if i wrote the senior commencement speech

Hello Graduates, Professors, Loved Ones, and everyone that has helped Lake Forest College continue to be an institution students have sought out and loved for the past 169 years. Congratulations on the commitment to higher education and pushing yourself to be where you are today, today is a celebration of you, of us, and the community.

One of the most community driven spots on campus is the Dining Hall, or rather, “the caf,” in which we hear a variety of songs every day, but I’d like to talk about one in specific that reflects what life at Lake Forest College is like. During freshman year fall semester in 2022, the one song I heard most often was Heaven Is A Place On Earth by Belinda Carlisle. There is a glimmer in the eye of freshman that some may say dies out by senior year, but I don’t agree, I just think it morphs. One of the college’s values is curiosity, at the beginning we are curious about the people we may become at school, each other, and the world around us. Now in May of 2026 many of us have figured out what kind of person we want to be and some of us are still trying to figure that out. This change is reflected in Carlisle, “In this world, we’re just beginnin’ / To understand the miracle of livin’ / Baby, I was afraid before / But I’m not afraid anymore.” While the world may be a scary place, we have grown from who we were to who we are now, and we are no longer afraid to face the world. The glimmer in the eye morphs because people morph, grow into new people, and that sparkle now belongs to the future.

In a million years I never thought I’d write this speech, but I saw something recently about rejection and how we cannot be afraid of it. If I was afraid of rejection I wouldn’t be here right now. While at Lake Forest College I have found a community that tries their best every day to foster community and make this place a space to be together. If I never faced rejection, I would have never been able to write this speech, be President of Garrick Players, Assistant Direct in the Theater department, write too many papers about Walt Whitman, and find my friends that I know I’ll have for a lifetime.

I urge you to take a chance and be open to rejection, the possibilities in this life are limitless, so why be the person to limit yourself. Seek out opportunities because even if you don’t know what will happen it will almost always lead to somewhere extraordinary. So next time you find yourself going for it and being rejected, remember this quote from Meet the Robinsons, “You failed! And it was awesome!...From failing you learn, from success…not so much…Keep moving forward!”

Thank you and Congratulations to Class of 2026!