To the graduates:
Most of you don’t know me personally, but I see your faces in photos week to week as we publish school news in The Winona Times and The Conservative. I wanted to take a moment to offer some encouragement as you step into this exciting new chapter of your lives.
Some of you have a clear path ahead – college, trade school, military service, or entering the workforce. Others might be figuring it out as you go, much like I did after graduation.
I enlisted in the Alabama Army National Guard without a clear sense of where life would lead me. After completing my training, I returned to my hometown of Gardendale, Ala., and worked in a restaurant while continuing to serve in the National Guard throughout my six-year contract. My journey took me through many different jobs and career paths over the years that I never could have imagined.
As an 18-year-old graduate, I never would have dreamed that I’d eventually leave my hometown to work in journalism – it was the furthest thing from my mind.
For those of you who feel uncertain about which path to choose, know that you’re not alone. This transition is significant and can feel overwhelming, but I encourage you to embrace the uncertainty. It’s during these challenging, unclear moments that you’ll grow in ways you never expected. Try new things, learn new skills, and don’t fear failure. Failure isn’t a sign of weakness – it’s evidence of courage and the willingness to take risks.
I’ll leave you with my favorite quote from Theodore Roosevelt’s speech, “The Man in the Arena”:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
