A WORD OF INTRODUCTION
                                   
It has been such a privilege, communicating with these eighteen First Annual Career Day Speakers, to whom you are about to be introduced.   I thank each one of the speakers for sacrificing your time in such tremendous ways, so that you can share with these children, glimpses of your careers. In your example of professionalism, perseverance and service to God and our community, you are giving a precious gift to these children. 

Children of these speakers, you are very blessed to be able to witness your parents inspire you and your classmates to become productive and charitable members of society.  At the end of today, please go to your parents and thank them. You students who are not children of these eighteen speakers, please take advantage of the relationships you are about to form with these parents of your peers.  They have come to present their careers to you for one reason only, because they care about your future. Undoubtedly, your own mom and dad have the greatest influence upon your future.  However, it is often a sibling, relative, teacher, principal, friend or neighbor who also serves as a source of inspiration in life.

My parents were the greatest human inspiration in my childhood. However, a neighbor, named Aileen Ruck also served as a very strong role model.  The Rucks were a large Irish-American Catholic family who lived behind us. They had eight children.  Aileen was somewhere in the middle.  She was a student at Cornell University.  I used to look forward to Aileen coming home from college, because it meant that I could watch Aileen tumble in her backyard.  Aileen was a gymnast in her college team. I remember how her toes twinkled and twirled in the air while she gracefully pirouetted on her hands.  It was such a delight to see.  Aileen noticed my fascination in the sport and began spotting me in back walkovers and then back-handsprings and finally back flips.  She gave me lots of attention and recognized that my passion for gymnastics was just about as strong as my love for animals.  Aileen said to me, “You know Cornell not only has a great gymnastic team, but it also has one of the best veterinary schools in the nation. If you do really well in school, one day you can go there too.”  Aileen’s example and her words indelibly ingrained themselves in my mind.  I may not have grown up to become a veterinarian, but I did become a very successful USGF gymnast and I did go on to attend Cornell on a very generous academic University scholarship.  Today, in my career as an artist, I continue to reap benefits from the Ivy League education I received at Cornell University.
 
I share this personal story with you as a testimony to how a trustworthy person outside of your family may very powerfully and positively impact your life. Pay close attention to what these speakers are saying.  Focus on their words and remember them. Read their bios carefully and save this brochure. Consider it not just an artifact of your wonderful years spent in grammar school, but as a tangible tool to which you can refer and upon which you can meditate, when you get ready to pursue a career.  My prayers are with you as you contemplate ways in which you can glorify God through your talents and future vocations.