Commencement Address

Graduation Speech 

By: Alexandra Clark 

Eli Broad College of Business 

Michigan State University 

Class of 2010 


In 1905 my Great Grandfather was forcibly removed from Michigan Agricultural College. Having a mischievous way about himself, he had decided to interrupt a large assembly of academics on campus with the spray of a firehose- not only was he successful in drenching the audience but also entirely removing the plaster from the walls of Morril Hall. Twenty or so years later, my grandfather flunked out of Michigan State College and in 1974, my fathers graduation from Michigan State University was probably in peril when the MSU police called into question the rocket launching equipment that was mounted to the hood of the 1965 green fastback Mustang that he had parked in front of Abrams Planetarium.


Not everyone makes it to graduation. 


But we did. 


Not everyone gets that big envelope in the mail with the words, “Congratulations, You’re a Spartan”. Not everyone is accepted in to the Eli Broad College of Business, Not everyone can endure the 2 semesters of cafeteria flank steak, 4 years of Michigan Winters and 8+ weeks of finals it takes to become a Spartan. 


But we did. 


And we did not make it alone. We made it here on (one) the love of the people in the stands today, (two) the hard work of the people sitting in front of you and (three) the spirit of the people that we are sitting next to right now. 


We made it because of our families. We made it here one frozen, ziplock container of home-made minestrone soup at a time. We made it on Valentines Day cards with seemingly endless lines of X’s and O’s signed, “Love, Mom and Dad”. We made it on toilet paper rolls that went missing from home when we returned to school and on checks with the words “Tuition Payment”. We made it because our sisters answered the phone after one of those evenings that ended at Rick’s All-American Café and because our Grandma had an old Schwinn in her garage when we couldn’t afford a new bike. 


Families, your recipes fed our roommates, your couches have adorned our living rooms and porches. You taught us the kindness that keeps Willy the Can Man alive and gave us the smiles that walk this campus as our own. 


For the past four, or for some of us five years, the love and eclectic taste of our families has inspired us to dream of otherwise impossible journeys to amazing places, to fight unbeatable battles to balance budgets, to bear our most unbearable weeks on campus and the right the un-rightable wrongs of the world. 


Families, you have made us Spartans. 


Faculty and Staff: From N130 to Norway, from Lansing to Louisiana, from Eppley to Ethiopia, you have advanced our knowledge far beyond the confines of classroom and curriculum. You gave that thoughtful lecture that introduced us to our passions and that entertaining one that made those less interesting topics tolerable. Your advice made 21 credits in one semester possible and your smile with that bright, “good morning!” brought joy in the midst of chaos. With your introductions, letters of recommendation and stories- with your sticky notes of encouragement, papers full of red ink and early morning email correspondence- with your enthusiasm and dedication you have sincerely transformed our lives. 


You, faculty and staff, have made us Spartans. 


Yes, friends and fellow graduates, despite every library fine, parking ticket and bridgetask, we have made it here today. Through the week-long all-nighters, the loud piercing cries of pain and agony that echo through the campus the midnight before finals and those exams that left us dazed and hopeless- overwhelmed by the thought that perhaps we really were only learning more and more about less and less until eventually we may actually know everything about nothing at all. 


We may be exhausted, impoverished and potentially jobless. We may appear to be “just a bunch of broke college graduates” but when we account for the intangibles- for our roommates and Izzone campouts. For the days that we have spent on porches and patios, for consecutive final fours and the friends that we have met on campus and around the world. When we account for every crisp, fall Saturday morning that we spent eating brats for breakfast at the tennis courts and every picture we ever took with Sparty. When we account for every squirrel and duck. When we look beyond our degree to the place where it comes from where people nap by the river on sunny days and everyone has an angel to guide them- even if only online at angel.msu.edu. When we remember what we created together and what we, as Spartans have grown to become we would find that in reality we broke college graduates are much wealthier than we had ever thought. Because we will forever have this Spartan Spirit; this twinkle in our eye. We may be clueless as to our career path and yet, as Spartans, we are certain of our profession. We are (ready?) GO GREEN (GO WHITE) and let no one forget how menacing that can be. We have earned our place in a community of Magic, Zeek, Menna, Sparty, Johnny, Gumby and Izzo, a place that no one can ever take away and we owe it to the love of our sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, moms and dads, grandparents, friends, teachers, mentors, administrators, professors, to each other, ourselves and all of our loved ones who could not be here with us today. 


Not everyone makes it to graduation. 


But baccalaureate candidates of the class of 2010, we just did. 


Thank you. 


Graduates please rise and help in thanking those people who made this day, our graduation possible.