Had such a great time in Chicago this weekend celebrating commencement with my fellow DePaul grads!

My college career was a long and strenuous one. I spent nearly a decade working, before my mom convinced me to go back and finish my degree. At the time I didn’t see the value, but boy am I glad that she changed my mind because the last two years at DePaul have been life changing.

I choked back quite a few tears sitting on the arena floor surrounded by such a diverse mix of people at various stages of their life: kids stepping out into the job market for the first time, international students far away from home who risked a great deal to be there, mothers and fathers who put their dreams on the back burner to raise their kids now finally achieving something they always wanted.

It was pretty amazing hearing screams and cheers from the crowd as people walked across the stage and it made it so very clear that finishing college is hard, but doing it without support from people who love you seems insurmountable to me. I’m so thankful to my family, friends, peers and mentors who told me it wasn’t too late and to go do it and do it well.

So for anyone else out there on the fence about finishing, do it. It’s worth it.