A few months ago I had the pleasure of being the Guest of Honour at the University of New England (AU)‘s O-Week celebrations. In my commencement speech, I emphasised that these would be some of the most important, fun, and transformative years of our lives. I also mentioned that these might be some of the most difficult and stressful as well.
To those who are about to enter into their very first university exam period, know that you wouldn’t be here if you couldn’t do it! Study hard, but take care of yourself first. If you ever need anyone to talk to or are looking for someone to get some advice, my inbox is always free!
Good luck and go rock it!
Below is the full text of my speech!
===========================================================================
Hello, hello, hello!
It is with immense pleasure that I am here today giving this alumni speech. What a wonderful, sunny day to host this event, and what an exciting time for you all! I’m here today with the hope that sharing some of my experiences and thoughts will help you appreciate what it’s taken to get here and the wonderful journey you have just embarked on. If even one of you is inspired to tackle the next stage of your life with as much vigour as I did, then I will consider my speech today a success!
One can only imagine the range of emotions filling the atmosphere today. Hopes and dreams, excitement, curiosity, optimism, and perhaps, a touch of existential dread. I hear you! After all, it wasn’t that long ago that I was in a position similar to yours. This is, actually the very same robe that I wore to the very same occasion, and it’s the very same robe that I wore 5 years later at graduation… although I don’t think we got quite as lucky with the weather!
We’ll address all those emotions soon, but first, let’s take some time to appreciate the role the village has played in raising the person that got you here today. Many of your family, whether they are here with us today or not, will have similar emotions bubbling up inside them. Your parents and grandparents are watching their baby (and yes, they will always see you as their baby) running off to a new life without them. They’re probably just as terrified for you as they are proud of you! For those of you with younger siblings, they are, whether they admit it or not, looking up to you as a role model for their own lives. And for those of you entering university as mature aged students or under more trying circumstances, I cannot pretend to understand what it’s like, except to say that you serve as role models for us all. Your perseverance and grit despite enduring hardship and tribulation is extraordinary and to be lauded.
Now, back to the people of the hour! No matter how much or how little support you received in years previous, it was you that did all the grunt work and hours upon hours of study to get here and further your life ambitions. You should be proud of this achievement, you should be commended on it, and if times are getting tough, you should remind yourself that you wouldn’t be here today if you couldn’t do this. The magic of a diverse university like UNE is… it’s diversity! Take a look around you, you’re unlikely to hear the same origin story twice. You’ll have the country kids who have never been to the city, and the city-slickers who never thought they’d end up out bush (guilty). You’ll have refugees grateful for the chance to build a new life, and young adults just grateful to be out of the family home (sorry to all you new empty-nesters). You’ll have people looking for a career change after decades in another field, but also those with no life experience whatsoever and are just learning how to “adult” (again, guilty).
When I received the offer to study at UNE, I wasn’t quite sure what to think. I certainly hadn’t ever been to Armidale, but I knew that at least the traffic would be better than at home. For those of you unsure whether studying rurally was the right choice, I hope you feel a little bit of comfort when I say that not a day goes by that I don’t thank my lucky stars for bringing me here. It’s at UNE that I was able to have the best college experience, host my own radio show (shout-out to the great Tania Court), lead several of the best student groups out there, and grow, as an independent, critically-thinking individual. The rare few times I talk to my colleagues about our higher education experiences, I can confidently say that they did not have the same level of opportunity to step outside comfort zones as I did.
Whether you’re living in college, or as a townie there are opportunities to be involved with student life, you just need to be willing to ask. Make things happen, rather than waiting for things to happen to you. One of the scary things about growing up is realising that you might be turning into your parents… and at the risk of sounding like a parent myself, you might not realise until afterwards how much more willing people are to help you if you’re a student. Being a student is almost like a golden ticket for getting your foot in the door. As an example, when I became a radio host for Tune!FM (UNE’s community radio station), it wasn’t something that was widely advertised, but it sounded like a fun idea at the time so I just sent an innocent email asking some questions about helping out and before I knew it, I had a regular slot every Monday at 7 pm just having a yarn with some friends about whatever was interesting at the time, all whilst making people listen to our favourite music. The jury’s still out about our musical tastes, but if you fancy yourself as a bit of an internet sleuth, you can probably still find some of our podcasts on the Tune!FM site ;).
If you’re the couch potato type, that’s fine too. The point is that at UNE, there truly is something for everyone, you just have to look! All I’m saying is that a lot of life learning happens outside the classroom and you’ll be richer for it if you endeavour to reach out of your comfort zone every once in a while. Even heading to the ‘stro every now and then won’t hurt… then again, UNE’s motto is “out of wisdom comes moderation”.
