Live Your Passion with a Purposeful Light

Live Your Passion With A Purposeful Light

Congratulations Graduates,

​Pursue Your Passion with Purpose!

More than ten years ago my passion for training student employees continuously spoke to my heart. I simply love contributing to students’ development.

In the spring of 2006, I served as the Coordinator of Facilities for University Recreation at Central Michigan University. I decided to take a leap and leave my full time job to pursue a doctoral degree in higher education administration at Virginia Tech. I worked at CMU for five years before going back to graduate school. One of the difficult challenges in life is when we leave something to pursue our passion and fulfill our heart’s purpose.

One of my students who worked for me at the time gave me a card that I still have to this day. I still read it on days when I need a boost to inspire me to continue to be fulfilled by pursuing my passion.

In an excerpt from the card, the student wrote, “I hope you realize that I will do my best to make you proud because my success will be a direct reflection of your mentorship. So thank you, for a month I’ve tried to find this poem by Kirk Nugent called Pursue Your Passion. I’ve heard it one time and have never come across it again, but it reminds me so much of you. Most of the impact you left on me was by simply doing just that and by being you. As the card says perfectly, you’ve changed me forever and have made me a better person just by being in my life. From the very deepest spot in my heart, thank you for everything and thank you for simply being you.”

The amazing young woman who gave me this card is someone who inspires me throughout every year. She is now a director of a campus recreation program. Her light is full of purpose to educate others and to continue to learn to be better. Her message in the card went far beyond me, ever since she shared the Pursue Your Passion poem with me, I have shared this story and poem with thousands of students.

I believe being a teacher is all about doing our best to be better every day and instilling in others to pursue their passion with purpose. To live a life with a fulfilled heart and to contribute to making things better by using our talents and not living our excuse.

The greatest gift of being a teacher is to receive the reciprocated ripple of a student’s passion when you see them living their purpose.

For that I’m so grateful.

For more than ten years I have shared with students who I taught at Radford University, Virginia Tech, James Madison University and Elon University the poem titled, Pursue Your Passion by Kirk Nugent.

Live your passion with a purposeful light...

1. Identify what speaks to your heart.

2. Simply be you, be authentic.

3. Do your best every day to be better.

4. Give back what’s been given to you, reciprocate.

Most of us live our lives by accident-we live as life happens. Fulfillment comes when we live our lives on purpose. - Simon Sinek