Ryan Reynolds is celebrating the graduates – and their teachers – of his old high school!
The Deadpool star posted a video of his commencement speech for the students of his alma mater, Kitsilano High School in Vacnouver, Canada, on Friday (May 1), where he shared a “little chestnut of wisdom” with the graduating class.
“You’ve heard the expression ‘divide and conquer.’ You see it everywhere. And dividing people is just a means to distract them, disarm them, whereby giving one an opportunity to conquer, and the world seems to subsist on this idea more and more and more,” he said. “And it’s getting really f–king boring. It’s just overdone and I think that you guys want to be stylish and ahead of the curve. And I believe that your generation will be. So maybe practice the opposite, practice empathy.”
“Some of you might consider me successful. I don’t know some of you may have seen Green Lantern, but I’ll tell you this: empathy has gotten me so much more, so much farther,” he continued. “To my surprise [empathy] has made me money, friends, priceless memories. It’s allowed me to fully accept and provide love. It’s helped me recognize mistakes that I’ve made and learn from them. Above all it made me happy. It’s something I’ll probably be working on my whole life.”
“I know that as soon as you saw me you were expecting d–k jokes,” Ryan quipped towards the end of his speech. “I’m going to save those though for your university commencement speech, where you’ll need them.”
Aside from his very entertaining message, Ryan also announced that he’s treating the graduates and their teachers to a large pizza from Nat’s Pizza – one of his old hangouts and a fave pizza spot from his high school days.
Another star is also celebrating the Class of 2020. John Krasinski recently gifted students with a virtual prom, which included performances from the Jonas Brothers and Billie Eilish to make it even more special, via his web series, Some Good News. Over the weekend, The Office star provided an unforgettable experience to some students who would’ve been walking at their graduation ceremonies this year, but can’t due to the pandemic.
He shared a poster on Instagram to promote the virtual event last week. “Whether you’re graduating from preschool, high school, college, middle school, or law school, this graduation is for you #Classof2020,” John wrote in the caption. “You’re officially invited to the #SGNGraduation on SUNDAY, MAY 3RD 🎓“
“Mark your calendars and get your whole family together, it’s gonna be GOOD,” he added.
What he didn’t mention though, was that there was some serious star power coming on to engage featured students in a “commencement conversation.”
Selected students, who each had submitted questions they wanted to ask their commencement speakers, were blown away when they got to chat with honored celebrity guests, including media mogul Oprah Winfrey, Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg, humanitarian and 22-year-old Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, and beloved comic and former Daily Show host Jon Stewart, who took time to answer their questions.
“Dreams are a great test, because dreams are going to test your resolve. You’re going to know a dream from a pipedream,” Steven shared. “A real dream is something that not only hangs on to you, but you will hang onto it. And it will power you though every obstacle people and the environment will throw against you.”
Oprah also shared some of the past struggles she overcame and how it helped strengthen her in life. “I believe that failure is an opportunity to move yourself in a different direction,” Oprah said. “It gets better because you learn the lessons from the first time.”
Congratulations to all the graduates!
