My Almost Graduation Speech

First of all, when I started this blog, I made a commitment to myself to post at least twice a week. Unfortunately, due to my busy weeks the past little while, I’ve let about two weeks lapse. My apologies to myself and those who pay enough attention to have noticed. Now to today’s subject:

In some alternative universe, I would be the student speaker at the commencement ceremony for the SUU class of 2012. For those of you who are unaware, I’m about to graduate with my bachelor’s degree, and at my college, rather than just asking the valedictorian or student association president to represent the student body at graduation, they graciously give any student who would like a shot at the speech (and a $300 speaking stipend with it, no less) the opportunity to write and submit a speech. I came very close. In fact, according to the staff member in charge, it basically came down to one other student and myself. Alas, I was not the final choice. While I wish the victorious candidate the best of luck, I’m sure most of you can imagine my disappointment; I’m convinced that coming close and not succeeding is a whole lot worse than simply being rejected right out. Those of you who have seen The Muppets know what I’m talking about.

But, in any case, I still like the speech I wrote, and while it might not get me $300 or the recognition of speaking for my college graduation, I wanted to give it the opportunity to see the light of day. So, if you’re curious, pasted below is choice number 2 for the commencement of 2012. Alternatively, you can stop reading this post now.

            Fellow graduates of the class of 2012: as we finish our time at SUU today, two questions come to mind that I think would be beneficial for all of us to try to answer. The first is a question I’m sure many of you were asked while you were growing up. “What did you learn at school today?” If you were like me when you were in elementary school, that question was followed by your eager retelling of the day’s worth of knowledge: the cool science experiment you did with eggs and candles, the new game you played in P.E., or, my favorite, the awesome story you wrote that was longer than anyone else’s.

When we reached middle school, the answers probably changed somewhat: the field trip to the planetarium, those pesky math problems you just couldn’t figure out, or the latest on who’s “going out” with whom. In high school, if our parents could get an answer from us beyond “Nothin’,” we’d talk about how overloaded we were with homework, the latest on who we are “going out” with, or the terror of our dreaded ACT, SAT and AP tests.

When we came to college, however, we probably stopped answering that question; I imagine none of our roommates asked us every day what we learned at school. Frankly, that might be a little weird. But even though we’ve had no one to answer to, I think it’s still an important question for us to consider. So now, after our many days and years of study, I want each of us to ask ourselves a question that’s long overdue: what did we learn at school today? What did we learn in our days at SUU?

Obviously, at a certain level, we’re all going to have a different answer to that question. Some of us have learned how to manage a business; some have learned how to manage a classroom. Some have learned how to compose music, and some of us have learned how to compose a twelve-page essay. Many learned the structure of the human heart, while others learned the structure of ecological systems. All of these and the many other separate skills we have each learned are important, but I hope we can all say we’ve learned more than that.

I’m sure we’ve learned the only places to find food at 3 in the morning are Denny’s, the two ‘bertos’, and Wal-Mart. I’m positive we’ve learned snow knows no season in Cedar. We’ve learned cars are not to be trusted, walking from the Sharwan Smith Center to upper quad is exhausting when you’re in a hurry, and you’ll never get past the doors of the bookstore with a backpack.

But I’ll bet we’ve learned even more than that.  Because I think somewhere in the midst of stressing over our classes, spending countless hours studying in the library, or simply trying to find something to do on a Friday night, we learned far more important lessons than anything we could find in a textbook or on Wikipedia. I imagine we learned that new experiences, while scary, are often the most rewarding; that home is not always the place you grew up, and family is not only the people you’re related to. I imagine we learned what it means to truly be a friend, and what it means to truly believe in something. And I’m almost certain we all learned college was so much more than those hours we sat in class or pouring over our notes, because in the background we were discovering who we really are, and what we truly want in life. And knowing that is perhaps the most important knowledge of all.

So again, I ask, Class of 2012, what did we learn at school today?

My second question is also one from when I was growing up, and though it’s far less common than asking what we learned in school, I think this question may be even more important. When I was in high school, my efforts in the various activities I was involved in found both notable success and significant defeat. What I didn’t realize then is that the most important part of these efforts was a question one of my advisors would constantly ask me. Win or lose, exhilaration or disappointment, my conversations with this wise man often started with the same question from him: “What’s next?” In the years since then, I’ve realized he wasn’t trying to damper my success or disregard my discouragement with that question. He simply understood that while celebrating victories and accepting losses is necessary, the most important step a person can take afterwards is a step forward. I don’t think it mattered to him what I did, so long as I did something; so long as I was moving forward, continuing to push the limits of what I thought I could do.

As we reflect today on our time here at SUU, I’m sure we can each find a reason to both feel pride for our accomplishments and regret for our failures. For some of us, our years at SUU may have been the greatest experience of our lives. We may have found great success as scholars, as athletes, as artists and performers, or as leaders. We may have thrived in our social connections and found where we belonged. Then again, for some of us, perhaps our college career was marred by challenges and difficulty. We may have struggled in our classwork, felt lonely and out-of-place living on our own, or experienced a tragedy or loss of someone we loved. I’m sure we all had our highs and our lows, victories and defeats, fortunate chances and missed opportunities. And while today is a day for us to think on those moments, I’m going to channel the spirit of my advisor for a moment and ask all of us: “What’s next?”

And again, each of us to a certain degree (pun totally intended) will have a different answer to that question. Graduate school or law school may be next for many of us. Some may have an internship, or even the beginnings of a career awaiting them. Some are eager to start their own families, having recently married or are soon-to-be married. What’s next for us is as unique and personalized as the education we received here. It doesn’t matter what we do, so long as we do something; so long as we are moving forward, continuing to push the limits of what we think we can do.

Even still, I hope much of what’s next will be the same for all of us. After today, I hope that next we will continue to learn and expand our knowledge about the world around us, because after all, “learning lives forever;” that next we will involve ourselves in our communities and society, not being content to simply sit back and watch others do it for us. Above all, I hope that next we do all we can to be a positive influence for good in whatever situation or environment we may find ourselves, confident that there are no limits to what we can accomplish, and that we can truly change the world.

Graduates, as our time here at SUU ends, I hope each of you will take a moment to consider these questions I have asked myself many times in the past few months. I believe these two questions, perhaps more than any other question we could ask, will help us to appreciate where we have been and to imagine what we will do with the knowledge we have gained.

Class of 2012: “What did we learn at school today?” and “What’s next?” Thank you and congratulations.

Wow, if you actually read through the whole thing, many thanks from me. If you just scrolled to the end, well … at least you did that.

-Blake