MHS Class of 2024 Orator Ivan Wu’s Speech

The following remarks were delivered by Malden High School Class of 2024 Orator Ivan Wu on Graduation Day, June 2, 2024

Congratulations, Malden High School Graduating Class of 2024! I want to thank families, friends, teachers, staff, alumni, curious onlookers, esteemed guests, crouching tigers, and hidden dragons for coming to celebrate the finest class to ever grace the halls of the MHS. As written.

I’m no public speaker. I may have a script here but I don’t have a plan. Pretty much sums up my high school experience. Frankly, the ocean of faces staring at me is enough for me to run off stage in tears. Nevertheless, there comes a time in our lives where we must rise to the occasion, and so I have put together the single greatest speech under the heavens.

Before anything, I’d first like to thank and honor my parents – my mom and dad – the strongest people I know, who have made incredible sacrifices for my education and have supported me in everything I do. In fact, it is their efforts that have helped me survive four years of high school, from the hopeless freshman locked in quarantine to the graduating senior delivering this speech. I also can’t forget to mention my brat of a little sister, who, for better or for worse, has always been there for me. And as for my friends, my fellow senior-class disciples, for better or for worse, they have been there to share the burden of the Daoist way with me as well.

I stand before you here today as your Orator. My job is to bore you for the next few minutes or so with references that no one else understands while I impart advice that a four-year-old could’ve come up with. But rest assured, mortal and immortal cultivators alike can learn from it, and I would not be speaking here today if I did not believe in it myself.

We all have, or had, different starting points in life. Now that we’re graduating, we will be taking on life starting at different points as well. However, regardless of where you’re starting, whether you struggled through math class or aced calculus, whether you stopped at the qi condensation realm or have breached golden core formation; regardless of where you’ll be going, whether it be the trades, college, the military, or the Shaolin Temple; your efforts will be rewarded in kind. Sorry, that was a bit of a lie. At times, you may find that it requires twice the effort for just half the results. Maybe even less. But they are results nonetheless.

This deceptively simple advice goes far beyond me just telling you to “never give up;” it is the Daoist way. Although I’m ranked third in the sect now, I have endured weakness in the past, drifting through school without a care in the world. However, one day, enlightenment dawned on me. This was neither profound nor remarkable; I had simply realized what I wanted to do. I was in my sophomore year and that summer I risked qi deviation to break through from Math 3 Honors into AP Calculus BC. I, a mere frog in a well, learned about the sky, and… I yearned to reach it.

This turning point in my journey is why I can stand here before you today. I made no shortage of mistakes along the way, and occasionally didn’t try hard enough where it mattered, but my efforts bore fruit in the end. The point is that any one of you seated here today can take the same path, rife with both successes and failures, and time will show you whether your efforts were worth it. From experience, you will not be disappointed. It sounds too good to be true, yes. But whether this is true or not, I suppose you’d have to put in the effort to find out.

With all that said, don’t underestimate what comes your way, fellow Daoists. These days, even with eyes, it can prove hard to recognize Mt. Tai. What I mean is that for every hardship, it’s easy to fall without putting in the equal or greater level of effort required. Even for seemingly easy obstacles, a fitting Chinese idiom exists: “A lion uses its full strength even when hunting a rabbit.” This reminds me of the story of a fallen fellow sect disciple from our senior class. I still remember his eager expression as he urged me to enroll in Linear Algebra with him this year. This was a college-level math class, by no means easy but not incredibly challenging either. Of course, by the end of the class, I, with a heavy heart, collected what remained of him into a dustpan and carefully laid him to rest. The very next day, his ghost came to find me, eagerly indicating his intention to enroll in Multivariable Calculus. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. If there is anything to take away from this story, it’s that you may fall along the way, with nothing to show for your efforts, but you can always build yourself back up.

At this point, some observant hidden masters may have realized what I’ve been saying this entire time. Truth be told, this entire speech could have been boiled down to a mere seven words: “Try your best, and never give up.”

If nothing else, please take these words with you to live by.

This truly was our Jujutsu Kaisen. Good luck, and thank you.