Tonight I have the honor of speaking at the Ridgewater College Commencement ceremony in Willmar. I consider it an honor and a great blessing to share my experience with this year’s graduates.
For those of you familiar with StrengthsFinder, one of my top five strengths is futuristic thinking, so it’s especially exciting to think about the great futures ahead of these graduates.
There are two things I’ll share with tonight’s graduates. One is the value of learning and how important it is to become a “lifelong learner”–to keep learning even beyond their learning at Ridgewater. My grandpa, a farmer who himself when to college, told me that in your lifetime you can lose everything—your job, home, investments—but you will not lose your education. I hope we all continue to make learning a priority no matter where our lives and careers take us.
The other is the importance of a positive attitude. We choose our attitudes, and they make such an impact on the people we meet and experiences we have. We consider Southwest Initiative Foundation to be a cheerleader for our southwest Minnesota regional community and our attitudes as staff, board, donors, partners makes this possible.
We’re proud of all of our regional graduates and their accomplishments. They are our future entrepreneurs, community leaders, business leaders, colleagues, family, friends…our region has so much to offer them, and they have so much to offer our region.
I hope you join me in congratulating all those who make a commitment to their educations!
