Comments by Rebecca Hill to Incoming Freshmen (The Class of 2008)
 Convocation Ceremony, University of South Dakota
Vermillion, South Dakota. August 30, 2004

Thank you, President Abbott. It is a privilege for me to speak here today, and a pleasure returning to Vermillion. 

Welcome incoming freshman. Congratulations on completing high school and making the excellent decision to enroll in the University of South Dakota. You will always be proud to say that you attended this fine institution.

Twenty years ago exactly, I was an incoming freshman at USD. In leaving my hometown of Belle Fourche, South Dakota, I was excited and hopeful to start college at “The U.” I was also overwhelmed and confused. I was apprehensive about having a roommate, and living so far from home. I was afraid of failure, and for some reason, I was afraid of looking like a freshman.

Clearly, in Vermillion I had entered a world completely different from High School. And I was pretty sure that that was a good thing.

The next four years were like none I had known before, or have known since. All in all, I can honestly say that some of the happiest days of my life were those of my freshman year of college.

Upon entering USD, I had rarely traveled beyond the dusty cowboy town where I was born in western South Dakota. In High School I was not a memorable student. I was certainly not the most talented or athletic student, and I didn't have the best grades. As an incoming freshman at USD, I was a sincere yet anxious 17 year old kid and didn't know what could become of me at this beautiful campus populated by grown ups.

When sitting at my Freshman Orientation in the Auditorium of Slagle Hall, I was surrounded by my fellow freshman. We surely had interests and backgrounds different from each other, yet we had some important things in common. Among all of those faces that I had never before seen, sat people who would become my best friends in the world. Still today, most of my best friends were those strangers in my freshman orientation.

As a new student twenty years ago, I had a lot of questions about myself. I wondered, what would be my major? What career would I find? Would I avoid getting bogged down with a boyfriend? Why do the classes have such scary sounding names? What will happen to me over the next four years, and what will happen after that?

Since then, my life has taken some interesting turns, and presented to me some truly awesome opportunities. What have I done with my life since Freshman Year? Here are a few things.

- I have traveled in fifty-four countries, each at my own initiative, on my own agenda, and at my own expense.
- I have basked in the midnight sun at the Arctic Circle on two continents.
- I volunteered in an Eastern European village after the fall of communism, living as the first American ever, helping chemical engineers by teaching them English, the language that had been banned by the Communists since the 1960's.
- I live on my own blue water sailboat.
- I lived, and often return as a volunteer in the jungle on the Burma border, helping refugees who are escaping from the Burmese civil and tribal wars with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
- I have climbed castles every corner of Europe.
- I have hiked, camped, and lived among Iban headhunter tribesmen in Borneo, and was grateful that the only thing they sacrificed in my honor was a chicken.
- As the sun rose over the banks of the Mekong River, I have offered alms on bended knee to saffron-robed monks after their morning prayers.
- I've felt the sand between my toes on beaches all over the world.
- I've sailed in the Gulf Stream, alone with my wonderful husband, hundreds of miles from land, and days before landfall in America.
- I’ve bunked with Italian nuns in their convent on the canals of Venice.
- I’ve honeymooned in Bangkok.
- I have job interviewed in Geneva, Switzerland and in Hong Kong, China.
- I have had breakfast with street orphans, and spun Buddhist prayer wheels with ancient Tibetan women in Old Katmandu.

When I graduated from USD, I had no job, no good leads, few contacts, very little money, and didn't have a clue. However, I did have a real abundance of student loan payments!

With the ink still damp on my new degree in Mass Communications, I drove to Washington, D.C. and joined the ranks of young job hunters. I was armed only with a positive attitude, the address of a youth hostel, and my four years of experience at USD.

A few months later, shortly after my twentysecond birthday, I had landed a paid job in the White House and this was my lofty title: Principle staff assistant to the deputy assistant to the President of the United States for legislative affairs, senate liaison.

The point is not about me. My point is that you have seen it demonstrated that it's possible for you to arrive at USD as an average, unexceptional kid from an ordinary town -- and it is possible for you to broaden your horizons and grow so much that in four years here you can prepare yourself to achieve anything you can dream of.

