E-mail this pageSheena Garrant's Winter 2007 Commencement Speech
Hello faculty members, family and friends.
Hello fellow graduates and congratulations to you: the Class of 2007!
Just four long years ago, I (like you) thought that this day would never come soon enough. It has come and here we are. From pulling all-nighters to study for a test or write a paper to using our time wiselv at Chug-a-Lug on a Friday night, we are finally closing a chapter in our lives that will remain in our hearts and minds far longer than it took us to conclude our undergraduate or graduate years.
"A proud past, a strong future" is our motto here at Plattstburgh State. Yes, we do have a motto. Although it might seem taxing to be proud of that C you got in Calculus or that well earned B- you got in English Composition or even that D you got in Ice Skating, grades should never be the whole of your pride. Even your diploma should not be your signifier. You are are not your diploma or your grades. You are much more than that. You are phenomenally intellectual, compassionate and driven. Maya Angelou once said that work is "Something made greater by ourselves and in turn that makes us greater."
Plattsburgh State University has been made greater by our presence.
NoW that you have your degree (or now that you have been told your degree will be mailed to you in the near future) most of you mav be wondering, "What next?" A sense of fear and urgency repeatedly courses through your bodies as figuring out your next big step hangs ominously over your heads. Three of you (okay maybe five) have great jobs lined up. One-hundred of you have succumbed to the temptation of being in school a few more years telling yourself. Once I have a Master's degree I will be set." FYI, you might as well sign up for a PhD now. T-shirts that say, "Proud to be a Matriculated Eternal Student" are being sold after the ceremony just for you (and me). The rest of you are just waiting for the next great opportunity to fall from over your heads onto your laps. Plop. Ah, yes, it's called life. Now, I can't begin to answer definitively what a BA in English can get you or where a BA Hotel Tourism Management will bring you. I can say this: a myriad of paths is open to you now that you have a wholesome education under your belt.
I remember when I was six years old, and I wanted nothing more than to reach the world with music. If given the opportunity, I would have auditioned for The Mickey Mouse Club or gone off to Califomia in search of fame and fortune. Instead, I chose a community centered university in a town almost as small as the one I grew up in (although some of my friends would argue that Plattsburgh is a big city) because some childhood friends were coming here. I could have chosen any other school, applied and been accepted. SUNY Plattsburgh was the only school I applied to for undergraduate studies and given the superb faculty (shout out to the English Department and Honors Center) and the extreme enthusiasm of all faculty members and, weil, most students, I wouldn't change my experiences here at all.
If you take nothing else from this sermon - I mean speech - at ieast take this: balance. Remember how you learned to balance the important things like hockey or basketball games, breaking on and off with a boyfriend or girlfriend, participating in a Greek organization, doing homework, taking exams, eating at Little Al's at 1 a.m., gaining and losing the freshman fifteen, sleeping, finding a killer costume for Halloween, friends, parties (get-togethers, if that's what you told your parents), coming up with an excuse to give your family about why you received an "Incomplete" for that one class you never went to, talking on your cell phone, talking on someone else's cell phone, cleaning your room, bathing, living on the edge as a rebel, working, breathing, well, you get mv point. Balance will continue to be the key to your personal success and happiness. I implore all of you to recognize that work, love and recreation are all equally vital parts of our lives. Sure. you can put all of your emphasis on work and make a lot of dough, moolah, bread, dinero, green, but when work is no longer with you (let's think retirement) and your family (if you have one) hardly knows you, and you are alone, will you be happy? Balance...
I wish you all the best and brightest futures. I hope with sincerity and motivation only an English major going for a Ph.D. in African American Literature can muster after semesters of reading Shakespeare, Milton, Twain, Locke, Jefferson and much much much more that each of you will find a career worth your energy and bright intellect partly fostered by SUNY Plattsburgh and your family, but mostly fostered by yourself. Do not settle for a job you loathe because that is where the Benjamins are. Find a job you enjoy going to 5 out of 7 days. Put an equal amount of energy in your life outside of your beloved job and never stop putting in that Q.T. time with yourself. You got yourself this far. So, what are you waiting for? Look toward your future with optimism, not naivety, and wisdom, not regret.
Here's to the Class of 2007 and to making the world a better place with our degrees from Anthropology to Women's Studies even if that means simply metamorphosing our own lives and our own little spheres of influence. I believe you can do it, and I don't even know you. Congratulations.
Contact Information
For more information about Winter Commencement at SUNY Plattsburgh, please contact:
Office of the President
159 Hawkins Hall
518-564-2010 (phone)
518-564-3932 (fax)
Email: president_office@plattsburgh.edu