Troy graduates advised to set goals

By: Matt Elofson | Dothan Eagle
Published: December 15, 2008

While most of the students at Troy University Dothan call the Wiregrass home, some hail from New Orleans and other areas of the country.

Students from as far west as Arizona and Colorado and as far north as Maryland and New York graduated from Troy University Dothan Sunday at the fall commencement ceremony Sunday.

Chancellor Jack Hawkins Jr. challenged the graduates to become active alumni along with active members of their communities. Hawkins also spoke of integrity and leadership in the moments before he introduced the keynote speaker, Mike Schmitz.

“He’s living proof that the American dream is alive and well in this country,” Hawkins said. “Education is not about making a living, it’s about making a life.”

Mike Schmitz, owner of Mike Schmitz Automotive Group, spoke to about 100 graduates who received diplomas during the ceremony. Schmitz has received Alabama’s 2008 TIME Quality Dealer Award.

He also serves on the board of directors of Southeast Alabama Medical Center Foundation and is the chairman and organizer of Trinity Bank. Schmitz is also past chairman of the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce, Dothan Houston County Rotary Club and Wiregrass Children’s Home.

Schmitz asked the graduates and their friends and family whether they’d watched the film “Stuart Little,” about a mouse looking for a home.

“I can relate with Stuart because I was an orphan,” Schmitz said. “I really wanted to be with a new family.”

Schmitz talked about how he struggled through school as a child until a teacher took the time to help through a speech problem and taught him how to read. He recognized all the teachers at the graduation by asking them to stand.

“You can be anybody, you can do anything in life by simply opening up a book,” Schmitz said.

Schmitz also spoke about three truths he’s learned, which included getting back up after you’ve been knocked down in life and suggested people get over how life isn’t fair sometimes. He also said people will reap one of the biggest returns when they help someone else get back up in life.

Schmitz spoke of importance of setting goals throughout life.

“You need to set goals in everything you do, and it will help you get back up,” Schmitz said.