Spring 2021 GC UG Bachelors in Business Ceremony 2
is it here say congratulations mom go give mom a big hug face me no hold it like this i got my diploma and i'm opening it congratulations you've earned this how did daddy get in the mail what do you think it looks so good mom it's good congratulations it is my great pleasure to welcome all of the families the friends of the administrators the incredible faculty and most of all you are graduates welcome welcome welcome we are excited to celebrate with you today so we will come out of this stronger than when we went in we've learned so much we've grown so much we're still at the end focused primarily on students and everything else is secondary hi i'm sean and i'm joanne and we're snhu graduates i chose snhu to get a bachelor's and a master's i chose snhu so i can continue my athletic career i just received my degree from snhu snhu was really supportive of my disability and allowed me to stay engaged in my classes while still attending doctor's appointments i am michelle barnhart and i'm a sunu graduate as a student snhu made me feel like i belonged because they were always there for me whenever i needed them everyone's path is different but the destination and the dream are the same to hold that degree and say to the world i'm a college graduate i did it at southern new hampshire university you aren't just a student you're the author of your own story you don't just dream you do where others see challenges you see opportunities you persevere in spite of everything life throws at you when things get hard you dig deep and find a way to push through and after tackling late nights and rallying for early mornings your hard work has finally paid off and today we are proud to call you graduates hello my name is dr jennifer batchelor and i'm pleased to welcome you to the first ever southern new hampshire university virtual commencement we are thrilled to be celebrating our graduates with their families friends as well as our faculty and staff who are watching from all over the world today we are so proud of all you've accomplished and are very much looking forward to the opportunity to recognize your academic achievements in person as soon as we can i would like to now ask everyone if you are able to please rise for the singing of our national anthem sung by jessica caldwell a director of academic advising here at snhu oh say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we have at the twilight's last gleaming whose broad strifes and bright stars through the perilous fight or the rampart we watched were so gallantly streaming and the rockets the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there oh say does that star spangled banner yet away and the home of the brave thank you jessica welcome everyone to this year's commencement ceremonies we're broadcasting this ceremony live though many of you may be watching it later depending on where you are we have students from around the globe time zones may dictate that you watch this with your family at another time and you might be sitting wherever you are thinking well this isn't the commencement ceremony we planned on we've thought that more than once and and you wouldn't be wrong but i want to recall a conversation i had with lori santos from earlier this year laurie is an amazing faculty member at yale and we had a conversation you'll hear from her later today as our commencement speaker and we had a conversation earlier this year which i was asking her about the impact of the pandemic on our students and the toll it was taking and she said yeah it's been tough but but these students may be the most close-knit class that we'll ever produce that years from now decades from now when they meet each other they'll have this bond they'll be the ones who studied and completed and graduated during a pandemic something that none of us have has ever experienced before and hope i hope we won't ever again and she also reminded me that this is a year in which despite all the suffering and it was considerable life also flourished people fell in love people proposed were married babies were born businesses closed but a lot of businesses began started in the midst of this and people throughout showed amazing kindness and compassion and against that backdrop college degrees were completed as well you finished and you did so showing resilience and courage and sacrifice and many with a burden that was much more than could be expected of you there are front-line workers in this graduating class there are public health workers in this graduating class public safety people medical professionals you you did all that our society asked of you and more and you also completed your college degree we stand in awe so we celebrate today in this virtual way because that's what public health dictates and we've made a promise to you that as soon as we can safely do so we'll have a physical commencement ceremony we would love i would love to greet you on stage see you in the audience but take pride in this accomplishment take more pride in this accomplishment not less we'll brag about you more in the years to come not less we will remember you more vividly not less you are an amazing class and don't let distance and virtual space diminish the virtues of this accomplishment commencements are important really important they are the parade through the city streets when the team has won the championship but no one confuses the parade for the game they are not parades are not the championships you won that game in the long hours of being a student and writing papers completing exams and when you finished your last class i know you remember that day the last assignment was handed in and earned your degree in