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My fellow students, What do you want to do after graduation? This is a question that has been posed to me several times in my unlikely academic career. I call it a career because it has now spanned the better part of 9 years for me to attain my first bachelor degree.

Before I go on let me clarify, I am 25 years old. I am an old man when it comes to our newly acquired freshmen brethren, but I assure you, the campus we attend has a median age in its mid-30s. There are those that would like to strangle me for being upset at attaining my degree at 25 and complaining, but I digress. What do you want to do after graduation? I do not know. Going to college was supposed to help me find myself. Now all I have are more questions.

Is this the value of an education? To know that there is little you still know after the closure of it. I say no.

The value of our education was not in the classroom. The value we attained in our education was at those 2 a.m. study sessions over the stereotypically cold pizza. The value in our education was staying up for 2-3 days without sleep to finish that project that we just had to procrastinate on. The value of our education was being spontaneous and doing new things with friends we knew little about, driving to the ocean, Seattle, Portland, Canada. The value of our education was that we knew that some day the real world would return to claim us from our comfortable nests we built these last two years.

The true value in our education has lied in the fact that we have bettered ourselves and those who have "supported us" for the last few years will never know the voyage we truly took.

I have gone through hell with you, my fellow students. I have seen the wear on your faces after a tough exam. I have felt the pain of those who we call "gatekeepers" flaunting their knowledge without teaching a thing!

I have felt the frustration of getting a midterm that was "aced" and seeing only a C or worse. I have been through hell with you my fellow troops in our enduring war against ignorance.

What do you want to do after graduation? This is a question that I will still pose to myself 10 years from now. I am in no way going to be a valedictorian or a speaker at graduation. My grades are such that I am nothing more than a statistic in a database. I have passed but I have not made waves. I have been a silent majority amongst the campus. I have gotten to know all of you and none of you. What ever you do in the future, know that there are those of us out there on the same road as you. Although the twists and turns are going to be different the journey had the same starting point. Nothing will ever replace the experience I have had here at the University of Washington Tacoma.

I heard all kinds of off the wall comments from my peers at the main campus in Seattle. They felt it necessary the dub our campus UW JV?? You know the last I heard we were getting the same education that they were. Better in some regards.

Michael Phillips is the speaker at our commencement this year. What an honor to be graced by the words of a man who truly sees the world for what it is and makes no apologies for his opinions! You most likely have known of the trials and tribulations mentioned in this "manifest" and have hopefully reflected on what it meant to be the up and comers in the world.

Now we are the ones who look over our shoulder and prepare for the new guard ready to assume our roles once we are no longer fit to hold them. If my education has taught me anything, it is that one should be humble and vigilant with an eye towards the future and an earmark on the past. I look forward to seeing all of you at graduation and congratulations on your accomplishment. You have all earned it and deserve the best. It has been an honor serving with you in hell!

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