This message was shared during the 2024 Campus Commencement ceremony.
Good morning to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods students, faculty and staff, families and friends. 能够站在你们大家面前是我的荣幸. I would like to start by thanking the faculty and staff for their dedication to us students to be here today and continuing to pour into future and current SMWC students. I would like to personally thank my family, my husband, Dr. 皮尔斯博士. Quinn and Presidential Corps for supporting and influencing me during my time at The Woods. I would like to thank to all families and friends who have supported and guided their graduate throughout their journey at The Woods. 真的，没有你们，我们今天就不会站在这里.
致伍德西学院的毕业生们, congratulations to you all on achieving and celebrating this important chapter of your life. I would like for you all to take a moment, by taking a deep breath and look around you. Appreciate and remember this monumental moment as the endless hours, 努力工作, dedication and perseverance have led you to this very moment. 虽然我们一起分享这特殊的时刻, 我们每个人都有独特的背景, gifts and qualities creating new legacies to inspire us and the people around us as we go into this new chapter of our lives. Mother Theodore Guerin created an inspiring legacy through her triumphs and tribulations yet remained faithful to her purpose with passion, 奉献与信念. Mother Theodore Guerin served as a humble leader connecting Saint Mary of the Woods within the community and beyond to accomplish what seemed the impossible to later on establish this “home” today. We all started our journey at The Woods, our home, our nest. Our home for the last four years that has been through moments of happiness but had a rough start. The pandemic surely created a sense of unknown into what we were not sure what our journey would look like at The Woods. The obstacles we have endured have made us resilient in embracing the uncertainty and unknown. Having to work through the pandemic as well as trying to make sense of it, was one of the hardest years academically and personally. The constant fear of failing and sense of hopelessness felt like there was no possible way coming back from this. The pandemic presented hardships, fear and a questioning if really, we would overcome this. 然而, 我们不仅忍受了, 但是我们已经成功了, succeeding and persevering what we once thought with uncertainty. 当我站在这个舞台上时，我正在留下自己的遗产. A legacy I am proud to have committed and have faith in, even when I felt like it was the impossible so that my family could one day be inspired to do the impossible. 这不仅仅是通过舒适的传递, but also embracing moments of uncomfortableness from uncertainty and the support of professors and family that I am honored to stand in front of you today.
无论你是运动员, 非传统, 第一代, 转学或传统学生, 我们一起欢笑, 一起哭了, shared our stories and met new people during our time together that will continue to grow after today. 我们每个人都创造了一份遗产, 不管我们是否知道, 这激励了家庭中的后代, friends or even ourselves as we take a new road of our own legacy story. Mother Theodore once said, “We cannot do our work if we all stay in the nest.” Mother Theodore took a step of faith with fearless leadership, passion and dedication to fulfill her purpose and vision of something beyond greater than what she could have imagined. 当我们离开“我们的巢”,“我们的圣玛丽森林学院, 进入现实世界, may we be constantly reminded of our time here at The Woods to guide us into our new legacy as leaders within our own communities to push boundaries, 坚持信念，坚持不懈. As diverse leaders may we always represent 圣玛丽森林学院 through our work and be proud of our origin. 当我们来到新的岔路口, may Provident God continue to watch over and lead us in our unique, 精美的遗产, guiding us through the less traveled roads the same way He was faithful to Mother Theodore Guerin.
祝贺2024届毕业生, and may Provident God bless and guide you through this new legacy.
Polet Horsley Horton earned her Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in 护理 and Kinesiology. 在圣玛丽森林学院(SMWC), Horton was a member of the Presidential Corps and volunteered for several campus events, including Woods 给 Day and SMWC’s Foundation Day of Service. Additionally, Horton was involved in the Sustainability Club and the SMWC Dance Team.
作为Terre Haute的本地人, Polet stays connected to the Wabash Valley through volunteering with the Clay County Food Pantry, 爱的结，毯子和孩子的衣服. 在SMWC期间, she has continued to work at Terre Haute Regional Hospital and Union Health, 在她进入职场时传授她生活技能. She is a 第一代 college student and is forever thankful for the impact that SMWC has had on her. 毕业后, she plans to continue her professional career as a registered nurse (RN) at Union Health in the Emergency Room.
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