Graduation Speech
by: Brian Grattan

Thank you President Jischke.
Fellow students, President Jischke, Faculty, Family and Friends,

I've been wondering, how will Iowa State remember the class of 1997?
With gratitude for an effort that renamed Cyclone Stadium to Jack Trice Stadium?
With sadness for a solar car team that could have been but wasn't able to?
With the pride of both basketball teams in the NCAA tournament?
With a question of what is in the name of a building?

I don't know, I can't tell you how we will be remembered.
But what is more important to me is how we will remember ourselves.
Sure we'll be able to recall the major events of the years we spent at Iowa State.
But it is the things that didn't make it into the paper, it is the things that went unnoticed by the general population, it is the moments shared with friends that are the memories that will remind of us what Iowa State really meant to us.

If you can think back four (or in some cases like my own five) years to when we were just freshman, you might recall a campanile that didn't chime.
Upon arrival to Iowa State I was unable to appreciate the sounds of a carillon, so my first question to my older room-mates who were awaiting the return of the bells was: "Are they going to keep me awake?"
Now I wonder "Will I be able to sleep?"
Or will I lie awake listening for the twelve gongs of midnight, thinking: I never did actually get to partake in the campaniling tradition.

If you can think back to that time when we were bright-eyed freshman and nobody had heard of a couple guys named Dan McArney and Tim Floyd you'll probably remember a trip or two to the truck stop or place called Quick Trip to get some caffeine for a late night study session.
Maybe you spent a night hitting the books in Perkins.
Or maybe you got the chance to pat yourself on the back for being at the library so late that you heard the closing buzzer sound.

Since we are here today, it's obvious our late nights paid off... most of the time.
Of course, there was perhaps a test or two we didn't stay up late studying for maybe even a book or two that had a surprisingly uncreased spine up until finals week.
"Accidentally walked across the zodiac," was the only plausible excuse.
On a good day, those test scores would drive us out for a cheer-me-up trip to campus town, or on a bad day they would drive us to the advising center to switch majors... again.

Through all the good, through all the bad; through the calming of fears, through the retaken tests, the changes of majors, there have been faculty members there to help us out, to give us support and to try to explain why our 24 credits of political science won't apply towards our new major in chemistry.
Sometimes, we just knew them for a semester, but some we have known for years and are going to remember long after graduation.
Whether they were explaining Maxwell's equations or the advertising technique behind "Maxwell House in the morning," they were there to explain it, and explain it again.
Their patience gave us the perseverance to get where we are today, and we owe them a debt a gratitude.

Speaking of debts and gratitude how many times have our parents given us the pick-me-up needed to face another day of Math 265? If it weren't for their support would our credit card account still be alive?
Try to imagine how they felt as their son or daughter went off to a school where no one would be there to keep them in line, to make sure they wore a jacket, to make sure they went to class, and ate a balanced diet instead of nachos and pizza.
Well, thank you parents, we made it, thanks for supporting us, thanks for worrying, and thanks in advance for letting us come home and crash for a couple months until we find a place of our own.

I know we've been preparing for graduation for quite a while now, getting everything packed, selling back books, returning empty cans to pay for all those parking tickets.
But have we found the time to say "good-bye" to everyone we should?
Over the last few weeks how many old friends have we bumped into on campus or at a graduation party? After catching up on old times, we'd share plans for the future and before parting say: "See ya 'round" or "Catch you later" when we really mean "Good-bye, you've been a good friend and I will miss you." In college it is hard to know when you are seeing someone for the last time. Maybe you will see them tomorrow, but maybe not.
For us, when we wake up tomorrow, what we used to call home; we will call alma mater.

So... I don't know how Iowa State will remember the class of 1997, but we will remember ourselves, by the people that helped us, guided us, and befriended us.
Everyone has heard the quote: "We come to college not alone to prepare to make a living, but to learn to live a life." Well my friends, today, we start the life we have learned to live.

To those who taught us: "Thank you, your words and lessons will be with us."

To my parents: "You've been the best I could ever ask for, I love you, and Mom, I hope you'll understand if I forgot to get a Mother's Day gift."

And to my classmates: "Good-bye, it has been a privilege being your president and I will miss you."

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