Good Evening Faculty, Staff, Family, Friends, and of course my fellow Acers, the graduating class of 2014. Fellow Graduates, I would like you to post a discussion board on my speech with one relevant nursing article referenced in APA format, it will open at 2359 tonight, Thank you. Well, we were told the program is “doable” and we rocked it. After 15 quizzes, 27 exams, 13 hesi’s, and 5 Checkouts…….in 11 months with three breaks…here we are and I am so very proud of each and every one you. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling the Spirit of Inquiry tonight. Before I get emotional and deep with inspiring quotes and words of wisdom that you can take with you on your new journey as RNs I have an important message for the family and friends of our graduates.  As many of you are aware, Drexel has just empowered us with a technology infused and evidence based practice driven nursing education that will lead the way for us to improve health disparities in our chosen practices. That said, our class, as a whole would like our family and friends to know that texts and phone calls for heath advice start at 19.95 per minute, all major credit card accepted.  Sorry no COD’s.

I think we will be known as the class who wasn’t afraid to speak up.  I believe, collectively, we sent our professors 3,496 emails each quarter.  I also believe we had a unique ability to fight a nursing rationale, even though, you were completely wrong. But I have to say; our professors were always quick to reply, resilient and supportive of us. We will also be known for our high scoring exam results, our unbounded brain capacity, persistence, tenacity, perfectionism, and our flawless ability to perform a checkout after only visiting the NACSS lab once, two hours prior to our checkout.     

Some of us here tonight completed this program despite circumstances out of their control. Adversity is simply defined as a state of misfortune or affliction. We can chose to either challenge it or let it bring us down. In a famous quote from Someecards, I can either fight adversity head on or I can move away and find a new life. On a beach. With rum.”  There is a student among us tonight who exemplifies the fight against adversity. During Quarter one, Becky Hines was thrown 15 feet into a wall when 2 cars collided at the intersection of 3^rd street and race. It was determined at Jefferson that she had a lumbar fracture and a broken clavicle among other injuries and therefore needed immediate surgery.  She spent 7 days in the hospital until she requested her own discharge.   With this weighing on her back, she managed to take all of her finals from Quarter one on time along with her checkouts back to back on the same day. After intensive physical therapy she received physician clearance to return to lecture and clinicals Quarter 2. She had three additional surgeries to remove hardware from her body space throughout Q2, 3, and 4 including one on the Monday after our final hesi. Becky is an amazing example of courage and strength in the face of adversity.  But, She just one of stories of the many obstacles we as ACE students faced this past 11 months.  Whether you fought relentlessly for tuition assistance, you visited the Apple Genius bar because you’re mac book crashed and you lost all of your files, or you completely bombed the Critical Care Final but passed the class like me.  I salute you. Becky would you please stand up. Lets give her a round of applause.

Acers, You now hold the power to instill laughter in a critically ill child’s life, Teach a chronically ill adult ways to bring normalcy back in their lives, share in the joy of a women’s first born son, let that young adult know its okay that he hears strange voices, or listen to a elderly woman’s recipe for the perfect oven baked chicken even though she no longer has the strength to make it anymore. These are the moments that you cannot take for granted.  You have joined a career path where qualities like empathy, care, and autonomy are of the utmost importance.  I know that each and everyone of you here tonight will take these tools you have learned in the past 11 months use this new found power wisely, weave it into your clinical practice, and make it your own.

Thank you to our families and loved ones who supported us with food and shelter. Gave us you’re shoulder to cry on and your ears to lash out at even though we completely ignored you for 11months. Thank you to our professors for answering our late night emails promptly and being a consistent supportive presence throughout this program. And now to my fellow graduates: If you remember anything from tonight I want it to be this: You are amazing! Life is YOU’RE destiny and what YOU make of it. Take chances. Don’t ever think you can’t do something because you can and you are NEVER too old to make a change in your life.  The goal that seems too hard to climb for is the goal you should fight viciously to obtain.  Don’t ever be afraid of it because fear robs us of the pleasures and accomplishments in life. When that little voice inside your head says, “oh no way I can’t do this” you need to make a fist and crush it because it’s a lie. You can, you will, and you did………..and here we are together tonight, celebrating it.  Thank you my fellow graduates from the bottom of my heart… for accepting me, being my friend, and supporting me along side you, to accomplish this goal.

Thank you and I wish you all nothing but the best.