that moment you won the championship you come into this day the champions of your own story and of our hearts and we are incredibly proud let the ceremonies begin it's my pleasure to introduce this year's commencement speaker dr laurie santos seville university laurie has received a doctorate of humane letters for her contributions to the social sciences and more importantly for her guidance which has taken on national prominence for how to lead a healthier and happier life lori is an incredibly influential figure who's taught us about resiliency positive psychology and in a way that doesn't neglect the genuine challenges and suffering in the world but instead talks about how we build a meaningful and happy life despite and in some cases because of what we've been through laurie is perhaps the most apt speaker we could have for this incredible year that we've just been through together i'm happy to introduce dr lori santos hello and good afternoon to everyone watching this 2021 southern new hampshire university commencement address to president leblanc and all the members of the faculty and staff to all the honored guests to the family and friends of everyone at southern new hampshire university and last but definitely not least to all the graduates here with me today the spring 2020 fall 2020 and spring 2021 classes thank you so much for having me here today i can't tell you what an honor it is to speak to your commencement class in particular simply put your class is amazing i'm looking out over this video screen at 45 000 graduates on-campus and off-campus learners scholars from all 50 states and more than 50 countries people from all walks of life who share this love of learning and have come to southern new hampshire university to become scholars i want to take this opportunity to congratulate you for all your accomplishments big and small that you've had over the last few years but i also want to congratulate you on the fact that you've managed to achieve all these accomplishments and one of the most challenging times our country and our world has ever seen i'm sure that when you signed up to go to college you didn't think you'd be getting your degree in the middle of a global pandemic in the last 15 months all our lives have changed in ways that nobody could have imagined but in spite of all those challenges you're all sitting here today proudly watching this virtual commencement address you're ready to head off into this new nearly post-pandemic world with your degree and that is incredible you all rock and you should be really really proud of yourself and so when i started thinking about the kinds of things i could say during this virtual commencement address i wanted to address all the uncertainty and all the difficulty that we've all been facing but to be totally frank being a virtual commencement speaker in 2021 is kind of hard because the usual task of a commencement speaker is to give you some wise and very sure of itself advice something that you can use for the future but right now we're celebrating all of your achievements at a time when the future seems more uncertain than ever i mean i am a scientist and a happiness expert but this is still my first global pandemic i'm not sure what the next few months or even the next few years hold and so when i thought what i could tell you during this kind of challenging strange uncertain time i wanted to go back to something that i know will work something that science tells me is advice that i can be sure of and so i want to give you a strategy that is known by science to improve not just your physical health but also your happiness and that strategy is that i want you to take some time to experience gratitude the simple act of counting your blessings now feeling grateful right now in such a challenging time can be difficult it's also a little counter-cultural these days we're more likely to count our hassles than our blessings but research shows that gratitude can help especially during difficult times grateful people are not only happier but healthier they sleep better they have stronger immune function gratitude can reduce depression and anxiety and it also can make you more productive no matter what job you are off to right now gratitude can make you perform a little bit better it can also help you with the big things in life like saving for retirement and eating more healthily you're less likely to procrastinate if you're feeling grateful and it's a kind of strategy that can benefit you a lot in the future and so in the few minutes i have with you i wanted to try it i want you to experience some gratitude so bear with me wherever you are i want you to close your eyes and i want you to take a minute to just recognize how lucky you are how lucky you are to come to a place like southern new hampshire university think about how lucky you feel and how grateful you are but even more than that i want you to take a moment to experience gratitude for all the people who've helped you along the way because the fact is none of you've made this journey on your own this big accomplishment that you're all experiencing right now it is something that you share with a huge village now i think soon all of you are going to get your diplomas and when it arrives you're going to open it up and look at your name there you know in big bold letters but i want you to remember all the names that are also there in invisible ink the many many many other names that have helped you with this accomplishment and i want you to remember that they are they're not written on there in an obvious way but they are they're an invisible ink on your diploma in invisible ink is going to be the name of your mothers and fathers sisters and brothers aunties