Entertainment

Middle Schooler Hit the Nail on the Head With His Presidential Impersonations During Graduation Speech

By Margo Gothelf 2 min read

# 2016 Election
# 8th grade graduation
# 8th grader impersonates candidates

Anyone need a Donald Trump impersonator???

Jack Aiello, a middle school student from Chicago, decided to use his graduation speech as a platform to hilariously impersonate the presidential candidates from the 2016 election. Aiello kept his speech appropriate and tasteful to give spot-on impersonations, bringing the house down in the process.

“I’ve decided that since we’re in the middle of an election year, that I would do my graduation speech in the style of some of the 2016 presidential candidates,” Aiello said at the beginning of his speech.

Trump was Aiello’s first victim where he got yuuuge laughs.

“We’re learning languages from Spain, from France, from Germany and China,” he said. “You know, people say I don’t like China — I love China. I mean, I love China. I mean, I have so many terrific friends in China. But I took Spanish and let me just tell you, by the way, that it was fantastic. Muy fantastico.”

His Trump impression was followed by impressions of Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, and Bernie Sanders.

The eighth grade student also managed to sneak an Obama impersonation in.

“One of the greatest memories is in gym class and PE,” Aiello said. “On rainy days we’d go in to the small gym and do yoga. I’m proud to say I’ve completely mastered the downward dog.”

The whole graduating class from Thomas Middle School submitted speeches before Aiello was chosen as the winner.

“A week before, we had our 20 finalists compete for who was going to get to speak at graduation,” Brian Kayne, principal of Thomas Middle School, told Today. “When I saw the title (of Aiello’s speech), I got nervous. I didn’t know if it was going to be targeting candidates in a negative way. Honestly, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.”

He continued, “He never put anyone down. It was completely positive, which impressed me. He just used their mannerisms and movements and voices to talk about the school and his class. I knew he was going to bring the house down.”

Aiello did not disappoint and the audience gave him a full standing ovation after the comical speech.

“I don’t remember a standing ovation that was immediate. Usually, if there’s a good speech, you get a slow rise. But the excitement from this crowd was tangible. Kudos to him,” Kaye shared.

The speech even got the attention of Ted Cruz who responded on Twitter.