All the buzz is in the air this brisk morning as the soon to be graduates of the College of Charleston prepare for the honorary ceremony that will beckon their call to the trials and tribulations of life’s journey professional achievement or failure. Gowned in white dresses and tuxedos, their bright eyed and bushy tailed students are ready for the next stop.

Some were biking to the ceremony, others, walking alone and in groups and some crawling recovering from an evening of celebration. One student may have truly summed up the package in one permanent visionary memory. A long white gown with a dozen red roses and Red Bull in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Promise, gluttony, and addiction all wrapped up in one.

Today is a day of family and a day where we leave social status and prejudice behind and reflect on academic achievement. This is the moment when our youth steps out of the Utopian society of college and into the melting pot of life.

Happy Hour is replaced by staff meetings, fraternity parties by the Tonight Show and all nighters, well they never go away.

With career planning books shelved at the bookstore and cases of champagne waiting to be uncorked it is a blend of pure emotion ranging from exuberance to fear. What is going through the minds of students at this defining stage? Post graduate studies, travel abroad, career, unemployment, following in their parents footsteps, continuing the same lifestyle, athletics or living for the next sunrise. So many questions without answers, so many decisions with lifetime repercussions.

This is a time of discovery; a time of judgement

To you, the college graduate, your time is now.
This is your chance to take your education and make a difference.
We salute you, wish you luck and thank you in advance for the impact you will make in the future.