Good Morning.

It is an honor to be with you during this celebration today, and it has truly been a blessing to be in your presence these past four years.

As I was preparing my remarks for this morning, I got some rather uninspiring news from an article I read on the 14th page of the New York Times last week. It said that as nice as a meaningful and moving speech may be, no one ever really remembers the commencement speaker or what he or she may say. I thought for a few minutes about how that might be free reign to speak about some of the crazier stories from our class’s four years. Or maybe letting Dr. Griffith in on how many times I’ve ventured up to the roof of Neville, what I still think is one of the most spectacular views of campus (other than of course sitting on the front steps of Neville in Dr. Thompson’s class when the sun hits the dew on the grass and getting to watch PC wake up each morning).

But then I thought how it wouldn’t really be necessary for you to remember what I say today because you already know every bit of what I could say. You already know because it has been instilled in you from the time you first stepped on campus for freshmen orientation. And all of these folks who are here sharing this time with you will not have to remember my words either because they will be able to look at you, graduates of Presbyterian College, and see every bit of what that degree means in how you live your life.

After all, we see it in ourselves and in each other—that drive to make our community and world a better place. We find it in the hours and hours of work we put into the Special Olympics to celebrate the achievements of hundreds of athletes from the region; we see it in the opportunities we take to intern at the “Today” show and with Vera Wang, to participate in life-saving research at MUSC. We find it in our crushing victory over Newberry in the final Bronze Derby game. We see it in a idea for a bookstore run by students for students; it is in the student who volunteers at Presbyterian Home and takes mission trips to the Gulf to help rebuild following a disastrous hurricane. It is the unending pursuit to share the best of ourselves with others. And in doing so, I think we often find our best getting better. We find ourselves setting a higher bar for the next class and enabling them to reach that new level by our strong example.

So I ask you today, what does that degree mean in your life? What does that degree mean to you? Does it mean a grand accomplishment? a dream come true? A job well done? The end of a long four, five, … six years? Does it mean that we are done making a difference? For me, it means “While we live, we serve.” I think that our degree holds so much more meaning and value as long as we as alumni continue the servant leadership we have developed as students.

I was speaking to a number of the scholarship patrons at a luncheon the other day. These are folks that have given so much to us students, who have listened to that call to give on behalf of you. And I told them that, as people of God, you have to be open to the unexpected places where generosity moves in front of you. For surely it has moved in front of us as we celebrate today, and we must be ready to respond to that call to serve with generosity as we go from here. We have to continue to share the best of ourselves while we live and while we serve. That’s what the PC experience has taught us, that is what our faculty and staff have prepared us to do: to serve.

So “On, on PC.”

On, on PC will go without us walking these sidewalks next year, without us in the classrooms, or as officers in our organizations. On, on it will go though we may be serving far away in Africa, or starting grad-school, or getting that first job, or maybe searching for that first job. On, on PC will go as it turns the page on our class and begins a new one this fall. But know that this place is better because we were here, because we are here today. And know that we too are better for having been here.

Seniors, congratulations. Remember to give the best of yourselves in your service, and as the old hymn says, “God be with you ‘til we meet again.”

Thank you.