8th Grade commencement speaker

I drove 3 hours each way to attend a favorite nephew's graduation ceremony from a catholic grade school tonight. The commencement speaker was someone who graduated from that same school 9 years ago. The young woman is an Ensign, USNA 2016. Of course they rattled off her resume as part of the introduction. I knew from her accomplishments, before they even mentioned college, that she attended USNA. Of the long list of things that were mentioned, the one that impressed me the most was that she completed the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii (I think it was last year). She is an extremely well rounded individual and I marveled at how she found time to even accomplish half of what she did.

Her speech was humorous and inspiring. She spoke on two topics:
1. DARE to fail - because it will position you for success even when you do fail
2. Always choose to be happy (aka - revel in the suck)
I made certain to speak to her after the ceremony to give her a Bravo Zulu and let her know I wished someone had given ME that commencement speech when I graduated from 8th grade.

BTW - her brother is still attending USNA, and her youngest sister was graduating from this same grade school, with my nephew, tonight.

These kids never fail to inspire and impress me. Just wanted to share.

and I'm pretty sure no one walked out on her

Some people laugh at 8th grade commencement/promotion/graduation, but if done right (as this sounds like), it can inspire and help provide direction. I'm so glad the Ensign came back!