Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Welcome, class of 2012. Today I'm earning my Associate of Science degree [and let me tell you it feels great]. This fall I'll be studying physics at State University. I'm so proud to be graduating with you here at Northern Community College. Tonight, we're here to celebrate our accomplishments [and you know we deserve it!] May we not forget how far we have come, and let us look to the future and continue to push ourselves to reach for our dreams and goals. Some time ago we took that all so important first step. We recognized the VALUE and significance of our educations and determined to better ourselves, and today each one of us has achieved an important goal. Congratulations to all of you. I know that it was not easy. Many of us had our doubts when we came to this campus. We worried that we were too young or too old. We may have been afraid because it was the first time we'd ever been on a college campus. Maybe we didn't think we could handle the math, or the writing or the computers or what ever it was we told ourselves we could not do. However, we took the first step and came here to Northern Community College because we saw an opportunity: to learn, to grow, to stretch ourselves in order to improve upon our abilities and rise to that next level. Today, Northern will award approximately 1900 degrees or certificates. These students reflect a great diversity, something we should be very proud of here at Northern. We have students graduating tonight that represent many different cultures, and the one thing we all have in common is that we all had hopes of a better life for ourselves and our families and we knew that self-improvement was the only way to achieve this goal. And we stuck with it. We overcame; we so... ...orth your precious time to do what you love. So what is it that you're passionate about? Are you pursuing your passions? Are you passionate about what the future holds for you in your new career? Only you can answer this question. I have agonized for quite some time over this and have concluded that I will NEVER, ever, regret following my heart. In closing, I want to acknowledge that we could not have done this without the instructors and staff here at Northern Community College or our family and friends. So, thank you to all those people on campus who gave us their time. Thank you to friends who believed in us. Thank you to family members who encouraged us. Thank you to community members who supported us with scholarships and other opportunities. Thank you all! Again, Congratulations to the 2005 Graduating Class of Northern Community College!