It isn’t easy graduating college in 2022 into such an uncertain world, but if anything makes that experience worth it, it’s knowing you’ve been equipped with the wisdom and knowledge you need to handle everything life throws at you: After $240,000 in tuition, these college graduates were rewarded with a 25 minute speech about the importance of patience from the CEO of a printer company.
Amazing! Now they’ve got everything they need to thrive in the real world!
After working as hard as they could for four long years, the Grayskill College Class of 2022 received a gift that truly fit their private education’s $240K price tag when the CEO of Lexmark Printers delivered a powerful and incisive speech advising them to view life as a journey, not a destination, and to relish the twists, turns, and detours their trajectory will bring them. Frankly, even the mere opportunity to be in the same room as this awesome CEO while he shared how he learned to appreciate the small things as he rose to the top of a printer company, that albeit isn’t one of the main ones like HP or Canon but is still a really respected brand, is basically worth an additional $50K.
As many of the graduates spend the next 20 years paying off the hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans that they took out as teenagers, they’ll undoubtedly see each and every interest-bloated payment as money well spent, as you really can’t put a price tag on all the profound wisdom the CEO shared, including his incredible and life-affirming observation that “Growing up is a lot like waiting for pages to print: Though it may feel like it’s taking a long time in the moment, in the end you realize that it was all worth the wait.” Because ultimately, if anyone can understand the struggles of a 22-year-old who’s graduating into a pandemic-destroyed economy riddled with inflation and labor exploitation, it’s the Lexmark CEO, who offered such sage advice like, “Learning to be patient is not easy, but it is going to make life easier once you do.”
Wow. Such enlightening words!
When it comes down to it, this commencement speaker didn’t just give these students a speech—he gave them a blueprint for success. And that’s worth more than all the student loans in the world. Congrats to the Grayskill Class of 2022! There’s no doubt that the lessons from this commencement address will guide you and bring you prosperity for the rest of your lives.
