All those adults you used to think were in charge ...

First of all, I would like to congratulate all of you upon reaching this important milestone in your lives. Graduations are not only an acknowledgement of one’s achievement, they are celebrations of one’s growth as an individual and they serve as a rite of passage to the future. It is my sincere hope that you can feel and express the joy of knowing how your hard work led you to this point in your lives.

Your world as the Class of 2024 changed overnight. You went to bed one night, having an idea as to your future and where you were going, and then woke up and found that the whole world had changed, that there was a new game plan. As members of the Class of 2024 you will forever be impacted by the changes to our world wrought by economic turmoil. COVID, political polarization and armed turbulence. But, you will make adjustments, and the sooner that you realize that you are the directors of your future, the better and more able you will be in coping with other issues as you progress through your lives.

Hopefully, 10, 20, 30 or even 50 years from now, you will sit back and not so much reminisce donning a cap and gown whatever their colors; you will remember the events that shaped your life. While as difficult as current events may be, hopefully, you will look back on this year as a time when you became the director of your life and you learned to face the future without anxiety, but rather with the knowledge that you were equipped to meet any challenge that the future might hold.