Well, well, thank you very much, President Williams. I am very honored to be here with all of you today. And I want to thank everyone on the dais here, Vice Chancellor Lloyd, Chair Kathy Shields, members of the NCC Advisory Board, faculty, staff, everyone who's brought you here today. It really does take everyone working together. So I want to thank all of you.
Most of all, I want to thank the parents, the families, the friends, all of you who have helped our graduates get to where you are today.
And I know many of you who are receiving a degree today, you've worked full time, you've had a family. It was incredible to hear Rebecca's story of what she's been through, and to be here today receiving a degree.
I know it's not been easy for you, but we admire what you've accomplished, and really that perseverance that you have to be here today. It takes special determination and grit to earn your degree while holding a job or taking care of your family.
Because of what you've accomplished as a graduate today, you're better positioned to achieve your dreams because you already know how to be successful, how to manage other responsibilities in life. And you're well positioned to balance between your profession, your family life, and your health so that you can have a full and rewarding life.
I know that days like this, they don't just happen. You've worked hard, you've sacrificed, and you can take great pride from receiving a degree from a great community college.
But you haven't done this alone. And I mentioned the parents, the spouses, the family members, the friends, the mentors. Let's give them all a round of applause for helping you get to where you are today.
President Williams mentioned one of the individuals that helped you get where you are today, Lucille Jordan. She led NCC for 27 years. She was an extraordinary woman and leader.
Her passion for all of you, her passion for this college, someone who was always willing to innovate and make sure there were even better programs at this college, partnerships with the private sector. She was amazing.
And you know what I always loved? I can tell you the last time I gave this commencement was 20 years ago when Lucille asked me to do it. I was pregnant with our oldest, Kate, and I will never forget the feeling I had on that day and what she brought, the energy she brought, the glitter. I know we can't have glitter right now, but she was amazing.
And I know this is her hat because this is her glitter and what she used to do. So I just want to honor her memory and just, she was a great example of the importance of this college and someone who made a difference.
Now, I have to tell you, as I look back over those last 20 years from the last time I was here, I thought I had a plan for my life, right? We all do. But everyone in life has twists and turns.
I don't care who you look at, what they've done. Things never always end up as a straight line.
And if I take you back even further, I remember what it was like sitting where you are today.
And some of you may have a plan. This is exactly what I want to do next. And some of you may be wondering, hmm, I'm not sure what I want to do next.
Let me help you with a really important first step. Don't leave New Hampshire.
Now, I'm not saying that just because I'm governor.
I'm saying that because one of the best decisions I've made in my life…. I went out of state to go to school, but the best decision I made was to come back here in New Hampshire to build my family, my career, to have a great quality of life.
So with your degree at NCC, I encourage you to make New Hampshire your home. Continue to grow your roots here. We are so happy to have you here.
You can…. And as you look at your future, I would love to have you here because you're the future of our state. You're the future leaders. You're gonna make it happen for this great state.
But regardless of where you decide to put your roots down, let me assure you this: again, you may have a plan now but it may not end up being a straight path. There's always surprises. Often we think the things that are detours actually turn out to bring us to our true calling and our passion in life and what we love to do.
And when I was sitting where you are, feeling kind of what am I going to do, optimism, fear, I had student debt. My plan after I graduated from law school was to go work, pay off my student debt, make some money. That was important. So that's what I did—I went and I worked for a large law firm in Manchester, New Hampshire.
But one day when I was in that law firm, a more experienced lawyer came in and he asked me to handle what's called an arraignment, which is the beginning of a criminal trial in federal court. And I had never done an arraignment—I’d only been a lawyer for a few years. But I wanted…I had this job, I wanted to prove myself, so I head up to federal court in Concord. I walk into the courtroom and I find out I'm going to the arraignment of a very serious case. Literally five defendants charged with bank robberies up and down the East Coast, including unfortunately, the murder of two armored car guards.
You can imagine—I meet my client for the first time and I'm a brand new lawyer. So I walked down into the cell block where he's being held. He looks at me. I look at him. And I've never seen such a look of terror on such a tough guy's face. And the only thing I could think to tell him is, don't worry I'm not your only lawyer. So even my client had more courtroom experience than I did.
And so this was an experience that I had, and the first hearing as I walked in that arraignment, there were all kinds of more experienced lawyers there. And all I could do was look around the room and say, okay am I heading in the right direction? Am I doing what they're doing? Because I had never done anything like this.
I bet we've all felt like that at times, right, where there's something we're asked to do. It's hard. We've never done it before and we're scared. What I would urge you to do is push yourself to take those risks, to do things that, wow, I don't know if I can do it. Do it. Take the risk. Push yourself onto a new challenge.
Because I wasn't sure that I could do that. But when I went back to the office that night, I thought about it. And I went to the lawyer who sent me to the case and I said, I want to work on this with you. And as a result, my first jury trial was in federal court, three months. And I found out what I wanted to do in life.
After that trial, I went to the attorney general's office. I became a prosecutor. I wanted to be in the position where I could see that justice was done. But I had no idea before that trial that that was something that I would care about or be passionate about. And it started my career in a whole new direction.
And so guess what? Before I applied for that job as a prosecutor, you know what happened? They rejected me. First time I applied, sorry, no job. So I applied again and I stuck with it.
So eventually, if you're persistent, they'll hire you. You'll get done what you want to get done. So never give up when you have a goal.
I became a murder prosecutor and then attorney general and the rest is history.
But I want to share with you about my journey this. First, if there's something you really want to do, you have to be willing to take risks. It's the only way you can find out if you can accomplish something is pushing yourself out of the boundaries of your comfort zone.
Second, find out what you're passionate about. It's really tough to be good at something you don't care about, right? So find out what that's going to be and it's going to be different for every single person in this room.
Third, you're going to face setbacks. It's an unfortunate fact of life. You all know each of you has probably already had setbacks to accomplish to get to this day. But you're here today because you picked yourself up and you went on and now look, you're getting a degree today, which is a great accomplishment.
I'm reminded of the words of Winston Churchill: Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.
But I'm also here to tell you that success is not necessarily the best teacher. Often when things don't work out or they don't go your way. For example, I was a U.S. senator. I ran for reelection. I lost. That was hard. But now…. I picked myself back up. I ran for governor and now I get to represent the people of the state of New Hampshire.
No matter who you look at in life, they've all had failures. They've all had setbacks. And I'm here to tell you: own your failures, own your setbacks, get back on it, emerge stronger, because if you put your mind to it, you can do it.
In the long run, there is nothing that can stop the combination of hard work and pure perseverance. And you know it. You know that because you're here today.
So I want you to enjoy this important moment in your lives. All the hard work has paid off. We are so proud of what you've accomplished and what you've learned at Nashua Community College.
I want to thank you so much for having me here today. I would love to stay and celebrate with each and every one of you. But I also have an important moment from my son's life tonight. Some of you may remember—it’s the prom. And so it's really my God-given right as a mother to take my pictures, take pictures of my son on his day and embarrass him as he goes to the prom. So I hope to be able to say hello to each of you. But if I sneak out early, that's what I need to do.
But I wish you every success in your career, in life. I know that we're going to see great achievements from this class of 2025 and NCC. And I hope you stay here in New Hampshire. I wish you the very best. Congratulations and have some fun. And I look forward to seeing what you do in the future.
Neither the Catt Center nor Iowa State University is affiliated with any individual in the Archives or any political party. Inclusion in the Archives is not an endorsement by the center or the university.