Commencement speaker Allie LaForce tells graduates to be kind, work hard and don鈥檛 look back
Photographer: Ben SiegelAllie LaForce, OHIO alumna and Emmy-nominated sports reporter, gave the 3,400 graduates to be kind and work hard.
Be kind, surround yourself with good people who make you better and always work hard and don鈥檛 look back.
These are the words of encouragement that 2018 帝王会所 Spring Undergraduate Commencement speaker Allie LaForce left with this year鈥檚 graduating class.
A total of about 3,400 帝王会所 undergraduates participated in morning and afternoon Commencement ceremonies on Saturday, May 5, in the Convocation Center on the Athens Campus.
LaForce, a 2011 magna cum laude journalism graduate from OHIO鈥檚 Honors Tutorial College, is a sports color analyst, sideline reporter and studio host for the CBS network. The Emmy-nominated reporter told the graduates that despite feeling the pressure of landing a job out of college, the 鈥渞eal world鈥 is not as bad as it seems. The first advice she gave them was to be kind.
鈥淏e kind to your family, co-workers and friends 鈥 even if you鈥檙e having a bad day,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t makes a difference and it makes your life and the lives around you better. My mom told me from day one, 鈥楤e nice and do the right thing.鈥欌
LaForce told the graduates to always surround themselves with people who make them better, because life is tough enough without being around people who hold you back.
She told the story of how she had to call play-by-play and color on the radio for the first time because her WOUB Radio broadcast partner Tony Castricone faked an illness a couple of hours before a Bobcat鈥檚 women鈥檚 basketball game in order to force her to become a more well-rounded broadcaster.
鈥淗e knew I needed to learn how to do play-by-play to advance in my career,鈥 LaForce said. 鈥淪urround yourself with good people who don鈥檛 just give you what you want, but give you what you need.鈥
LaForce challenged the graduates to work hard and to keep going when things get tough. She told a story about when she was a walk-on for the OHIO Women鈥檚 Basketball Team and felt like she couldn鈥檛 run any more sprints at the end of a three-hour practice after a full day of classes.
鈥淚 looked to my right and my teammate looked me in the eye and started running,鈥 LaForce said. 鈥淚 thought, it was either let my teammate down or keep running. I ran six more sprints that day. ... Choose to run one more sprint 鈥 choose to be better every day.鈥
LaForce told the graduates that life is tough, but they can handle it because they are Bobcats.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 care if you are a man, woman, black, white or anything in between,鈥 LaForce said. 鈥淲ork your butt off and be the best version of yourself. Run those sprints and be the best you. That will make the world better for future generations.鈥
Before LaForce took the morning stage, first-year President Dr. M. Duane Nellis, who was taking part in his first Spring Undergraduate Commencement, told the graduates that he recalls sitting at his own commencement ceremony and it doesn鈥檛 seem that long ago.
鈥淪oak up this moment, bask in it,鈥 he said. 鈥淵ou deserve to feel proud. You have worked so very hard to get here.鈥
Dr. Nellis told them to feel confident that their education will serve them well for the road that lies ahead.
鈥淭hese skills you acquired at 帝王会所 are transferable, regardless of what job position you hold,鈥 Dr. Nellis said. 鈥淭hey will never fail you. So as you go out into the world, stand tall. You are ready!鈥
Graduating journalism major Lily Bradley delivered the student commencement speech during the morning ceremony. She is one of the inaugural members of the Presidential Leadership Society, which Dr. Nellis formed this academic year to help advance the priorities and initiatives of the Office of the President.
Bradley said it was a privilege to serve in the Presidential Leadership Society as well as the Margaret Boyd Scholars Program during her time in Athens.
鈥淭he beauty of college and life in general is that you can be whoever and whatever you want to be,鈥 she said. 鈥淔irst and foremost, we take great pride in our treasured university. 鈥 there is a true sense of community on the bricks of Athens.鈥
Bradley told her classmates that excellence is their hallmark and that the University is full of eager students and an outstanding faculty with exceptional ideas and programs that drive the educational mission. She specifically complimented her Scripps College of Communication faculty.
鈥淲e are taught by some of the finest instructors in our fields, a statement showcased by the fact that 94 percent of our students graduate with a job or an offer to continue their education,鈥 Bradley said.
She added that she is proud to be a Bobcat because it鈥檚 a life sentence.
鈥淭hey really mean it when they say 鈥業t鈥檚 not four years, it鈥檚 for life,鈥 Bradley said. 鈥溾 We鈥檙e a scrappy bunch, compassionate and dedicated, we鈥檙e Bobcats for life.鈥
In the afternoon Commencement ceremony, graduating senior Mercedes Lewis also provided words of encouragement to her fellow graduates.
鈥淲e have been working for years to get to this point and today is the day we finally get to celebrate,鈥 Lewis said. 鈥淭he long days of four or five classes back-to-back, the long nights at 鈥楥lub Alden鈥 and everything else in between has finally come to this moment. 鈥 We鈥檙e all here today, not only because someone believed in us, but because we believed in ourselves.鈥
She said that while growing up as a shy kid, she never imagined that one day she could give the University鈥檚 commencement speech. She said it happened because she reached outside of her bubble and grew.
鈥淐ollege does that. It breaks the comfort zones we set and exposes us to different people, cultures, classes and experiences,鈥 Lewis said. 鈥溾 We didn鈥檛 need to travel across the world to grow into a new person, Athens brought all of that to us.鈥
Lewis finished her talk by reminding her fellow graduates that they are all forever interlinked as Bobcat alumni.
鈥淲e are a family and although we may no longer see one another as often, the connections we鈥檝e made will last a lifetime,鈥 Lewis said. 鈥淣ow it鈥檚 time to celebrate.鈥
Photographer: Ben Siegel2018 graduates turn their tassels to the left during the morning ceremony on May 5.
Photographer: Ben SiegelUndergraduate Commencement student speaker Lily Bradley addresses her fellow graduates during the morning ceremony on May 5