Success seeks status, power, prestige, wealth and privilege. Excellence is internal seeking satisfaction only in having done your best. Success is external how you have done in comparison to others. Excellence is how you have done in relation to your own potential. Success grants its rewards to a few, but it is the dream of multitudes.
Excellence is available to all, but sadly is sought by only a few.
Success engenders a fantasy the compulsive groping for the million dollars at the end of the rainbow. Excellence helps us understand and appreciate reality by cultivating principles, character and integrity. Success may be cheap, and you can take shortcuts to get there. Excellence will cost you everything, but at the end of your life it will be all that is important. Each of you leaves Christopher Newport University today with a unique experience and education.