The Day I Got My Doctorate

(below is the speech I proudly gave to my fellow classmates, professors, family and friends on graduation day)

Wow, graduation day. I know for myself and the rest of my classmates, we’ve all had moments when we thought this day would never come. It’s been a long journey. While I was thinking about my experience through PT school, I thought about how each of us has encountered countless highs and lows. Obviously, today is the highest high we’ve had yet, probably being surpassed only by the day when we proudly hold onto our licenses. And we aren’t the only ones who have experienced the ups and downs leading to graduation- I know that our families and friends have been beside us through the good and bad. And, they are all sitting here today, ready to celebrate.
When I was trying to find the right thing to say, I came across these words by Nelson Mandela that perfectly describes the journey of PT School. He said, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
Mendela’s statement resonates so well, because everyone in this room knows that PT school is not all roses and rainbows. In fact, it’s more like practicals and playing Jeopardy with Dr. Schreiber. The low points happened to everyone, but occurred at different times - things like waiting until the last minute to do our PBL, working endlessly on the matrix,  our blunders on exams, our mistakes during practical- These were all moments for each of us that made PT school seem impossible.
But, for every low, there was inevitably a high. And, so I’d like to remind us of the good times-- things like: remembering the day we got accepted into PT school, the lifelong friends we’ve all made, the first time we aced an exam, our first clinical and our last clinical—these are all moments that made the journey worth it. These moments were when we stood proud, and we said to ourselves, “We can do this.”
And so, we had different personal journeys through school and each one of us has specific events in the past two and a half years that are etched into our memories as the highs and lows. But even though we’ve all had unique experiences, we made it here together today.
So now, I stand proudly in front of my classmates, my fellow doctors of physical therapy, our wonderful professors, our loving families and friends - and I can say- we did it. It doesn’t seem that impossible after all. Congratulations to the Class of 2013!