College Graduation Speech | Lamar University Commencement
Dr. James Simmons, President of Lamar University: I’ve been in higher education for more than 40 years and attended hundreds of graduations, and since we instituted this particular program, I have never greeted a group of graduates who are more excited or more thankful or more appreciative of the opportunity to study and receive a degree from a university. Graduates of Lamar’s online academic partnership Master of Education program: This is my big graduation day. I’m just ecstatic about the opportunity to go back show that I still got it. Driving 10 ½ hours here today to get this was well worth it. Today I am fulfilling a lifeline dream of becoming the best teacher in the world. I think I would do the program even though it would cost twice as much as what it did cost. I think it was worth it. I wanted to be able to do more for my students. In order to move forward I had to take a step back for a minute and it has paid off. When you get into the rut of teaching every day you have to, your aspirations set aside because you’re working every day, so you really take that opportunity. But the school district that I’m with now gave us that opportunity with a professional development grant and partnered with Lamar, which… opportunity knocks. I felt like I had someone helping me along the way and the professors were all accessible so I always knew I would succeed, which is a great feeling. To me, getting a state degree is more credible experience. As I enter and put it on my …