A Graduation Acceptance Speech

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Credit April Ashland

April Ashland meditates on the Block A on Old Main.

Students at Utah State University are packing up and heading out of Cache Valley this week. The fall semester has ended and students will leave for the holiday break. Some will return as students, and others, like UPR's April Ashland, will return as a graduate, moving forward in their lives. 

I almost feel like I should give an acceptance speech, thanking all the people who have helped me get here, because it is one of the biggest accomplishments I've ever had. Although I'm only 22, I genuinely believe that it takes a village of people for each of us to succeed. Even if the real leg work was mine, the support I received from professors who knew, and especially those who didn't, from a department head that didn't give up on me, friends who got me out of bed in the mornings, and tucked me into bed at night, and my incredibly patient family, was all worth it to me.