Archie told us what we needed to hear

I always dread ceremonies, especially graduations. It amazes me how many different ways one can tell a group of people that they are exceedingly unique and that they will go on to change the world. Of course, we will change the world, but probably not more than anyone else.

That's why I was pleasantly surprised when Archie Griffin expressed, as our commencement speaker, not that we will all experience extraordinary success, but that we will all encounter ordinary "fumbles," and it is how we handle those fumbles that makes us the adults we are going to become.

"Your failures in life do not define you. How you handle that adversity, how you pick yourself up off the ground and come back the next day is the true measure of your worth," he said.

I believe this rang true with every one of my peers in the 'Shoe that day. Moving away from our parents and adapting to college life was the biggest challenge most of us have faced at this point in our lives. It's a scary and uncertain time, aided mainly by an equally-as-scared new friend, and by the generosity of others. But as we stood in our black robes under the sweltering sun, I, for one, felt the swell of pride that comes with accomplishment. Accomplishment of my degree, yes, but perhaps more importantly, the accomplishment of having mastered this chapter of my life, of having taken on all that college threw at me and continued on, growing each and every day.

As we turned our tassels and flashed back to the first time we walked through the stadium as freshmen, I was marveling at how much I have grown since then, and Archie only hoped for us that we grow even more.

"I wish for you a time when you are down and counted out and forced to dig deep and come back and show the world who you really are. I have a feeling that you will get that chance someday, but what you make of it is truly up to you. You will get that chance and you will handle it, you will handle it well, because you are a Buckeye," he said.

As we cried and hugged in our first few moments as alumni, our sadness was illuminated by the challenges that we have yet to accomplish, and the people we have yet to become. Some of us have you, our donors, to thank. Your conviction in us was always a ray of light in the dark cocoon that these past four metamorphic years have been. Thank you!