Remembering

'Tis the season for graduations. So, I was remembering my graduation last year and how exciting it all was. I re-read my convocation speech, and I almost cried at how many feelings and memories rushed back. So, to commerate the passing of one year since graduation, here is the text of my speech. I'm mostly putting it on just for me and for memory's sake, but I hope you like it even a little.

Darwin said, "There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved" (Origin of Species).

During my years here at BYU, I have come to see the grandeur in this view of life. I have come to see the power and the majesty of the Creator in life’s forms. I have come to appreciate the endless beautiful and wonderful forms of life. I would hope and pray that each of us has come to see the beauty and wonder which our studies have illuminated. There is beauty in the anatomy of the human body; there is wonder in the functioning of the brain and heart; there is beauty in a Japanese flowering cherry tree and in the insects that call it home; there is wonder in replication, transcription, and translation; there is beauty in evolution; and there is wonder—and perhaps even a little humor—in a spider’s mating dance.

We have all acquired knowledge, and hopefully we find ourselves wiser and more knowledgeable than when we entered. What do we do now? Some of us have jobs waiting, others have more school to look forward to—the list of our future lives could go on and on. But we have been marvelously blessed to learn and grow here at BYU. We have entered to learn; we must go forth to serve. We have entered to learn; we must continue seeking the beauty and wonder of life. We should never cease to use our knowledge to serve others. We should never cease to study and to educate ourselves. And we should never cease to look with amazement at the world around us.

Our education at BYU has a place in our post-university life. Although we might not use the details of DNA replication, the renin-angiotensin system, or the spider mating dance in every day conversation, we will use the strength of character we have forged from having studied these subjects. Education includes not only an understanding and application of facts and figures, but it includes a refining and an instillment of truth. Because we have been blessed with such an education, it is our responsibility to share and uplift those around us. As a high school biology teacher, I will have the responsibility to help students build character and to appreciate the beauty and wonder of life around them. How humbled I am by this task that stands before me, but how unbelievably grateful I feel for how well I have been prepared by my education here at BYU.

Each of us should feel grateful for those who have helped us attain our education. If I began to name the people who have helped me and loved me along the way, we would be here all morning long. I will say that I am grateful for my professors, my mentors, my friends, my dear parents, my wonderful boss, my ever-patient TAs, and my loving Heavenly Father. I would encourage you to take the time today or in the near future to thank those who have helped you along your way. Without the marvelous people who have stuck with us and helped us, we would not be here today.

Darwin said, “There is a grandeur in this view of life.” During my years here at BYU, I have come to see the grandeur and beauty and wonder in life, but not just in the world around me—I have come to see it in myself. I hope that each of us holds dear the education we have received and that each of us sees the grandeur and beauty and wonder that fills our lives.

Thank you.