{"id":42342,"date":"2026-05-08T15:12:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=42342"},"modified":"2026-05-10T00:22:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T04:22:22","slug":"commencement-address-by-mary-mitchell-campbell-96-musician-and-volunteer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/commencement-address-by-mary-mitchell-campbell-96-musician-and-volunteer\/","title":{"rendered":"Commencement Address by Mary-Mitchell Campbell ’96, musician and volunteer"},"content":{"rendered":"

These are remarks delivered by Mary-Mitchell Campbell ’96<\/a>, acclaimed musician and volunteer, at the 2026 Furman University Commencement ceremony.<\/em><\/p>\n

Good evening, Furman graduates.<\/p>\n

You made it! Congratulations \u2013 that\u2019s got to feel pretty good.<\/p>\n

To the faculty, family, and friends \u2013 and especially the Class of 2026 \u2013 thank you for welcoming me home for this. It\u2019s a joy and an honor to be back here with you all.<\/p>\n

\"A

Mary-Mitchell Campbell ’96<\/p><\/div>\n

I remember sitting right where you are \u2013 so excited to be done with school, counting down the minutes until someone handed me a diploma and said, \u201cYou\u2019re free.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was absolutely convinced I had my life figured out.<\/p>\n

That\u2026turned out not to be the case.<\/p>\n

But look how much you HAVE figured out! You did it. You\u2019ve graduated from college,\u00a0and that is a profound accomplishment. You have worked hard for this moment, and you deserve to celebrate it.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s be honest \u2013 none of us got here alone. We are all a patchwork quilt of people who loved us, supported us, pushed us, and believed in us when we couldn\u2019t yet believe in ourselves.<\/p>\n

If those people are here with you today, I hope you find them and thank them. Some of the people who helped me get here are here tonight, and I want them to know how much I appreciate them.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also worth noting that I was a scholarship student, and I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has supported Furman over the years. Because of you, students like me \u2013 who couldn\u2019t have afforded this education otherwise \u2013 got to be here. That\u2019s a big deal.<\/p>\n

I grew up in eastern North Carolina, on a farm with pigs, tobacco, and corn. I\u2019m a little surprised no one mentioned this, but I did win the 4H county fair pig showmanship award for Wilson, North Carolina.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s pronounced \u201cWilTson,\u201d even though there is no T.<\/p>\n

We just\u2026added one.<\/p>\n

My bio might sound a little fancy, but I promise you\u00a0the road that led me here was anything but. It had some tough turns, some detours, and a few moments where I most certainly didn\u2019t have it all figured out.<\/p>\n

But along the way, there were teachers and classes here that changed my life. Again, I extend my gratitude to those special folks.<\/p>\n

Something I did have going for me: I was always curious, always eager to learn, and I was also the kind of kid who thought, \u201c Yeah, yeah, I hear you, but what if I try it anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n

That was me.<\/p>\n

Still is, if I\u2019m being honest.<\/p>\n

And that \u2018what if?\u2019, my friends, has been a game changer. A life changer.<\/p>\n

I arrived as a piano performance major, and pretty quickly realized I wanted to pursue musical theater.<\/p>\n

There was just one problem: There was no musical theater program.<\/p>\n

So I started one.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s right, I pulled together some fellow students and announced I was going to put on a show.<\/p>\n

Now, to be clear,\u00a0I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.<\/p>\n

But I figured it out as I went. I started putting on productions where I was the director, the music director, the choreographer, the producer, floor mopper, ticket taker\u2026I did it ALL.<\/p>\n

So basically, if something went wrong, it was my fault.<\/p>\n

And honestly, I probably learned more doing that \u2013 trying, failing, trying again \u2013 than I would have in a formal program.<\/p>\n

And while I was busy doing ALL that, I took a sociology class called “Social Problems” that ignited a passion in me for helping others. And somehow, those two disparate things \u2013 musical theater making and being of service \u2013 collided in my brain.\u00a0 The result: The Furman Pauper Players.<\/p>\n

We produced musicals as fundraisers for community organizations. My sophomore year, we did “The Fantasticks” with all of the proceeds benefiting Habitat for Humanity. I even convinced Nick Radel, my wonderful English professor, to be in the show.<\/p>\n

Which, looking back, was either leadership\u2026or a complete lack of boundaries.<\/p>\n

Probably a little of both.<\/p>\n

After the success of “The Fantastiks,” the Pauper Players were on a roll. I worked with the chaplains to raise funds for United Ministries by performing “Godspell” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” on Parents Weekends.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the wild thing: At the time, I had no idea I was building the foundation for what would become my life\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

But years later, those same ideas \u2013 bringing people together, using music and storytelling to serve others \u2013 became what I do every day through Arts Ignite, the nonprofit I founded to support young people, now celebrating its 20th year.<\/p>\n

And over time, that work has reached more than 45,000 kids. 45,000. That\u2019s just a skosh smaller than Wilson, North Carolina.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s 45,000 kids who maybe didn\u2019t think they were creative.
\nKids who didn\u2019t always feel seen.
\nKids who just needed someone to say, \u201cYour voice matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think about one student in particular:\u00a0a kid who didn\u2019t speak much English, wouldn\u2019t make eye contact, and spent most of the first day hiding in the back of the room.<\/p>\n

