Ferrum College’s
87th Commencement Ceremony
Kristen Marie Cardinale
Senior Class Speaker Remarks

     Hello fellow graduates, families, friends, and faculty; I’d like to start by first congratulating all the graduates on their success.

     I started this school year giving a speech during freshman orientation, in which I encouraged the incoming freshman to get involved; and stress the importance of leadership. Now, I am ending the school year by talking to the Ferrum College graduating class of 2003. And let me tell you this one is a lot more difficult to do.

     So I have been doing a lot of thinking about this and I have come to the realization that we have been growing up all along, and that we will never stop growing up. I mean, think back to our freshman year here at Ferrum, do you remember all the irresponsible and just plain stupid things we did; might I hint at Halloween and 2nd floor Chapman. I know a lot of us can probably think of a few irresponsible things we did last weekend, maybe even Wednesday night, but you have to admit that these are getting fewer and far then between than in our early college years.

     Please do not leave here today thinking that this is it and that the fun is over, because it is not. Please do not leave here today thinking that you can never make another mistake, because it’s not true. We have our entire lives to grow up, and our entire lives to make mistakes and learn and grow from them.

     Every new situation we face, or every new person we meet affects our lives and changes us in some way. I’d like to thank each and every one of you for touching my life and making me the person I am today. I came to Ferrum my freshman year not knowing a single person here and now, four years later, I feel like everyone of us, whether students or faculty, I feel like we are family.

     Please remember to always let yourselves grow. Also remember that the most precious thing in life is not money or success or good looks, its happiness. Make sure you are always happy, and if you find yourself unhappy know that it is time to make a change.

     I’d like to share with you a few reasons, and I hope you can relate, of why I love Ferrum. I love the blue and pink sky at sundown. I love Sunday morning brunch in the caf when everyone you hung out with the night before is either in their pajamas or in the clothes they had on the night before. I love this campus in the springtime. I love Bowling’s. I love how on a Friday nights when there is nothing to do, we still manage to have a blast. I love that the professors and students are so close that students are invited to “end of the year parties” at professor’s houses. I love that if you sleep in you might just get a wake up call from that professor’s class you are trying to skip. This and much more is what make Ferrum unique and why I love it here.

     I’d like to thank my fellow graduates for this honor to speak for you today and I wish you all the luck in the world and I will miss each and every one of you. And I want to see each and every one of you back here, as alumni, for Homecoming 2003!

     I’d like to end with a quote not from anyone famous like Mark Twain or Benjamin Franklin, but from my very best friend, an upcoming junior here at Ferrum College, Jennifer Phillips. This is what she has been telling me this past week every time we have a little emotional breakdown. “When you get sad, be happy that you were blessed with an opportunity that gave you so much joy that it brought you sadness when it went away.”

     Thank you and good luck to everyone and keep the college student inside of you forever!

For More Commencement Information Visit
Ferrum.edu/Commencement