Now, I haven’t forgotten about ya’ll who are studying online! Education by distance has continued to grow massively, especially during these pandemic times. If you didn’t already know, UNE has been, and still is, a pioneer in remote learning. I’ve completed several Master’s degrees through distance education now and know that it can feel lonely at times, but don’t fret! If you’re willing to put the effort in to get to know your classmates, lecturers, and Professors, you can still have a similar learning experience to those studying closer to campus. It always helps to get to know someone as more than just a name through a screen, and if the UNE folks are slacking on engagement, pester them to create more opportunities to bring the online cohort closer together!
You really do have some great years ahead of you, but there will be times when the going will get tough; when everything will feel like it’s much more difficult than it is supposed to be. You’ll make mistakes, both academic and personal, and that’s O-K. We all find our feet in new environments at our own pace and its better to make mistakes and learn from them, rather than miss out entirely.
It’s O-K if the first few people you meet aren’t the people you’ll become lifelong friends with. It’s O-K if you need to change things up for your own happiness. For example, the first college I resided in just wasn’t right for me, but I recognised this and moved on to one that I was better suited to and eventually ended up as a Resident Fellow there! Similarly, there were times that issues in my personal or family life were interfering with academics. But what separated me as someone who got past those issues successfully from someone that struggled a little bit more was that I recognised this, or at least had the right support network around me to help me recognise this so I could get help early. UNE takes mental health seriously and I implore you to make use of the counselling and wellbeing resources at UNE, even if you think you can manage on your own.
There’s no shame in keeping your lecturers and Professors informed as well, as they’re here to make sure you can grow and learn safely. Even if it doesn’t always feel like it… they’re not here to simply tick off a checklist of mandatory readings, assignments, and exams. Everyone who works at UNE is here because they want to see you become a success, whatever your definition of success is. Of course, we didn’t always see eye to eye on this or that detail of every assessment or class, but at the end of the day, they’re here to help you get to where you want to be in life. Treat them with respect, and they will treat you similarly as an equal. We’ll all have our favourite and least favourite Professors, but some certainly opened incredible doors for me that I would never have known existed, and there’s more than one that I still keep in contact with regularly.
Now that we’ve got most of the heavy stuff out of the way… here’s some other tips that I’ve gathered from other grads!
Go abroad, no matter what sacrifices you have to make. The life experience one gets from going abroad cannot be replicated by anything else. If you can’t go overseas, make an effort to get to know international students or other exchange students that come here. It’s almost like having the world brought to you instead!
On a related note, funding university studies can be difficult. Always be on the lookout for scholarships, either within UNE or externally, and make sure you’re getting all the Youth Allowance, Austudy, or OS-Help that you’re entitled to! Some of the best experiences you can have as a student are fully funded!
Do things that scare or challenge you, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what you achieve, despite not knowing that you were already capable. And that includes asking that special someone out, instead of asking ‘what-if’ 😉
Many of you will aspire to become leaders or develop leadership skills whilst here. This is absolutely a noble and honourable goal and one that hopefully makes our world a better place. That being said, society is also built upon those who are willing to excel as firm rocks and first followers. So don’t feel forced into being a leader when we also need people who can be perfectly happy contributing in their own just as important important way.
Keep your friends close and don’t sweat the small stuff. Always ask “will this matter in 5, 10, 15 years?” because the people you care about and who care about you will always be worth their weight in gold and losing that over something trivial is one of life’s worst mistakes. Remember though, if you want others to help you, you’re going to have to help others too!
One last thing. It can be tempting to see the next few years as the quote, unquote, “best years of your life”. Some of you might even look to Andy of The Office and think, “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them”. It all sounds pretty dreary and depressing, doesn’t it? Well, sure, your time here at UNE will probably be the “best years of your life”… but only so far! The academic and life education UNE offered me were key in setting me up with the right skills to make my mark on the world around me, but whilst I look back at my UNE experience with a sincere fondness, I look more eagerly to a bright future with excitement and optimism. I look at all of you with that same optimism for a bright future. Yes, these will be some very transformative years, and more than a few of you will change, some drastically, becoming more and more comfortable with who you really are, not what other people expect you or want you to be. It’ll be over before you know it, so really try to savour it – like a fine wine that only gets better with time! This is only one part of life, and a great one at that, but don’t forget to smell the roses and look at the bigger picture.
You’ll be right here again in 2, 3, 4, 5 years for another ceremony to mark the end of your time at UNE. Be the person that can tell yourself that you had the time of your life (again, so far) and made the most of every opportunity. Don’t be the person that’s still wishing they could go back and have more time.
And, that’s it from me! If anyone has any questions for me or wants to learn more about my story, I’m very easy to find, just Google me! Take care and I, as everyone else here, wishes you all the very best on the journey before you. Congratulations again for wanting to do more with your life, welcome to UNE, and now go and rock it!
Thank you!