Four score and seven years ago I arrived at ULM. OK, maybe it was five years ago and four scores of musicals that were memorized in my time here.  I’ve never been good at history.

Either way, graduation day is speeding towards us.

It is important for all of the graduating seniors to take some time out of shoe shopping (as this is the only item of clothing seen from under the graduation robes) and reflect on what they have learned in their time as a Warhawk.

Hopefully each graduate walks away with some lesson or ounce of wisdom they have picked up since their days in PREP.

I have several, and the first is the lesson of courage.

The courage to pursue dreams that are different than the ones my parents planned for me to have.

The courage to forgive people who have hurt me and to forgive myself for the people I have hurt.

Most importantly, the courage to keep pushing forward when dwelling in the past seems the easiest thing to do.

A lot of people come to college hoping to find love. Maybe the love of their life, or maybe just a newfound love for life that they didn’t know existed.

The lucky ones find both.

I came to college hoping to find the romantic kind of love and ended up finding a love for theatre and dance- things that have given me more happiness than any date I’ve ever been on has.

Probably the most beautiful thing about college is finding out who you are and what you were meant to be.

ULM offers so many things to help students figure out which road to take.

Want to take ballroom dancing? You can.

Become fluent in Latin? Sure.

Maybe you want to learn how to make pottery. There’s a class for that.

I truly believe the majority of the professors at this school sincerely care about their students and take pride in watching them grow from bushy-eyed freshman to graduating senior.

While there have been times that I deeply disliked some of my classes, the good has definitely outweighed the bad.

Which brings up the next lesson – the good sticks way more than the bad.

Nights filled with “Wagon Wheel” and “Sail” are going to outlast the memories of pulling all night study sessions.

Laughter shared with friends will outlast the tears shed over pointless drama.

I had no idea that college would teach me so much.

My favorite lesson was definitely learning how to live.