Entering college, my future was uncertain and unpredictable, and I often wished for more security about where I would end up. While feelings like these can seem ominous, I now realize that we sometimes must thrust ourselves into situations which are not always the most comfortable, predictable or secure. It is in just this fact, however, that the hidden opportunity of the College Experience is to be found. That is, the opportunity to face the challenge of the unknown, which forces us to push ourselves to be who we want to be, and to strive to get where we want to go. For me, as for most of us, it has been a long road to reach the goals I set out for myself, and to arrive at graduation day this morning.
Today represents the end of that road, and the start of a new one.
The start of this new road, however, is no more certain, secure or predictable than the one was which I began four years ago. The one advantage I have now is that my experiences here have given me the tools which I need to face this new road with more confidence than I had before I arrived here. For all of us, our College Experience can help us to face the diversities and challenges which the future holds. We can now go forward knowing that we are a little bit older, and hopefully a lot wiser, than we were before our time here. This puts us all in an exciting position as we graduate today.