Allie Simmons<\/b><\/p>\n
Furman University<\/b><\/p>\n
Student Commencement Speech<\/b><\/p>\n
May 10, 2014<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You may have spent the past year on the receiving end of the dreaded yet increasingly pressing question: \u201cSo\u2026 What\u2019s the plan for next year?\u201d For me, the question came in many forms, the best of them being, \u201cAre there any men in your life?\u201d Assuming that if I\u2019m not going to grad school or kicking off a killer career, I must be getting married. Not that there\u2019s anything wrong with that. But alas, for many of us, this just isn\u2019t so.<\/p>\n
And as wise and articulate as you may be, Taylor Swift, your song set an unbelievably unrealistic expectation for our 22nd birthdays. Yes, \u201cWe\u2019re happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time.\u201d I will give you that. \u201cMiserable,\u201d maybe. \u201cMagical,\u201d not quite as much. Interest rates and mortgages just aren\u2019t that fun. All that most of us know about the stock market is that it takes up app space on our phones that could be occupied by something more useful.<\/p>\n
The idea of simply basking in the bliss of being young and confused sounds appealing right about now, doesn\u2019t it? To just have a conversation with our peers or our parents without the pressure of having to have it all figured out.<\/p>\n
But that is not reality. And, if we\u2019re honest, we don\u2019t really want it to be. Yes, graduating is scary. Yes, the future is unknown. The real world is filled with vocabulary we can\u2019t define and problems we can\u2019t solve. But it\u2019s time. And whether you feel like it or not, you are ready.<\/p>\n
We have spent the last four years learning what it means to be engaged. To fit what we\u2019re learning into a greater, practical context. But the even greater lesson we\u2019ve learned is not to engage the outside world, but to engage the very world we\u2019re living in. Amidst the academic challenge that engaged learning requires, we have learned to stop focusing on what could be to appreciate what is.<\/p>\n
Right now, in this moment, there are approximately 967 things we could be and should be doing. To have any chance at future success, we must now be working hard, shaking hands, opening doors. It\u2019s a little exciting, but very overwhelming. There are moments when you may wonder, who put me in charge of my life?<\/p>\n
My dad used to tell me, \u201cAllie, you\u2019re going to be a great adult.\u201d Implying that until then, I don\u2019t get to call the shots. Well, guess what? Here I am! And here we are. We get to call the shots. Don\u2019t question your ability to do so. Our parents, grandparents, peers, and professors have prepared us for this. Furman has prepared us for this.<\/p>\n
Missionary Jim Elliot was killed evangelizing in Ecuador in the mid-1950s, and before he died, he wrote these words in his journal: \u201cWherever you are, be all there.\u201d To be engaged, we must be all there. For many of us, that means intentionally investing our time in people rather than in school or in work. For me, it means to stop talking (something I haven\u2019t done for the past 20 years), stop thinking, stop worrying and planning and doing, and just rest in where I am in this season of life. To be thankful. To just be.<\/p>\n
I hope that for each of us, we are satisfied in how we engaged each moment here. We can look ahead with anticipation knowing that the strong relationships we have built will not end here. That\u2019s the beauty of Furman: it lasts. And I suppose that\u2019s the point of engaged learning: to participate and invest in things that last. Let\u2019s not stop. Let\u2019s keep engaging, keep asking, keep growing.<\/p>\n
Whether you\u2019re going back home or moving halfway across the world, whether you\u2019re going to your top choice of grad school or wondering why in the world you chose the major that you did, be in the moment, pay attention to it, reap the blessings of it, and work hard to make something of it.<\/p>\n
Wherever you are, Class of 2014, be all there. The world will be better for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Graduating senior Allie Simmons, \u00a0a communications studies major from Dallas, Texas, delivered the student commencement address at Furman’s 2014 graduation exercises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}