Distinguished guests, professors, dignitaries, family, friends, and, most importantly, my fellow graduates: thank you for having me here today. Earning a graduate degree is an accomplishment of the highest order and I’d like to congratulate everyone here. For some of you, this is the first advanced degree in your family. Some of us are the first ones in our family to even go to college. Some of us have known for years that this is where we wanted to end up, while some of us have chosen to go back to school later in life. We all traveled different paths to get here but however you got here, congratulations, you did it! Take a moment and congratulate yourself and revel in that achievement. I would also like to invite all the guests here to share in our accomplishments. Because so many of you invested in us, we are all sitting here today, at the end of this journey.
Most of us would not have made it to this day without help from someone else around us. If you have made it through graduate school with no outside help, then by all means feel free to tune me out. But if we’re honest with ourselves, most of us know there is someone else out there. Take a moment to consider: a mentor that guided you through your research, a parent that supported and believed in you, a spouse that gave up date nights so you could study, whoever helped you financially so your bills would be paid, the list goes on and on. As we leave here today we could thank them, move on to the next chapter, and forge ahead. But I want us to do just a bit more than that.
I want us to consider giving back to whoever helped. They certainly deserve it. I’m sure there were days when you wanted to quit. But who was there to encourage you to keep going and focus on what you needed to do? These are the people to whom we really owe our thanks. I know when I think about my family that I probably can’t come up with something “good enough” to repay them. But I’m looking ahead and knowing that someday, I will have an opportunity to do even more for them.
But maybe whoever helped you really doesn’t want anything in return. Maybe they would rather you pay it forward. The world is full of places to serve if we only take the time to look. Many of my friends give back to their communities or venture to other communities to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity or the Red Cross. Still others find it in giving back to their church. Some tutor students in less affluent schools than where they grew up. Anyone on the receiving end of help will certainly appreciate it.
But here’s the secret. I bet if you sacrifice a little bit of your time or money or skills to help someone out, you’ll find you have found some purpose. You’ll reap more rewards than anything you give. If you find a purpose that you’re passionate about, I guarantee you’ll find fulfillment that you can’t find anywhere else. Studies show that we are happier buying a gift for someone else than buying something for ourselves. Wouldn’t it be worth a try, even if we don’t get anything out of it?
Then again, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you won’t be overjoyed doing work for someone else for no monetary gain. But even if I’m wrong, someone has still come to appreciate what you’ve done for them. Certainly, all that effort is not lost.
Consider that only 12% of people over the age of 25 in the U.S. have advanced degrees. Imagine how much potential there is sitting in this room today, and how much we can achieve by simply looking to our neighbors and seeing what needs they have. Imagine the creative solutions we could engineer to address the needs in our communities, our nation – or the world.
So many people spend their lives searching for the next big thing for their fulfillment. We all want to be able to look back on our lives 25, 40, 50 years from now and be gratified about we’ve done. We want to know that we’ve helped changed the world for the better, even just a little bit. I know that I will be most satisfied to know that I’ve been able to help someone when they needed it most or help them to achieve a dream.
As we leave here today think back on everyone who has made a difference in your journey to get to this moment. There are a lot of teachers, coaches, and leaders who probably don’t know how much they have meant to us. Let’s show them how much they have affected our lives. Let’s make them proud to have supported us and let them see that we’ve found the fulfillment that so many are still searching for.
Thank you for allowing me to speak today and to the URI Graduate School Class of 2017, I say congratulations, well done, and go change the world!