When the temperatures start to spike in the 90’s and parades and street fairs start to block traffic everywhere, you can also bet that parents are buying film and videotape and new clothes for that special moment when they see their child walk across the stage and take a piece of paper that means they have graduated.

This is also one of the busiest and most gratifying times for
me because each year I have the opportunity to speak to young people and their parents all over the city at graduation ceremonies.

Each group — like the neighborhoods they come from — has different personalities and characteristics, but I couldn’t help but notice the difference between two specific neighborhoods this year.

I spoke at the graduation for my alma mater Middle School 192 . . . which you’ve heard me speak about before . . . and at I.S. 67 in Bayside. It was an example to me of how resources are either unevenly distributed or are misused.

Both ceremonies were beautifully put together, but I couldn’t help but notice some obvious things. M.S. 192 was themed by a small group of about eight kids who sounded great with the help of their instructor, who used a synthesizer. The I.S. 67 kids had what seemed like an orchestra . . . about three times the size.

O.K., so maybe they just had more parents donate instruments or the money to buy them.

But the other big difference was that all but one senior from I.S. 67 in Bayside graduated, while about a hundred M.S. 192 seniors didn’t make it.

That, of course, is the bigger, more important problem.

For the parents of kids who are leaving either Junior High or High School, you should know that all things being equal . . . as the saying goes . . . things are not the same across the board.

And for those of you who were fortunate enough to make the walk across a stage this week, you should know your journey has only just begun. The disparity you can draw from the example of the two graduations is what the real world is like.

When I heard graduation speeches in junior high and high school so many years ago, they made the world seem like this great BIG buffet that was just waiting for me to grab whatever I needed from it. I know now the world is more like an expensive restaurant which you need to call a year in advance to get a spot and where there are a limited number of tables inside.

My message to those of you whom I could not speak to directly this year is this: It doesn’t matter if you are at the top of your class or a scrub that just got by. You can change your life around for the better in the next four years of your life.

I speak mainly to those of you in the middle or back of the pack who aren’t sure about your abilities or about what lies ahead.

Winners will win for the most part, and losers will lose despite all the efforts of the people around them who believe they can win. You have to want to win . . . No one can be dragged to victory.

Those of you who want to beat the odds of losing only have to do two things to get what you want: You must PLAN and then you must EXECUTE that plan.

The world is filled with so many people who only do one or the other. Executing different ideas without a plan generally leads to failure. Having ideas and goals in your head without the will to execute them stifles many dreams as well.

Do not be a person who looks back on your life 20 years from now and says "I wasted so much time." You can avoid that by writing down what you want, writing down what you need to do to accomplish that mission, and then methodically doing those things, one by one.

There will be failures along the way, but that in itself is not a bad thing . . . Like when you were learning to walk or ride a bike, the rules of nature hold true.

Simply get up and try again.

Many young people ask me, "How many times should I try to get a scholarship for school?" or "How many times should I call for that Internship or job?", "How many nights do I have to prepare for that test or presentation?"

They believe the number is something hard like 10 or a hundred. My answer is this "Just one more time."

That is the main thing I hope young people take away from anything I say to them as they begin their journey into adulthood.

Stealing from the Bible, I always close . . .the race isn’t for the strong or the mighty (and I add), the smartest or the richest. The race is for those who can endure.