, start a program to keep young people out of gangs, and she's on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

And jazmin, andoni, and shantell aren't any different from any of you. They face challenges in their lives just like you do. In some cases they've got it a lot worse off than many of you. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their lives, for their education, and set goals for themselves. And i expect all of you to do the same.

That's why today i'm calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education -- and do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending some time each day reading a book. Maybe you'll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you'll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like i do, that all young people deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you'll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, by the way, i hope all of you are washing your hands a lot, and that you stay home from school when you don't feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

But whatever you resolve to do, i want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

I know that sometimes you get that sense from tv that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality tv star. chances are you're not going to be any of those things.

The truth is, being successful is hard. You won't love every subject that you study. You won't click with every teacher that you have. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right at this minute. And you won't necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That's okay. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who've had the most failures. J.k. rowling's -- who wrote harry potter -- her first harry potter book was rejected 12 times before it was finally published. Michael jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. He lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "i have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that's why i succeed."

These people succeeded because they understood that you can't let your failures define you -- you have to let your failures teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently the next time. So if you get into trouble, that doesn't mean you're a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to act right. If you get a bad grade, that doesn't mean you're stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one's born being good at all things. You become good at things through hard work. You're not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don't hit every note the first time you sing a song. You've got to practice. The same principle applies to your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right. You might have to read something a few times before you understand it. You definitely have to do a few drafts of a paper before it's good enough to hand in.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength because it shows you have the courage to admit when you don't know something, and that then allows you to learn something new. So find an adult that you trust -- a parent, a grandparent or teacher, a coach or a counselor -- and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you, don't ever give up on yourself, because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of america isn't about people who quit when things got tough. It's about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It's the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and they founded this nation. Young people. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded google and twitter and facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, i want to ask all of you, what's your contribution going to be? what problems are you going to solve? what discoveries will you make? what will a president who comes here in 20 or 50 or 100 years say about what all of you did for this country?

Now, your families, your teachers, and i are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books and the equipment and the computers you need to learn. But you've got to do your part, too. So i expect all of you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down. Don't let your family down or your country down. Most of all, don't let yourself down. Make us all proud.

Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. God bless america. Thank you. (applause.)