VANCOUVER -- There's nothing typical about graduating in 2020.
The pandemic means students aren't sure if they'll have a ceremony at all, and physical distancing changed prom plans for many.
But graduates at a Vancouver high school have one more thing to add to that list: the person giving their commencement speech – albeit virtually – is Ryan Reynolds.
The Vancouver-born actor posted a commencement speech for his alma mater Friday, telling students at Kitsilano Secondary School a friend put him up to it.
Reynolds opened his nearly-5-minute-long speech by saying one of the students' teachers was his friend when he attended the school, and in the actor's mind, Jonah Eckert is still sporting frosted tips and planning a get-rich-quick money-laundering operation.
"But I guess becoming a teacher was Plan B? I don't know," he jokes.
Reynolds said he "phoned in" the speech like he did his last year of high school, speaking without notes or having anything prepared.
He gave a shout-out to another Vancouver high school, Prince of Wales, where he was for grades 9 and 10.
During the speech set to an instrumental version of Vitamin C's "Graduation," Reynolds said the principal "invited" him to leave, and that's how he ended up at Kits.
"To this day, I'm still friends with so many of the people I graduated with, so that says something," he said.
His main advice to those graduating this year is to practice an act of compassion, either to themselves or to others, each day.
He said it's something that's helped make him happy.
The speech ended with a promise of what's to come during their university commencement, and a surprise.
"Oh, and I miss Nat's Pizzeria. Every grad gets one large pizza on me," text on the screen promises.
"Good luck everybody."
Watch the full speech below.
