Graduates and parents,
CONGRATULATIONS are largely due for you and your classmates! I’m very proud to have worked with many of you, and I’m even more proud and excited to see your destinations; the next few years will be an exceptionally wonderful time in your lives, and I envy you! Below are some of my thoughts as your class finalizes your K-12 experience:
Be willing to adjust to change. If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught you anything, it’s that life will sometimes sweep the rug right out from under you. How you adapt to change and adverse situations will help determine your future success. Your class has endured a complete shutdown towards the end of a critical year (Junior year), and began your Senior year with a very weird and precarious school situation. Amidst virtual learning, in-person classes, hybrid situations, facemasks, distancing, etc., your class has learned to embrace the unexpected and odd. Use that to help you with the many curveballs that life will throw at you in the future….
Be resilient. This ties-in quite well with the adjustability message. There will be times when you experience personal adversity, unexpected outcomes, and other hardships that challenge your outlook. It’s easy to slip into a funk when situations like these happen, and it’s completely normal and understandable. The difference between those who come out on-top and those who don’t lies within one’s ability to get back up and “dust yourself off” after falling. It sounds trite or even cliche, but it’s a universal truth.
Learn from failure. There will be times when you don’t succeed at something. When this happens, use an objective approach to learn from mistakes and assess what went wrong. Engineers are especially good at this; they learn from having failed with various designs or experiments, and the lessons they take away produce results that are well-designed, well-thought-out, and proven. Additionally, if you make a mistake, OWN UP TO IT immediately and take quick corrective action as best as possible. This approach is not only honest, but it’s also the most respected by others. Resist temptation to blame others or to make excuses. Learn from your mistakes, take responsibility for your actions (or lack thereof), and drive on!
For those of you who will not be attending a 4-yr institution after graduation: You have so many viable options in front of you, and you’ll perhaps do it at a more affordable price.
-- Some of you will enlist in the armed forces, and I commend you greatly! Take advantage of the career programs and funding opportunities to help pay for job training or college once you’re done with your service. You will have earned it, and thank you for serving!
-- Others of you will learn a skill or trade. This is a smart way to be immediately employable. Think about it; HVAC technicians will be permanently employable as long as summers are hot in Texas. Welding is also a terrific trade, and many welders make six-figure incomes. There’s a lot to be said for getting one’s hands dirty, and despite much hoopla made over college educations, there will always be a place for those who put in an honest day’s work, and career prospects are viable and potentially lucrative with trades. You’re recession-proof!
-- The rest of you will most likely begin your post-high school experience at a community college, and the reasons for attending such institutions are variable. Whether done for financial, academic, or personal/family reasons, the community college process is exceptionally flexible for students who are willing to have a non-traditional college experience. Employers don’t care where you start college; they care about the name that’s on your diploma and the accompanying degree. It’s understandable for students to desire the traditional college freshman experience at a 4-yr institution, so the community college route isn’t for everyone. That said, the community college route is certainly viable, and while many 4-yr institutions are highly selective and rigorous for freshman applicants, you’d be surprised to see how many high quality institutions are very TRANSFER FRIENDLY. I know this factually; a significant portion of my experience at SMU was to recruit prospective students from local DFW-area community colleges. SMU offered broad opportunities for transfer students with solid to high grades, and they even offer a very large scholarship program for transfers. I’m proud to say that I am very skilled and experienced when it comes to working with transfer students who seek to obtain admission to a 4-yr institution (that also includes transferring from other 4-yr institutions). My skill set in this regard is similar to being bilingual: I SPEAK “TRANSFER.”
No matter your destination, I genuinely wish you nothing but the best in your future endeavors. You have so many great things ahead of you, and I encourage you to maximize the most from your experience. If you’ll be attending a community college, feel free to contact me to set up a consultation with a subject-matter expert that has a trained eye for helping applicants obtain the right course of action. Otherwise, please feel free to contact me should anyone need anything, and I hope that you have a restful and fun senior summer. Bless all of you!