SPEECH!

Here it is, fan club.

Welcome, President Garanzini, Loyola faculty and staff, parents, family members, and our most excited guests--my fellow graduates in the Class of 2010. 

The long road has finally led us here, and, quite honestly, it could not be more overwhelming. My excitement for the future combines with my fond remembrance of the past. As we look back on our last four (or five) years here, I would like to reflect on our experiences as Loyola prepared us to be educators who seek to be in the service of social justice.

When I began attending Loyola, I was not an education major. And if you had told me I would be sitting here today so excited to begin teaching my first group of students, I would have called you crazy. I would never have dreamed I would one day have a Teacher Box full of odds and ends I knew I would somehow use in my classroom. That I’d be grading papers till I fall asleep and giving advice to my students that “no, two donuts and four fried hot dogs is not actually considered a healthy lunch” (true story). No, being a teacher was not my goal because it did not embody those things I was most passionate about-- or so I thought. But through service programs at Loyola, through unpacking the meaning of social justice in my classes or retreats with university ministry, I began to see that teaching was a calling of such service and such social change that it went above and beyond the impact of any other career I had considered.

We all have a story about the moment we decided to become teachers. For some it was a lifelong goal, for some it was a sudden career change. Whatever it was, you saw the influence a teacher can have on a student and you chose to devote your time and money to studying this profession. Loyola led us through a preparatory program and together we journeyed through our classes, through block 1 and block 2, through student teaching. We met with Robbie, we compared stories, we celebrated the lessons we counted as victories and we worked through the ones which failed miserably. We had days we felt like we were born to teach and days we were convinced this could never be a fulltime thing. We made firm statements like "I will never do that in my classroom" and then we set goals for the things we will do. But what exactly WILL we do?

What will we do, Class of 2010, when we see our students not learning? Will we re-evaluate, or keep going? What will we do when our school districts place outrageous demands on us? Will we become teachers who seek the interest of our careers, or the interest of the students? The model of a Jesuit education is to become a "person for others" and the profession we have chosen is certainly a career for others. I have faith in you and in myself that we will become educators who serve and seek the interest of others.

Parents, faculty and staff, the future educators who sit in front of you today will not be like the ones you had growing up. They will be innovative, creative, and bright. They will teach lessons that are meaningful and worthwhile. They will succeed in their efforts to live extraordinary lives and they will teach in extraordinary classrooms. Graduates, I could not be more thrilled to bring this segment of our lives to a close and move on to the next one with you. I thank you for the memories we have shared together and I wish you the best of luck in your futures. Congratulations!