What's Next? Advice - Graduation SpeechesU.Va. Commencement and Valediction Speakers
"The world out yonder — beyond these Grounds — is a world receptive to and responsive to the individual. That is what you are all about. All your years of education have their meaning in what you do — and try to do — as an individual. Keep your interest in large concerns. Pursue your search for stronger values and higher standards." - Lady Bird Johnson, U.Va. 1973 "An extraordinary new world beckons to you, and a few ancient miseries still beg for your relief. You are like Mr. Jefferson’s Corps of Discovery, a small intrepid band venturing into the unknown, as well prepared as you can be but with no reliable map to guide you through the undiscovered country that is the future." "...I was thinking about that time in my life when I was the age that most of you are now, and I couldn't help but think, "Boy, if I knew then what I know now, things would have been a lot different." Because I'll tell you the truth, when I left school, I didn't know what I was doing. I thought I did. I had a plan, or a semblance of a plan, but between then and now, I was led or went willingly down several varieties of garden path. I made some wrong turns, U-turns, did donuts in the parking lot, went uphill, downhill and sometimes I just coasted. I traveled a lot of roads, and once or twice I even made a road where there was no road before. The point is, as misguided as it seemed at the time, it all added up to something. Cumulatively, it added up to a life that's happier for the distance I've traveled, wiser for the mistakes I've made, stronger for the things I've overcome, richer for the experience I've earned, some of which I'd probably trade back for the time, but maybe not. Now, understand, I'm not recommending my path to you. If you can hop on the straight and narrow, by all means, do that."
"So whatever you plan to do, whether you plan to travel the world next year, go to graduate school, join the workforce, or take some time off to think, don't just listen to your head. Listen to your heart. It's the best career counselor there is. Do what you really love to do and if you don't know quite what that is yet, well, keep searching, because if you find it, you'll bring that something extra to your work that will help ensure you will not be automated or outsourced. It help make you an untouchable radiologist, an untouchable engineer, or an untouchable teacher."
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