ASG PRESIDENT'S TEXT

Members of the Board of Agriculture, distinguished guests, alumni present, administration and faculty members, family members, and those we are here to honor - my fellow students. I am honored to be able to address you on this occasion.

You who are graduating have reached a milestone in your lives, hopefully the first of many more to come. You have sacrificed; struggled; balanced work, family, and studies; been worried about tests; spent untold hours doing homework; put family concerns off for later; and have earned the right to be honored today. You have asked yourself many times if it was all worth it, and have answered each time that it was. You have discovered that even the easy classes have hard parts sometimes.

Some of you have suffered the breakup of your family, others have found new loves. Some of you have lost family members, others have gained. You have all gained knowledge, new friends, and now are ready to move on - some to jobs, others to grad school. some of you will be CEOs, or own your own business; others of you will work for someone else until you retire. In spite of your many differences, you are the class of 1997, and I am proud of each and every one of you.

I challenge you to continue to achieve, to strive for excellence in all you do, to reach for the stars. I further challenge you to be proud of your achievements, be brave in accepting new challenges, be just with peers and subordinates, and to continue to make us proud of you in the future.

Graduates, I salute you!

This address was given May 3, 1997 to the graduating class of 1997.