Congratulations graduates

 
Congratulations to all the seniors who are graduating this semester. I am not a graduating senior but I will give credit when credit is due. To make it through various curriculums, professors, fines, holds, and financial aid mishaps requires a lot of patience and diligence. 
SU may have its own cluster of problems but it has taught some of you life lessons that you will never forget. Some of you will leave this establishment of higher learning a better person ready and willing to mold yourselves even further into the person that you would like to be. Some of you will break away from common paths and design you own roads to greatness.
Unfortunately, there are others who are graduating and this will be their highest accomplishment in life. They have no desire to better themselves because once that good ol’ degree is placed in their hands; they lose all ambition to conquer other conquest in life.
Yes, to obtain a degree is a remarkable feat, but it isn’t the highest achievement that a person can achieve.
Before you walk across the stage think about your next move in life. Make a plan for yourself even if it’s a tiny one. Set a new goal and design your own path to greatness. Do not let others decide your next step for you. You’ve had the testicular fortitude to make it this far. Why start letting anyone tell you what to do now?
Never give up your desire to learn and better yourself. As you walk across that stage realize that you are joining the ranks of something so much greater than yourself. You are alumni of the great Jaguar Nation! You are forever etched in our university’s history. Once that precious degree is placed in your hands, utilize it! Do everything in your power to show the rest of the nation what a superior product of the Jaguar Nation is capable of.
Southern may not be a lot of things, but it will forever be a part of you. Take pride in your establishment. Give back when you can, despite some of the horrific undergrad experiences you’ve encountered. Come back and visit. Send your kids. Be proud and never forget where you came from.
“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.”
― Winston Churchill