And by the end of the program, that same student was the first one to arrive every day, asking if they could lead the warm-ups, standing in front of the group, stepping into leadership.<\/p>\n

And I remember thinking that student is why this work matters.<\/p>\n

And I can draw a straight line from that moment right back to a college student standing on this campus, with a big idea and absolutely no idea how to pull it off.<\/p>\n

Which is why I want you to hear this: The things you\u2019re building right now, the thing that might feel small or uncertain or a little scrappy, it might matter more than you can possibly imagine.<\/p>\n

It might impact more lives than you could dream.<\/p>\n

Because here\u2019s the weird thing about life and the passage of time: You often don\u2019t know what is changing your life while it\u2019s happening. You only see it when you look back.<\/p>\n

And a gentle watchpoint \u2013 when you\u2019re taking all those big swings, and experiencing those changes in real time, well-meaning people who care deeply about you will want to protect you.<\/p>\n

After graduation, I moved to New York City to pursue musical theater.<\/p>\n

People genuinely tried to be supportive, but they had watched enough Law & Order<\/em>\u00a0to be fairly certain this was not going to end well for me.<\/p>\n

And when I told them what I wanted to do, I got a lot of, \u201cThat\u2019s so\u2026brave.\u201d<\/p>\n

You know the vibe.<\/p>\n

It sounds a whole lot like \u201cbless your heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of my favorite mentors sat me down before I left. He knew my financial situation was tight, and he told me he was worried about me.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cI know how talented you are. But I\u2019ve seen a lot of talented people try this and fail. I think you might fail. And if you do, you\u2019ll regret not taking the safer opportunities in front of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

And every once in a while in life you get a moment of clarity. You just know something, even if you can\u2019t fully explain why.<\/p>\n

I told my mentor, \u201cI know you care about me. And I know what you\u2019re saying is true.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m not afraid of failing.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m afraid of not trying.\u201d<\/p>\n

And just to be clear, I have failed. Many times.<\/p>\n

Just\u2026not permanently.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019ll say this to you: When you hear that voice inside you, when you\u2019ve got a big idea, when you\u2019re making a big decision\u2026listen to that deep-down voice.<\/p>\n

Even when it doesn\u2019t make perfect sense.<\/p>\n

Sometimes especially then.<\/p>\n

And please, please, don\u2019t be afraid to fail.<\/p>\n

Because you will. You are going to fail. You\u2019ll be bad at something. You\u2019ll embarrass yourself. I still do, regularly.<\/p>\n

At this point, I\u2019ve decided to call it \u201cgrowth.\u201d\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t that sound evolved?<\/p>\n

Failure is not the opposite of success.<\/p>\n

Failure is an absolutely necessary and inevitable part of the journey.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s part of the path.<\/p>\n

If I could go back and talk to the version of myself sitting where you are, here\u2019s a few things I would say to younger me:<\/p>\n

Whatever you think your life is going to be\u2026it won\u2019t be exactly that.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n

It might be more exciting. It might also be harder. There will be unexpected turns \u2013 some joyful, some painful.<\/p>\n

Embrace all of it.<\/p>\n

Oh yeah, and find your people, the ones who will stand with you through all of it.<\/p>\n

And this \u2013 we are wired to look at the people who have what we want and wonder what we\u2019re doing wrong.<\/p>\n

We rarely take stock of what we are doing right. We talk about counting our blessings but rarely actually do.<\/p>\n

Remember to do both.<\/p>\n

It will keep you grounded. And it will keep you grateful.<\/p>\n

And if you have the chance to help someone along the way, take it.<\/p>\n

And another thing, there is no finish line where everything suddenly clicks into place.<\/p>\n

No job, no relationship, no achievement, no amount of money is going to make you permanently happy.<\/p>\n

If it did, somebody would have written a book about it, and we\u2019d all have bought it.<\/p>\n

So don\u2019t wait for your life to begin.<\/p>\n

You are already in it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s happening right now!<\/p>\n

Live it fully.<\/p>\n

As you leave here today, know that you don\u2019t need to have it all figured out.<\/p>\n

You probably won\u2019t. I still don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Some things you CAN count on: Your life will surprise you. It will challenge you. It will break your heart sometimes.<\/p>\n

And it may also be more beautiful than you can possibly imagine.<\/p>\n

And finally, I encourage you to pay close attention when something deep inside you says, \u201cthis matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Be brave enough to listen.<\/p>\n

Because the truth is, the people who build meaningful lives aren\u2019t the ones who never fail\u2026they\u2019re the ones who dared to try.<\/p>\n

Congratulations, Class of 2026.<\/p>\n

Go make the world a better place for the rest of us.<\/p>\n

Commencement 2026 >><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Campbell is an acclaimed arranger, educator and orchestrator who has excelled across companies from Broadway stages to arena performances and beyond. She has a bachelor’s of music in piano performance from Furman University and later graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":42376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2773],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-commencement"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42342","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\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42342"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42382,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42342\/revisions\/42382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}