I am not an exceptional person. If I can do it, you can do it.

Sampling everything USD has to offer is one of the best things you can do for yourself. A secret that nobody seems to tell young people, is that the University environment is the ONLY place for exploration of possibilities so wildly diverse. It's one of the few places where experimentation is encouraged. So be curious, about everything. Now is the time for that.

Perhaps your high school was like mine. Student activities were predictable, fitting into the conventional mold. But here you will find vastly more activities and interesting opportunities than there were in your high school. 

At USD, I was thrilled when I realized the wild list of prospects available to me, and here is a partial listing of my participation. I was in the jazz band, took oceanography, was in the student senate, and was a guinea pig for dental hygiene students. I was in the advertising club, on the Diving and Swimming team, took a semester of Greek language, and had a summer internship. I was in prelaw society, was a subject for psychology experiments, wrote for the university newspaper, and was appointed to the Vermillion City Council. I had jobs at the Dakota Dome and a flower shop downtown, was a little sister in a fraternity. I worked on campus political campaigns, took creative writing, radio and TV broadcasting, and religions of the world. I was in a choir, was a pretend juror for law school, raised money for charities, and took a weightlifting class. I studied anthropology and computer programming, worked on the student publications board, and took drum lessons. And perhaps most importantly for me: I joined a sorority where, despite some things I'd heard, I found a supportive environment that helped me become more confident and encouraged me to explore University life.

What is the advantage of sampling so many things? First, it makes a person more interesting. That is a benefit wherever you will go. Secondly, if you sample enough things, you might eventually stumble upon something you really like to do and for which you have real talent. If you're lucky, this can become your major. If you're really lucky, your major can lead to a job you enjoy, which can open the door to a fulfilling career and satisfying life.

Here, you have the chance to learn extra skills and gain hands-on experience related to your major. In the 21st century, having a bachelors degree without activities and experience, is really not enough to interest many employers. So the more things you try here, the more opportunities you have to become a productive, happy and contributing person later in life.

The important thing is to find your own path. Be curious. Work to become a balanced person who has compassion for others and responsibility for yourself. A well-rounded education leads to a well-rounded life. 

In plunging yourself into everything that USD offers, you may also learn adaptability. Then you will have gained one of the most valuable attributes for your life after college. Plus, adaptability is helpful in case you want to become a world explorer!

Although I've shared with you the basic path I have followed in my life so far, I'm NOT suggesting that you map out a similar route. Following the footsteps of others can prove less rewarding than forging your own way. The things that will most empower your life will be created by you, so don't worry about the roads that others choose.

But I can say that my experiences at this university clearly guided me down the road that I've found. And while I fully embraced the academic opportunities here, not all of the important lessons I learned were in the classroom.

Until now, you've had relatively little control over important factors in your life. You couldn't choose your hometown, your family, or where you lived. All of that is changing today.  From now on you have responsibility over your future, and you have control over what limitations you will accept.

Your success as a student will not be easy. Don't get sidetracked into thinking that it's only about parties, fun, boyfriends or girlfriends -- or the wrong kinds of experimentation. With hard work and commitment, you can use this chance to achieve things you really dream of accomplishing.

For you, classes formally begin tomorrow. But today, each of you has finally finished your long climb up onto the launch pad. In the coming months and years, using your knowledge and unique vision, you - and you alone - will determine your trajectory and the direction of your future.

In my years since leaving Vermillion I have had some incredible experiences, not only with powerful people, but also with the least fortunate and most heavily burdened people on earth. If you're curious to learn more about this, my husband and I have a personal website called TwoGypsies.com in which we discuss the issues more fully. 

As I look at you here, I can say with certainty: You are among the most fortunate people in the world.  I trust you will use your good fortune wisely.

Incoming Freshman, I offer to you my best hopes that you will take proper advantage of the amazing opportunity placed at your feet. Welcome to the beginning of your Real Life. It is about to become a lot more interesting.

Thank you.

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