An Annual Letter to the Graduates of Seattle University (2020)

I arrived at Seattle University in the fall of 2011 pursuing something deeper than education. Already in possession of a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Communication from the University of Central Oklahoma, yet with no intention of ever working in television or radio, I began my Seattle U journey with the hopes of unlocking my passion, discovering something about myself, building a network, and adding new elements to my worldview. In the classroom, I learned profound lessons that I hold dear and serve me well inside and outside of the classroom.

As I reflect on those lessons, the United States finds itself mired in chaos. A global pandemic has taken the lives of over one hundred thousand of our fellow citizens. Millions are without work and it has exposed deep fault lines between rural and urban communities. As we find ourselves emerging from that crisis, deep racial divides in our country are being protested in the streets of hundreds of cities. Millions of our fellow citizens have taken to the street to protest the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, MN. They are marching and organizing seeking police reforms and an end to the systemic racism that has taken root deep within the belly of America. These protests have exposed racism, police brutality, and failures of leadership at all levels.