Graduation Speech: Life's Defining Moments

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I was watching a re-run of the "Dr. Phil" show the other day, and he was offering advice to someone who had an anger problem. Dr. Phil asked him to recall the top 10 defining moments in his life, which is where the secret to his anger problem was supposed to lie. So, I began thinking about what are the top ten defining moments in my life? The birth of my daughter was the first thing that came to my mind. She made me a mother, along with a 24-hour worrier and an insomniac.

As I began to dwell more on the topic I realized that going to college has not only been one of my defining moments, it has made me who I am. With all the different classes we take Community College, we realize interests we never knew we had. My first three quarters here, I was in the Running Start program, which allowed me to graduate high school while taking college courses. I took a political science class, just to fulfill my American history credit, and I realized I love politics. I never knew I had such a passion for debating heated topics like gun control until the teacher couldn't get me to stop talking in class. psychology taught me that my weird 2-year-old isn't so weird after all. And chemistry taught me that I really don't care for science that much. So, when my friends tell me they aren't going to college because they don't know what they want to do, I ask them how are you ever going to figure it out?

As you guys have your celebrations and get-togethers today, I encourage you to think about your first day at Johnson and how you have changed since then. Do you look on the world in a different way, or did college just confirm that this is the person you truly are? On one hand, my viewpoints on topics changed completely, when my professors opened up my eyes to things like discrimination and class-ism, and on other hand some of my beliefs were strongly supported.

Throughout school, I had everyone supporting me. When you have a baby young, everyone pressures you to finish school. I'm very proud to say that I continued school, not only for myself, but for my family too. Not because it is what I was suppose to do, although it is what was best for me.

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