I want to take this time today to talk about how special it is to be a college graduate and
the unlimited potential we have created for ourselves during our time spent in College
Park.
When I decided to write this speech I was at a loss where to begin. Finally, after enough
procrastination on facebook and categorizing my CDs by year I opened the dictionary,
but only after brushing the layers of dust off it first. What I found was to graduate means
to pass from one stage of experience, proficiency, or prestige to a higher one. While
ruminating over this definition, three words clearly stuck out in my mind that I feel are
illustrative of what today truly symbolizes. Experience, Proficiency, and Prestige.
Over the past few years we have all had some of the best experiences of our lives and
learned to become proficient in certain skills, all while being part of a prestigious
academic community. I strongly believe the combination of these three elements is
supremely influential in strengthening our character and yielding us with unlimited
potential for the future.
As we prepare to pass on to the next stage on our journey down the proverbial road of
life, we are filled with emotions of excitement, anxiousness, curiosity, and bewilderment.
However, we should not fear the unknown because we have equipped ourselves with a
set of tools so powerful and reliable that we can overcome any obstacle in our path.
Therefore, our experiences at the University of Maryland have taught us what it takes to
overcome challenges and succeed in such a way as to warrant recognition as college
graduates; an accomplishment only one in four people over the age of 25 can claim. Such
a figure is rather hard to fully process when it seems everyone within our social network
is enrolled in an undergraduate program. We are fortunate enough to live in an area
where higher education has become a standard, yet we discount our achievements by
neglecting to recognize and fully appreciate the experiences responsible for shaping our
character, and ultimately our future success.
Whether or not we are attuned to how our experiences in college have impacted our
ability to overcome challenges, everyday we engage ourselves in situations, which do
shape our character. Arguing with a roommate about whose turn it is to wash the dishes,
or debating between sitting through lecture versus missing primo sun-rays at the pool are
just some examples of ways we have learned to deal with decisions and conflicts. Luckily
the pool is only open until the end of September!
However, when our abilities are finally tested it is reassuring to know learning how to
strategically balance school work with extracurricular activities, and the once infamous
power hour at Lupo’s, was not in vain. There might be times in the future when our ideals
will be questioned, our passion tested, and our motivation derailed. Fortunately, over the
past few years we have learned how to deal with such moments of pressure. Just think
back to a finals week when you had three exams in two days and it seemed as if all of
your friends were finished. I am confident we all were able to properly handle the
situation, otherwise we still might be preparing for another semester.
Through continually practicing our ability to balance schoolwork and our social lives, we
have acquired an intangible set of skills to compliment our respective concentrations.
Communication, leadership, time management, teamwork, studying while your
roommates are playing flip cup, and waking up twice a week to make it to the 8 am
section of money and banking when it feels like Antarctica outside, are some skills that
come to mind when I reflect upon my own experience as an undergraduate. I am sure you
each have a set of skills specific to your own interesting experiences, as well. The
synthesis of our experiences with the intangible skills we have acquired has created a
level of proficiency within us, only strengthening our ability to overcome whatever
obstacles await us on our journey.
So you might say to yourselves, “Great, how am I different than any other college
graduate?” Recall the definition to graduate refers to passing on from one level of
prestige to another. We are all fortunate enough to have graduated from a business school
with an outstanding reputation in the mid-Atlantic region. We are a part of an elite group
of graduates to have been challenged in such a way that personal growth and maturity
was the only option for success. Remember, only 1 in 4 citizens over the age of 25 have a
bachelor’s degree, so to have the status, as a Robert H. Smith School of Business
graduate is to convey a level of prestige we should all regard with pride. By graduating
from such a high performing business school validates our experiences, skills, and
competencies, further strengthening our credibility as college graduates.
My objective today is not to act as a braggadocio proponent of the Smith School and the
University of Maryland, but to convey the importance of recognizing our experiences,
accomplishments, and setbacks as undergraduates. My intention is to make everyone
understand the unlimited potential we all have within ourselves as a result of the journey
we have just completed, and how well equipped we are for the journey that lays ahead of
us.
Finally, I would like to leave you with something Ralph Waldo Emerson once said…
What lies behind us, and what lies before us, are tiny matters compared to what lies
within us.