One of my favorite traditions every year at the paper is graduation day. It’s always fun to see little ones I knew during my time at Brandywine all grown up, ready to embark on the future.

This year was extra special for me, though, as I had the pleasure of not only covering graduation, but delivering the commencement address at my alma mater. I can’t even begin to explain what a huge honor this was, so I thought instead this week, I would share my speech:

 

Graduating seniors, it seems like just yesterday I was sitting exactly where you are, wiping away tears as I sang my last senior song with Mrs. Boger. I remember feeling sad that I would never again go on one of Mr. Roeder’s awesome history club excursions, that I’d never get to play another round of kickball with Mr. Winkler, or debate literary interpretations with Mr. Brenneman, Mr. Schau or Mr. Schulte, or even struggle through another one of Mr. Myers’ excruciating biology exams.

Nonetheless, I was completely ready to close this chapter and jump head first into the next one.

On my graduation day, I remember telling my walking partner over and over again that I was afraid I was going to fall. I deliberately wore very short heels, but I’m very clumsy, especially when I’m nervous. I can proudly say that I successfully made it across the stage, but after posing for my picture with my diploma, I stumbled over my graduation gown and tripped down the stairs. Luckily, my walking partner was waiting at the bottom laughing, reaching out a hand to pick me up.

I quite literally had fallen head first into my future.

For some of you, high school may have been a breeze. Maybe you fit in easily and were blessed with brains and good study habits. But my guess is the majority of you had a few of those metaphorical trips down the stairs. Your path may not have not have always been so easy to walk. Maybe you were like me and struggled immensely through math classes. Maybe you dealt with heartbreak in high school or had a difficult time finding where you fit in.

I’m here to tell you that you should be proud of those challenges, because in spite of them, you are here today. You are graduating. You made it.

I wish I could tell you that it’s smooth sailing from here, but in all reality, life is full of trips and falls. The road is often rocky and sometimes it’s difficult to navigate.

The good news is that I can tell you from experience, no matter how scary or hard life may seem, no matter how many hurdles you have to jump, no matter how many tumbles you take down those stairs, things have a way of working themselves out if you have the courage to face what scares you, do what you love and work hard to achieve your goals.

While I was preparing for this speech, I thought a lot about what advice I wish I had been given as an 18-year-old about to embark on adulthood, and as I sifted through the many lessons I’ve learned since entering “the real world,” I realized I wish someone had told me sooner to never underestimate the value of the people around me.

In addition to being a proud Bobcat from the class of 2009, I am the managing editor at Leader Publications, which produces five newspapers and a lifestyle magazine, among a number of other products. I spend my days managing a team of reporters and working with a number of other talented individuals to keep the communities we serve informed.

I started at Leader four months after graduating college. When I graduated, I had a job lined up reporting at an MLive affiliate, but when I traveled to the city to look for an apartment, my gut told me something wasn’t right, so I followed my heart and broke my contract. On the way home from apartment hunting, terrified that I would never find another job, I found a listing on a job app for a layout editor right here in my hometown.

During my interview, I was very honest with the hiring manager and told him that I had never laid out a newspaper in my life. I promised this man that I was a quick learner with a huge passion for journalism and felt strongly connected to my hometown.

I must have been convincing, because with a complete lack of layout experience, I was hired as the layout editor at 22, and was promoted to managing editor by 23.

I don’t tell you this to boast about my accomplishments or tell you that if you haven’t reached your goal by 23 you’ve done something wrong. I’ve worked very hard to get where I am today.

In fact, I’m working right now. You probably saw me out in the crowd taking pictures. They’ll be in the paper tomorrow.

But in all seriousness, as I look back on my journey through life, I don’t measure my success in accolades, certificates, promotions or job titles. I measure my successes in people, because without the men and women who have taken the time to guide me, teach me and even challenge me, I would not be the person I am today.

Some of those people are sitting right here in this auditorium. My parents, of course, guided me from day one. Mr. David Brenneman encouraged me to pursue a career in writing in the first place. John Schulte took me on my first tour of Western Michigan University. Mr. Roeder showed me that sometimes the best way to learn is to get out and experience things first-hand. Mr. Schau taught me to “stay gold” and Mrs. Boger pushed me to sing my heart out.

