My graduation speech....

Is it really that time already? This is our assignment in Business 482 this week. We have to write about what inspired us to go back to college and what kept us going when we may have wanted to quit. Who were the main inspirations in our lives? How do we feel now about accomplishing our goals?

For me, so many people--professors, friends, family, and co-workers--contributed to my decision to go back to school and get my degree. Even my supervisor (who allowed me to work with our financial system for my internship) said to me that she wanted to see me get my degree. I just knew that I needed to go back to school to brush up on my skills, so part of the motivation was my own. I feel a sense of accomplishment in that this time, I didn't stop in the middle of my schooling to care for other matters; I simply worked around my schedule and made the necessary arrangements to be able to accomplish everything I needed to.

The professor also mentioned having a spiritual base and whether this contributed to us deciding to go back to school. For me, the answer is yes. I prayed that I would be able to go back to school and finish without getting sidetracked in my daily life (spiritual, family, work).

So if I were to sum it up, there were many deciding factors in my going back to school and sticking to it, despite various obstacles. My mother, who is a single mom, is probably my greatest inspiration; she raised three of us while working full-and-part-time and still managed to graduate from college (she also had a wonderful family support system). I find this to be the case now that I'm helping to raise my 13-year-old niece. There are young ones looking at and depending on you; you have to be and set the example.