To my fellow graduates, our faculty and administrators, everyone's families, friends, and honored guests. I am honored to be here today as both a speaker and a graduate of this graduating class of DeVry University.
When I sent out some announcements about my graduation, I received back congratulations and comments on my courage and bravery, for going to school and trying to change careers. It made me think. Am I more like the Lion, the Tinman, or the Scarecrow. They think I'm the Lion because I have the courage to take a big risk to better myself, and now face the unknown dangers of rejection in the job market. I think I'm the Scarecrow because I want to learn, and have a love of knowledge. The love of knowledge is more than knowledge itself. It is broad, seeking everywhere for the relationships between people, time, place, culture, and history. I believe this love of knowledge will serve us in everything we do.
In life, a lot of people don't reach for there potential, but we did. Now we have an opportunity to change our life for the better. There is not a person here I would not bend over backward to help in a jam. In the world out there, people say, "don't do it". Here, my classmates philosophy is, "let me do it, so I can learn". Remember to keep that philosophy when you get back out in the job market. We might not be able to do everything now, but we know how to learn to do it. I believe our faculty here at DeVry did everything they could to prepare us. I remember some came in early to help us. And I remember some stayed late to work with us. These are great people, and I believe they would continue to help us in a jam, even after graduation.
To those graduating from the ECT Program, congratulations. You now have many new open doors and opportunities. All of us in the IT program have already graduated at least once from a university or college with a degree. So many of us know what to expect. I won't talk about all the open doors and opportunities we now have, because everyone knows we have more opportunities and open doors than we had when we started here. But we still have a lot of work to do. As an analogy, DeVry is not giving us a brand new car full of gas that we can drive anywhere we want to go. But DeVry has given us the tools to build our own car. Sure, we may need some more tools before we can win the Daytona 500. But we definitely have gotten some valuable tools from our education at DeVry. And my goals are the Daytona 500.
Fellow graduates, our next task is waiting for us out the door. It will require risk. But we took risks when we came here. Many of you already know the consequences of my risk. Where I worked, they didn't want old employees to have new technology. My boss was threatened by my DeVry success and I lost my position before I could implement new technology and changes in my workplace. Remember, big risks are all about chasing your dreams in life. One thing I've learned for sure is that it is okay to risk your comfort and security to discover something more about yourself and your life.
Let me tell you a story about the challenges and what it means to dare to dream. I think this story is definitely part of the philosophy of our education here. Two people were sitting by a river. To their great surprise, they notice a helpless baby floating by. They dove into the river and rescued the child. To their horror, right away another baby soon comes floating down the stream. When that child is pulled to safety, another baby comes along. And suddenly, as one of them dives into the river a third time, the other runs upstream. "Come back," yells the one in the water. "We've got to save this baby." "You save it," the other yells back. "I'm going to find out who is throwing babies in the river and make them stop." Today, too many want to ignore the babies in the water and hardly anyone wants to stop them from being thrown in the deep forever. Our education here definitely included lifesaving and prevention. It was all about going to the source of things and the source of problems. Education is not the quick fix. It is about transforming life.
Every graduation speech challenges graduates to go for your dreams. Woodrow Wilson once wrote: "We grow by dreams. All big men and women are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day, or in the red fire of a long winter's evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them, nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true."
Teddy Roosevelt said, "Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." I hope all of us continue to work hard for work worth doing. Again, I congratulate each and every one of you as we all stand side by side in celebration. For today is our day. Today we graduate as the first DeVry University Class of 2002.
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