Garbacik gives student commencement address
 |
| Cathleen Garbacik |
Cathleen Garbacik, a new Marketing graduate from Novi, Mich., was deeply involved during her time at Michigan State. She is the outgoing president of the Diversity Career Advisory Board and the MSU SpeakSmart Toastmasters Club, was involved in the Broad School’s International Business Specialization, and was a past officer for the International Business Student Organization. She was also on the dean’s list for all eight of her semesters at MSU.
She has held marketing internships at Motorola and Six Flags Great America, and she recently accepted an Advanced Leadership Rotational Position with Dell in Austin, Texas, and plans to pursue her MBA at the University of Texas.
Following is the text from her speech titled, "Determine your own Destiny," on May 9, 2009.
I will never forget the day my big brother left for college. When he backed out of the drive way, I remember asking my parents why he was leaving, and if he left because of me. They consoled me and said, “It’s time for Michael to continue his education at college, soon enough it will be your time to choose a university and spread your own wings. While I thoroughly enjoyed being the only child in the household, I missed my brother everyday his was gone. It seemed as if it had been forever that he was away at college. Four years later, at his commencement ceremony, I asked him if he had any advice for his little sister – being that I wanted to be just as successful as he was. He sounded bittersweet when he said, “Cat, the past four years have been the best years of my life. Your college years fly by so enjoy every minute of the experience. Don’t use time or words carelessly because neither can be retrieved.”
Soon enough the time to start looking at schools for me came and while I visited many other institutions, as possible prospects for college, when I came to Michigan State, it was as if something clicked. I fell in love with this gorgeous campus, the world’s best mascot - Sparty, the Marching Band, and the Dairy Store, and knew this was the place for me.
Michigan State University has over a century and a half of life, education, and that infamous Spartan Spirit. That means 152 years of students coming in and four or so years later, leaving. So, what makes 2009 different? What makes 2009 so special?
The answer is simple, and there are 961 reasons why staring at me right now. The difference is each one of you! It’s obvious, that MSU has some of the best facilities, the best resources, some of the best professors, and as we can tell by all the green gowns, the most spectacular students. These resources would have been rendered useless, unless we, as the student population put our best foot forward and took full advantage of what this magnificent institution has to offer.
Let’s take a moment to remember some of the key moments that we have experienced here at MSU:
- Think about when you first arrived on campus; finding our dorms and moving in.
- Welcome week, with the floods of students walking up and down Grand River.
- Let's not forget waiting in lines to get our textbooks that we had to have BEFORE our classes even started!
- The 1st home football game in that brand new Spartan Stadium when we beat the Kent State Golden Flashes and learned how to do hockey cheer.
- In what seemed like the blink of an eye, we were packing up for summer.
- We went home that summer, only to miss our new friends and familiar routine, but we would soon return, now veterans of the move in and welcome week process.
- In the last four years we have found friends, love, and made memories not to be forgotten. We have been apart of Big Ten Championships, National Championships, and Final Four appearances, not to mention a whole bunch of personal victories.
- Somewhere along the way, we have mastered classes, note-taking, and finals week.
- We have career fairs and cover letters down.
- And now today, we can pat ourselves on the back and say job well done.
Education did not start nor did it end in the four walls of any MSU classroom. MSU is simply another stepping stone in our education. We had potential when we got here, or we would have never come. But what makes us stand out is that we allowed ourselves to learn and grow from our time and experiences here. We have the overwhelming capability to change the world that stands before us. Here at MSU we come from a long heritage of not being good but rather; being GREAT! So let’s go out in the world practicing what this institution has taught us, being great! We need not be perfect 100% of the time, because after all, we do not learn from doing it right every time.
Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through these tough years. We are leaving today totally different people than when we came in. We have our families and our friends that have supported us through our education, our advisors, mentors and Professors that taught us, and many others that are not physically here today, that need to be thanked. Without these individuals as our support system and our rock, today would not be possible.
In the following year you are probably going to set out into the world somewhere and start your career with the diploma you receive today. Society says that this piece of paper is your ticket to getting a job and being successful; But we should say that this is our ticket to change the world we live in. In the condition of the world today, right, wrong or indifferent, people are unhappy. Anyone can sit around and complain about it, but it takes a true Spartan to change it.
It is not the rest of your life we are going to start tomorrow; it’s only the next chapter. So walk in the right direction with you head held high knowing that you are officially armed with a SPARTAN Education, and all that we know that entails.
I didn’t fully understand what my brother meant until now. Throughout my four years along the Red Cedar, I have learned that you are destined for your own greatness. Although you may never be on the cover of Time or People magazine, you still have time to be one of those people who makes a positive difference in our world. I was once told that, “The roots of true achievement lie in the will to become the best that you can become.” So remember, when one door closes another door opens. And in the words of Jean Nidetch, “It’s choice - not chance - that determines your destiny.”
Today I challenge you, to take full responsibility for your words, your actions and your life as Broad Alumni and forever Spartan. Congratulations Class of 2009, and good luck to all of you on the rest of your exciting journey toward success.