graduation

The following excerpts are from a speech delivered at the 2017 Beekman graduation and awards ceremony:

Who hasn’t heard these phrases before:

It's that time of year again. 

I’ve attended dozens of graduations in my lifetime.  They often follow the same format: a couple of prominent speakers (relative to the audience), a little laughter, a few tears, and graduates who don’t remember much about the ceremony a year, a month, or sometimes even a day after the fact.  Yet