Classmates of Sef Scott had hardly ever heard him speak a word all throughout high school. So it came to a shock to them — as well as his father and relatives — when he got up to speak at his graduation.
“I would imagine that to the seniors that know who I am that it is entirely unexpected that I would be standing here giving a speech,” he said. “Just by my being here speaking to all of you — me — that alone is unexpected.”
Seventeen-year-old Sef, who has autism, delivered his 6-minute speech on June 9 at Plano Senior High School in Texas. Sef explained that his mother, Vicki Scott, and his brother Sim, who survived a brain tumor, both helped him write the speech, and they didn’t tell the rest of the family so it would be a surprise on graduation day. The speech was posted on YouTube and has since been viewed more than 62,785 times.
When his mother saw a poster advertising for seniors to audition to speak at graduation, she felt her son would want to try out. According to the Washington Post, when she mentioned it to him, “he jumped up out of his bed with a full-body shiver and giggle, and he said, ‘Yes!’”
She noted her own surprise at his reaction: “He’s not a demonstrative individual at all, and to have him shaking with excitement, with a huge smile, making eye contact, looking at me straight in the eye and firmly saying yes, it was great.”
Sim, 15, has given many speeches about surviving a brain tumor, and his mother said Sef was excited to follow in his brother’s footsteps.
“Remember, if you are following in someone else’s footsteps, you will only get where they want to go,” Sef said in his speech. “Be the unexpected, like me. Do the unexpected for the benefit of others. Live the unexpected for your own happiness.”
