Graduation Day!

Today I had the honor of attending the graduation of one of my students, Ilham! Ilham has been in my program since the 5th grade! She is a genius and has the most intelligent sense of humor. She was the salutatorian and will be attending Belmont in the fall... and got enough grants and scholarships to go for free! No loans! We are all so proud of her!! She gave one of the speeches and blew the valedictorian speeches (there were two) out of the water. I'm hoping that the video turned out well enough to put it on the learning center's blog next week. I realized I can't hold my arms up with a tiny camera for three minutes without shaking... okay... even one minute! =(

Hoda's Graduation Address

Elizabeth sent me this and I knew I had to post it for everyone to read!! Its long, but well worth the read...


Over the weekend, Hoda Kotb had the honor of delivering the commencement address at her alma mater, Virginia Tech. Here's the text of her speech:

Hello, graduates!

I asked my friends one question before I came here, and that question was, "Who spoke at your college graduation?" Do you know not one person could remember? No one could remember who stood at a podium like this one and spoke at graduation. They couldn’t remember the speaker, but they all remember the message. It was always the same. It was always poignant, always memorable and it went like this...

"Wa wa ..wa wa...wa wa” (a-la Charlie Brown’s teacher)

Class of 2008, I am going to remember you and I want you to remember me.

I am Hoda Kotb -- and I am a HOKIE!

I am a TODAY Show co-host -- and I am a HOKIE!

I am a breast cancer survivor -- AND I AM A HOKIE!

I am addicted to my iPod -- and I am A HOKIE

People ask me all of the time, "How are the kids from Virginia Tech doing?" And then they give me "the look." You know the look -- the one that says, “Awwww,” the look of pity. I always answer the same way, “Have you ever MET anyone from Virginia Tech???? We are not-curl-up-under-the-covers, suck-our- thumbs kind of people. We are people who RISE UP.”

There is a saying: "If you fall, fall on your back. Because if you fall on your back you can see up. And if you can see up you can get up. And you can keep going and going and going.”

People say a lot of things.

They said it would be tough to recover after such a tragedy. It would be tough to heal, tough to rise up.

But you did.

They said new students would not come to Virginia Tech. They would be too afraid. They would not set foot on this campus.

But they did.

They said it would be tough to separate the tragedy from the tradition, that you wouldn’t be able to enjoy the Virginia Tech experience like Top of the Stairs, the ACC championship game, the girls softball team beating the U.S. Olympic team …

But you did, and it felt good.

Ok, so now it is time to look forward, time to look ahead.
How many of you have jobs?

(kids screaming)

Ok, I see where the engineers are sitting. Some of the rest of you may be traveling. Who is going back home to live with mom and dad????

(roar)

Parents, you must be so proud.

OK, this part of the speech is for those of you WITHOUT a job. DO NOT PANIC. Your job is out there waiting for you. You just have to go get it.

Here's how I got my first one.

I graduated from Tech, had my college degree in one hand, my resume tape in the other, and ONE job interview set up. I had on a brand new green suit, borrowed my mom's car. I told her, “Mom, I am going to drive from our house in Alexandria, Va. to this T.V. station in Richmond. I am going to get hired, then I am going to bring the car back, pack and move to Richmond.

She said, “Of course you will.”

So I drove to Richmond, met the news director, looked around the newsroom and thought, “Hmmmmm. I will sit THERE, and I will date HIM.” Seemed promising. The news director put my tape in the machine, played it for about 30 seconds. popped it out and said, “Hoda, I am sorry but you are not ready for Richmond.” Hmmmmmm. I asked him if there was any tips he could give me, advice. He said, “No, you are just not very good right now. Good luck and buh-bye.”

As I was leaving, he said, “Hoda, wait a minute. I have a friend, a news director in Roanoke. He is hiring, but he is leaving tonight. If you catch him I am sure he will hire you.”

I said tell him I am coming

So I called my mom about the car and said, “Mom, I did not want Richmond. I want ROANOKE." So I started driving south, got to the newsroom, looked around and thought, “This is ok. I will sit THERE. And I will date HIM.”

The news director put my tape in, played it for 30 seconds, popped it out and said, “I am sorry, but you are not ready for Roanoke.