and uncles cousins family friends grandparents step parents everyone who's been there for you on that name invisible ink is going to be countless numbers of friends who've been there for you when you needed them who've given you advice who've talked you through the tough times on there and invisible inc are probably your high school teachers mentors coaches everyone who's been by your side through the long history of learning that you've had and on that diploma in invisible inc are also going to be generations of people before you who've worked incredibly hard so that one day you could call yourself a college graduate now i want you to take a moment to notice how you feel thinking about how lucky you are all those names of people who've helped you along the way that warmth in your chest you know maybe some of those almost happy tears you might be shedding right now that is a genuine feeling of gratitude and connection it's a feeling that this world has your back and that's what gratitude can do it's a performance enhancing drug and one that's likely to give you lots more happy feelings in the time to come class of 2021 i hope you will take the scientific tip to heart i speak for everyone else who's watching this when i say that so many of your teachers and family members and friends are incredibly proud of you and incredibly grateful that you've now graduated congratulations on all your accomplishments and here's to deeply and intentionally appreciating all that life brings you from here all out congratulations and thank you for having me as your virtual commencement speaker president leblanc i am pleased to introduce the newest graduates of southern new hampshire university's global campus business programs our global campus business graduates will enter the business world prepared with academic degrees expertise and experience in an impressive array of disciplines and specializations including accounting business administration business analytics economics entrepreneurship finance human resources marketing operations project management organizational leadership management public administration and sports management to name a few our business graduates will enter more complex dynamic interconnected and technology-driven organizations than the graduates before them through their studies at southern new hampshire university and their real world experiences they are prepared to succeed in the highly challenging business environments that await them studying in face-to-face hybrid and online environments these students have balanced the challenges of career family community and academics to reach this milestone of earning their degree in the process they have acquired the knowledge and skills in a host of other areas such as cyber ethics digital intelligence judgment and decision making people management persuasion and negotiation and service orientation these graduates will approach their business careers with an open and entrepreneurial mindset they will work collaboratively and cooperatively they will be leaders and team players they will communicate effectively efficiently and with confidence and they will blend the lessons learned from the past with today's technologies to solve the challenges of tomorrow's uncertain future our business graduates have come from all over the world to study and learn together in a spirit of cross-cultural diversity which is the hallmark of the globalized and interconnected world in which they live and work they will truly be citizens of the world whether they return to work and live in their home communities or venture father a field to work abroad today these graduates transition from being yesterday's business students to being today's business professionals and tomorrow's business leaders innovators and entrepreneurs additionally please allow me to thank the many faculty associate deans academic advisors and staff who have contributed to the success of our business program students your work will have lifelong positive impact on the lives of these graduates thank you congratulations to the newest graduates of southern new hampshire university's global campus business programs at every graduation ceremony there's one last piece that makes it official and it's a bit of legal language that i'm required to read i didn't read it one year when i started at snhu so there may be a whole class of people who think they graduated and they may not have but don't tell them but you will be taken care of so here we go by the authority vested in me by the board of trustees of southern new hampshire university and by the general court of the state of new hampshire i hereby confer the degrees of doctor of education doctor of philosophy international master of business administration master of business administration master of education and master of science the bachelor of arts bachelor of applied science and bachelor of science associate in arts and associate in science with all rights honors privileges thereto. Congratulations. congratulations to the newest graduates of southern new hampshire university on behalf of the alumni board of directors i am honored to officially welcome you into the snhu alumni association today more than 156 000 snhu alumni around the world congratulate you on your success and hope you will be an active part of our global snhu community at this time if you are one of our learners who has earned an associate's or bachelor's degree i invite you to participate in the ceremonial tradition of moving your tassel from the right side of your cap to the left as you go forth today always remember the university's motto summa optimaqua in english the greatest and the best and indeed you are congratulations again so you
2021-05-09 22:09