As you sit here today, reflecting on how far you’ve come, excited to see what is in store for you next, I urge you to take a moment to think about the people who have gotten you this far on your journey. Who has pushed you? Who challenged you? Who was there to offer you that hand up when you tripped down the stairs? What did they say to inspire you? What can you say to inspire others?

As a journalist, it’s literally my job to listen closely to what people say, and I’ve learned to find the value in their messages.

I’ve learned that sometimes the most valuable messages aren’t all that inspirational — or even positive. Sometimes, they are downright mean.

Here’s a true story, for example. About a year into my undergrad at Western Michigan University, I was standing in line at Biggby Coffee reading a book when the man in front of me started up a conversation.

Annoyed that this complete stranger had the audacity to interrupt my reading, I entered the conversation with a negative attitude. He asked me the typical getting-to-know-you college questions: What’s your name? What year are you? What do you study?

When I told him English, he snorted. LITERALLY snorted. When I said, “What?” He said, “nothing” and then I demanded explanation.

“So what do you want to do? Take this guy’s job?” He said, gesturing to the guy behind the coffee counter. “Unless you want to teach or are going to college to get married, there’s no sense in studying English,” he said.

I’m not a confrontational person, and typical me would have probably just smiled and walked away, but I was running on very little sleep, elbows deep in reading assignments and desperately in need of a cup of coffee, so I defended myself.

“I’m going to write stories,” I said lamely.

“Good luck with that. You can’t just say you’re going to write and then get paid for it,” he said.

It was then that I learned two of the most powerful words in the English language — at least for me — aren’t “good luck” or “great job” or even “you won.” They were in fact, “you can’t.”

Because from that point on, I set my sights on proving this stranger in this coffee shop wrong. I was bound and determined that eventually, I would find a way to write, and I would most certainly get paid for it.

And do you know what I do today? I tell people’s stories for a living. Whether I write them myself, edit them or guide others as they write them, I’m sharing those stories, and I do get paid.

I could have been discouraged by this stranger’s message. In fact, I did storm off and his words stung for a while, and I’ll admit that because of this conversation, I added my second major: journalism. Because once again, when you fall down — or in this case, are pushed down — what matters is how you get up.

If you can’t tell, I’m very competitive and I don’t like to lose. Working in the news industry with several competing media sources within a 20-mile radius and social media helping to disseminate the news as quickly as you type 140 characters, sometimes journalism can be a race to the finish line. And there’s nothing I hate more than being scooped by a competitor.

I used to get so angry when a nearby news station beat us to the punch, or when I would open the competitor’s newspaper and find a story we had somehow missed.

One day I was licking my wounds, especially discouraged that a story we had already been working on was on the front page of another newspaper. Once again, someone came along and shared a message that impacted my outlook on life.

This person, who is one of mentors, told me, “If you can’t do it first, do it better.” He has advised me over and over again that while Leader may not be as big as its competitors and may not cover as large an area, we can take that small area that we do cover, and cover it better than anyone.

As you head into the next part of your journey, I urge you to keep this approach in mind. Find a goal — something you love, that you can’t get enough of — and keep your eyes on that prize.

Maybe you want to become a physical trainer. Perhaps you want to join the Marines. Maybe you want to win a marathon.

No matter whether your next step in life is to attend college, enter the work force, join the military or study at a trade school, you’ll have a variety of other responsibilities that you won’t be able to turn down, but if you take the majority of your energy into that one thing you’re passionate about and focus on being the best marine, best personal trainer, best marathon runner, what have you, you’ll be ahead of the curve, and suddenly those hurdles and road blocks won’t be so hard to conquer.

My point is: if you are sitting in the seats in front of me, you’ve already accomplished a great deal. No matter how big your dreams are, or how many challenges you face, never let anyone tell you that you cannot achieve your goal. Take the time to make connections, meet people and listen to what they’re saying, and keep in mind that no matter how many proverbial stairs you may fall down, all that matters is that you get back up and keep heading for your goal.

Congratulations to the Class of 2016. I can’t wait to see all that you can do.

Ambrosia Neldon is the managing editor at Leader Publications. She can be reached by phone at (269) 687-7713, or by email at ambrosia.neldon@leaderpub.com