I couldn’t believe it.

He said good luck to you and buh-bye. As I was leaving, he said, "Hold on. I have a friend of mine who is hiring. He is in Memphis, Tenn.”

Now Tennessee is the long, skinny state, and Memphis is at the other end. And I said tell him I AM COMING.

I drove across the great state of Tennessee, met the news director. He put my tape in the machine and promptly said, "Hoda, I am sorry but you are not ready for Memphis.”

I almost died.. Oh yeah, and then he said "buh-bye."

As i was leaving he said, “Wait a minute. I know someone who will hire you.”

Graduates, I was in the car for 10 days. I got 27 rejections. Twenty-seven news directors told me no. I got rejected throughout the entire Southeast. Does anyone know where Dothan, Ala. is? I got rejected there. I made my way to the panhandle of Florida. There was nowhere else to go.

I decided it was time to drive home. I was sad, listening to James Taylor on the radio, and then I got lost.

I got lost in Mississippi.

You know how they say God gives you a sign? Well, he gave me a sign alright. It was a real sign. It said, "Greenville, our eye is on your CBS," or something like that.

I went to the TV station, and that man HIRED ME.

So I am telling you your job is out there waiting for you, you just have to go and get it.

I told you I am a breast cancer survivor. If you survive a tragedy, you get some unexpected gifts. You get some gifts, you have to look for them. Breast cancer taught me two things. Number one: my life has margins and is to be valued and not wasted. So I say not one more minute. I will not waste one more minute. So I held onto the things I love, and got rid of the things I didn’t.

Number two: If you survive a tragedy you get four words. You get YOU CAN’T SCARE ME. Nothing will be worse than what you faced. So let’s say the tax man is on the phone. Ok, let’s say your boyfriend breaks up with you via text message. Ok, you can handle it.

Ok, I have a little surprise for you. I told you I am addicted to my iPod, and I have it right here...a little song i think you will enjoy..

(I put the earbuds on the mic, and blast “Enter Sandman” by Metallica. The kids went completely nuts)

I want to close by saying they said it would be tough to recover after such a tragedy, tough to rise up. But you did.

They say it will be tough to change the world.

But you will...

Yard Work!

Last weekend was so beautiful, and Jeff got home really early Saturday, so we finally got some yardwork done! Our boxwoods in front of our window had completely fried in the horrible heat we had last year...

Jeff doing the hard work... I mowed the lawn though! =)

Weekend in Birmingham

Actually less than 24 hours in Birmingham! We went down to celebrate Abby's first birthday this weekend!

Opening gifts!

Okay, so this is what Aunt Becky made for her birthday present! First attempt at a rag doll!

But it seemed to go over well!

The sliding board we bought... well, she's still not too sure about that!

April 16th

Today is a day of reflection for a lot of Hokies all over the world. Last April 16th was a day that will live in our memories for the rest of our lives. I remember being glued to my computer watching video stream of Channel 10 out of Roanoke as everything unfolded. It started with a girl from work calling me to ask if I knew that someone (one person at the time) had been shot on the VT campus. From there, the emails and new updates kept coming. Pray today for the Hokies and those that are working on campus to help them heal... specifically Darrell Cook, Mark Appleton, and Missy Cheliras at the Baptist Collegiate Ministries!

As I've said earlier, in the middle of all the tragedy on this day last year we received a phone call saying that our niece Abby was born. A bright spot in a terrible day. But today she turns one and we'll celebrate with her this weekend. Happy Birthday Abby!

A New Camera!

We bought our new camera this weekend! Its a Canon SD1100IS. Unfortunately for Jeff, the only one they had left at the store was pink. He doesn't believe me, but really it was all that was left.

Here's a picture we took this weekend with it! Can you tell I took it?

The blog should get much better now that we can take pictures again!

Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Anniversary to Us!

Marta told me I had to have a shameless Happy Birthday to Me post today, so here it is! I'm finding 31 is harder to handle than 30 for some reason. But its also our anniversary today! Hard to believe two years ago we were walking down the aisle! Time's flying!

We begin our hunt for a new camera today, so hopefully our posts will be better once we can take some pictures!!