Commencement
Student Speaker:Heidi Harrison
Greetings to the graduating class of 2007 - to the dedicated faculty, and to our families and friends. Thank you for joining us on this auspicious day, commencement. Today we honor hard work, dedication and perseverance. It took encouragement from others and courage to realize this point in time.
In my twenties, I had this dream that I would become a college graduate and be guest speaker at commencement. This vision seemed absurd and unattainable. It seemed too big and too far away. I did go to school for two years but never finished because I took care of my dying mother for four years. Later on, I made other attempts at acquiring an education, but these attempts fizzled out.
In my late forties, I experienced some significant set backs which turned my life upside down - in addition I lost my job. Finally, I had to make some drastic changes with my lifestyle. I had to go back to school and finally get practical skills and a college degree. I needed to overcome my fears and limitations about the learning process in a traditional school setting. Many obstacles stood in my way of achieving my scholastic success; including my math anxiety and test anxiety. I lacked self-confidence and self-esteem.
I overcame my fear of math by enrolling in math lab classes that were held every Saturday morning where I learned at my own pace with a math instructor. I took all my math classes this way. I met with a retired math teacher, Jim Erickson from Edmonds Community College who also attended my church. He tutored me regularly. We spent many nights on the phone for long periods of time enriching my life with why a+b=c. My minister Rev. Angela Farrar helped me with test anxiety; we would practice focusing, meditation and affirmation techniques once a week. My math instructor, Charlie Mason saw a noticeable improvement in my work.
But the hardest obstacle to overcome was my learning disability. My inability to focus and concentrate made me feel inferior to the other students. It takes me longer to work through some tasks so I need more flexibility from instructors and employers. I generally have trouble with conceptual ideologies. I also have a hard time with comprehension involving complex concepts. I finally got up enough courage to face my fears and I went to Services for Students with Disabilities here on campus to ask for assistance. Asking for help made all the difference in my success as a student. Here at Edmonds Community College, I found many services available to help students with all kinds of disabilities.
Another of my fears was that I was older than the other students. I addressed this age issue by taking classes online, night and Saturday mornings, but to my amazement I discovered that there were quite a few in my age group attending school: many of you in my graduating class.
I have learned that we all have stories to tell and we all face our own obstacles, but we are never alone. We have to let go of our fears and ask for help. Let the support system at places like Edmonds Community College work for you. As you go on to your university, your career and life after commencement remember help is just a step away.
Let me offer the graduating class of 2007 these words of experience: if your goals and your desire to attain them are strong enough anything is possible. It has taken me thirty years with sheer determination, discipline and being highly motivated to accomplish this huge achievement tonight. There were many days of depression and despondency, which made me believe I would never reach this point. Look at me now! Here I stand!
I would like to thank many people for all the support that was given to me. It made going to school that much easier to override any obstacles that stood before me. I want to thank the school and the teachers for all their patience, kindness and dedication for giving all of us the opportunity to reach our goals I also would like to thank my cousins and friends. I must not forget my church family at First Baptist Church of Mountlake Terrace for their emotional, spiritual, and financial support. Even though she is gone, I would like to thank my mom because she always realized the importance of finishing school.
I've been waiting to do this for 30 years! So, I can't wait for the part where we get to throw our hats in the air.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!
