[MUSIC]
It flew by literally in the blink of an eye.
I can remember moving in as a freshmen right in Vail, and now I'm walking across the stage tomorrow.
Way too fast.
I felt like the last couple of weeks were just a sprint.
It's been a day that comes quickly.
It really hit me when we walked in and I saw the banner hanging, Class of 2017.
The emotions started to flood.
It’s a day you love, it’s a day you hate.
It's graduation day you’re happy to see it come, but you’re also sad to go.
Well it's bittersweet just because like Samford has been my home for four years, and this
is where my community is.
Well it's really exciting because it is something you've been working really hard for, and you
see it finally pay off, but I'm going to miss my friends and the faculty that I made here
at Samford it's really a special place.
Samford graduates more than 1100 students this spring, they leave with an excellent
education and so much more.
I leave Samford with a better understanding of what relationships are supposed to look
like, what the heart of the father really looks like and really being prepared to live
a full life.
Something really special about Samford is that it gave me not just a great education,
but it helped become the best version of myself and a really good person and I know that going
into the workplace and lots of relationships that I'll have in the future I will be able
to continue those continue those and create new relationships with great lessons that
I've learned and ethical standards that I've learned here at Samford and that's really
a blessing.
Samford's professors know that this is a special group.
An inspired group that will influence society.
One of our distinctive that I'm proudest of is that we offer a Christian foundation and
a strong belief and strong ethics and I do believe our students will go out and make
the world a better place.
Something that's particularly special about Samford is that they get a really strong education
in both faith and reason, and they can put those two in a conversation, so when a parent asks
me what does a student get out of Samford it is, it's a kind of intellectual depth that
I don't think they can get every school.
When they leave this place they know they already have the skills and abilities to connect to other
people and make the world a better place because of the spiritual grounding and academic skills
they earn here at Samford.
Once special kind of impact will come from our newly commissioned officers in the Air
Force.
Our detachment celebrating out students loyalty to country.
It's an amazing honor and privilege to be able to serve my country so I know I have
a long road ahead of learning and learning everything about my job but I'm really excited
to be able to take part and just follow the footsteps of the men and women that came before
me.
People go weeks, people go days and months and years without thinking about the guys
who are over there right now.
Right this very second there's somebody putting his life out there and there are people
that live everyday in fear and people that can't stand up for themselves, so It's a duty
that I feel like I owe them.
It's a duty that I owe the people there right now serving and it's just my turn to step
up and I'm excited to do that.
So time does fly.
Just a few years ago a majority of this class moved in, their hopes set high.
They marched from the Beeson statue to the library steps. This weekend they retraced
those steps back to Mr. Beeson completing the tradition and saying till next time.
Congratulations Class of 2017 our hopes and prayers are with you.
[MUSIC]
Together with our prayers you will use what you gained here.
Service of God and human kind where ever you may go in this needy world, ladies and gentlemen
congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]