Broad School Undergrad Commencement Speech
by Ryan Kelley

Imagine, no seriously imagine, that you have a checking account and every morning you wake up to a balance of $86,400. The only problem is that you are not allowed to transfer the balance to the next day. Every night the balance becomes zero, even if you did not spend the entire $86,400 during the day. What would you do, given this scenario?

You would spend every cent, of course! One would never comprehend that each of us, everyone in this building has such an account, but we do! Our bank is called Time.

Every morning, each of us, everyone in this building is credited with 86,400 seconds. Every night this account writes off as lost whatever you failed to invest for good purpose. It carries no balance. It allows no overdraft. You can't go to the ATM and get more. If you fail to use the day's deposits the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against tomorrow. You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest your time wisely in what is best for your health, your happiness, and your success. The clock is running, make the most of today.

Friends, faculty, distinguished guests and alumni, I propose that time is the most valuable asset we have. Time a gift so common and so global that we often overlook its power and value.

To understand the value of a year, ask a student who repeated a year. To understand the value of an hour, think back to daylight savings. To understand the value of one second, think back to the night of November 3, 2001. Second and goal from the three yard line, Jeff Smoker to T.J. Duckett, Michigan 24, Michigan State 26.

As graduates of one of the finest institutions in the world, we obviously understand the value of time. As graduates of the Eli Broad College of Business we've had to make sacrifices. The sacrifices were worth it, though. Our time at the business school has been awesome, 4 years, maybe 5 or 6 for some of us, but who's counting, right?

We have successfully balanced an agenda filled with: class, group projects, homework, exams, quizzes, interviews, work, community service, student organizations, working-out, fraternities, sororities, friends, family and, oh yeah, if there was time, we slept.

The most important ingredient for success in business is time. Take for instance Eli Broad, the namesake of our college. Eli Broad graduated from MSU exactly 50 years ago this month. He didn't walk into a family business. He didn't inherit a trust fund, NO! He saw an opportunity and poured his time and heart into it. Today, Eli Broad is recognized as the founder of two S&P 500 companies: Sun America and Kaufman & Broad Homes.

Now look around, we are surrounded by future captains of industry, movers and shakers, people that will change the world. Realize that we did not just come here for four years, but by earning our degrees we have become lifetime members of Michigan State University and the Eli Broad College of Business.

We have invested a significant amount of time and energy into the college. Remember to maintain this investment; give back, the Broad School will be a major factor in your future success.

Life is about taking advantage of the moment. It's about taking advantage of every second, all 86,400 seconds a day. Remember you are what you do, not what you say. Don't just talk about doing something, do something. Don't just say you're somebody of high integrity, embody the spirit of integrity.

Yesterday, history. Tomorrow, a mystery. But today, a gift, that is why it's called the present!

Finally, for the Eli Broad College of Business Class of 2004. We walked in here today students, we will walk out alumni.

Congratulations!

Ryan D. Kelley was most recently vice president of the Eli Broad College of Business Student Senate and has been treasurer of Student Senate and a member of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program and Accounting Club. He was in the Honors College and on the Dean's List for seven semesters, and was a resident assistant at Landon Hall during his sophomore year. During spring 2004, he was a student assistant for Accounting 202. He will soon be joining Bank of America Securities, a subsidiary of Bank of America, as an investment banking analyst in New York City.

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