Commencement speaker to grads: Use your degree, new skills and experiences to serve, rebuild your community

Allyssa Spates, a Purdue Global Law School alumna, made these remarks Saturday (May 4) during Purdue Global’s commencement in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Family, friends, faculty and staff, and most importantly our graduates, welcome!

My name is Allyssa Spates, and I am a member of the class of 2021 and graduated with an Executive Juris Doctor degree.

I am here from Hollis, Maine, where I live with Devon, my husband of three years, and my three amazing dogs — Harry, Koda and Nita. I am beyond thrilled to have the opportunity to address the graduating class today as you all take these next steps in this amazing journey we get to call life.

Look around this room. Take a moment to appreciate the incredible people here. The different degree types graduating today are astounding. It excites me to see the diversity of skills and education across the room just knowing all of the incredible things you all will accomplish.

We have all degree levels graduating here today: certificate, associate, bachelor's, master's and doctorate. Whatever degree you are earning today, know it is an exceptional accomplishment. And what really matters the most with your degree is what you do with that knowledge and skill set you have so graciously achieved. 

Think about your education journey thus far. 

You have developed new skills in areas you probably never thought you would know anything about. All of those prerequisite and core classes you felt “forced” to take — yeah, there was a reason for those. It was to expose you to things outside of your degree focus and allow you the opportunity to expand your knowledge in unfamiliar areas.

I am sure that there are several of you sitting in the audience today who are nervous — nervous about the future and what it holds. What am I going to do now? Is this what I want to do for the rest of my life? I had those same thoughts cross my mind during my graduation ceremony. But guess what? It’s OK not to know. 

Now some of you in this room have already experienced journeys and detours and may have a clear path ahead, and know exactly where you want to go and who you want to be. My hat’s off to you! You will achieve amazing things. But if you are a graduate here today who doesn't know their exact path, that’s OK. You still are going to achieve just as many great things. 

Don’t let the societal norms of “what you went to college for is the only option you have for the rest of your life” be ingrained in your brain. The good news is you are receiving degrees today and not life sentences to a specific career field. Regardless of what you do with this degree, it is both a huge personal and professional accomplishment. It is normal and OK to be nervous about what the future holds, but do not let that hold you back.

One important thing to remember after today is this is the first stop of many. Picture your educational and professional journey like a road trip. Today is the day for some of you when you first got your license and made it to your first destination (even if it was only five minutes up the road). For others, this may be a detour you took to a new and exciting destination after many years of the same commute to that one place. Regardless of whether this is your first degree or your fifth, this has opened a new avenue for you.

I challenge all of you on this road trip of life to take alternate routes and make your way to new destinations. Use me as an example of why this is OK. I started my journey with an associate degree in fire science. I loved being a firefighter for over 12 years and thought that was going to be my life and the only thing I would ever do. While I gained so much in my journey while serving in public safety, I was also granted the opportunity to explore other important fields of work. I worked in public health and loved exploring international support for infectious disease responses and learned how to deploy public health professionals to these affected communities.

After many detours to other degree programs, other career paths and other professional growth opportunities, I now hold an Executive Juris Doctor degree and have ended up in a senior leadership position for one of the nation’s best health care systems. I would have never gotten to this opportunity today if it weren’t for those detours and alternate destinations I took — not to mention in combination with a few flat tires along the way. Your journey does not have to be a straight highway. It can be a winding dirt road up a mountain and 6,000 miles long. Take those opportunities and allow yourself to explore new options. 

I will warn you though that people will question and challenge your decisions. You will hear the “Oh, really, another job?” “Another degree, seriously?” “Do you even know what you want to be when you grow up?”

I have heard these questions — these doubts — about my journey one too many times. Your response to those people is not words, but actions. Actions of taking those detours and arriving at the best destination yet. Always remind yourself that these new opportunities and routes will mold you into an incredible professional and person — ultimately giving you endless prospects in your future. 

One final challenge I have for the graduates today is to utilize your degrees for more than just your professional lives. The degrees you receive today are the ticket to a lifelong dedication to bettering our communities and, ultimately, the world. 

Our world has continuously suffered an uprising in crises and very challenging times over the last few years. From a global pandemic that impacted everyone in some way to an increase in mass shootings, we are all needed to bandage these wounds, and we are needed to be the change. As Fall Out Boy, and formerly Billy Joel, has reminded us, “We didn’t start the fire.” And while we didn’t, it is our responsibility to use these new skills and education to help put out the fires that exist. I know all of you in this room are passionate people. Let’s take that passion and build a better tomorrow for ourselves and our communities.

Look for opportunities to serve and volunteer within your community. Use those project management skills to help organize a fundraiser for a nonprofit. Use those teaching skills and volunteer to tutor students in your community. And utilize those advocacy skills to represent topics before public officials that are meaningful to you and your communities. All of these skills acquired across many degree programs can and should be used outside of the professional sector to help communities, and those within our communities who are less fortunate. 

Look around, to your left, to your right. These are your partners in this adventure toward change. Utilize one another, lean on one another, and collectively we can take those steps toward extinguishing the fires present around our communities every day, and together we will change the world. Take opportunities presented to you along the way to help shape a better future for tomorrow.

To the class of 2024, you did it. You made it. Now I challenge you to explore your alternate routes. Take those detour journeys and support our communities along the way.

Congratulations!

About Purdue Global

Purdue Global is Purdue’s online university for working adults who have life experience and often some college credits. It offers flexible paths for students to earn an associate, bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree, based on their work experience, military service and previous college credits, no matter where they are in their life journey. Purdue Global is a nonprofit, public university accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and backed by Purdue University. For more information, visit https://www.purdueglobal.edu.

Media contact: Adam Bartels, adam.bartels@purdueglobal.edu 

Sources: Allyssa Spates, Beth Smith