WGU Graduate Speaker, Kristen Gibson, Summer 2017

<p>WGU 2017 Summer Commencement Speaker Kristen Gibson. Kristen Gibson earned her Master of Business Administration degree.</p> <p>Transcription of video: </p> <p>WGU President Scott Pulsipher: Now we have the privilege of hearing from two graduates. They are Kristen Gibson, a master of business administration and Erin Bishop, a master of education in instructional design. Please join me in welcoming first Kristen to the lectern.</p> <p>[applause]</p> <p>Kristen Gibson: I'm definitely shorter than the doctor. Good morning everyone. Thank you all for having me today. So I have a question. Who here has ever been lost, raise your hand? Okay. Nearly everyone. Wives, if your husband refuses to raise his hand, raise both hands. Okay. Yeah, that's better. If you're anything like me, then you've already been lost two times today just getting to your seat. Hello, my name is Kristen Gibson and I get lost all of the time. I can get lost just about anywhere doing just about anything using Google maps, street signs, you name it. So it's no surprise to say at one point or am I felt a little lost in life. I've been working since I was 16 years old and like any teenager at first was a means to an end. I worked because I wanted to go to the movies and if my mother said with whose money, I wanted to say mine. In my early 20s I needed money for taco Tuesday and parking tickets. In my mid-20s my cousin Susan told me about WGU. She was a graduate and told me to check it out. I half-heartedly wrote it down on a piece of paper and true to lie life I lost it. I'd been working small jobs for years, but it just didn't feel right. It didn't fit the idea and the dream that I had for myself. At that point I knew that I was lost. I didn't know what to do or where to go. That's around the time I tapped into my personal compass. Some people call it the true north. Others can call it their true center. I didn't know a lot of variables at the time. I only knew how I wanted to feel, valued, happy, useful. And I used my personal compass to orient myself. Two years after my chat with Susan I miraculously found the paper and took a step in the right direction. So many of us had to explain what WGU was to our families, friends, and peers. It's an online school. Yes, it's accredited. Yes, the degree is real. No, I can't cheat. My life hasn't been traditional by any means. Working three jobs to put myself through undergrad, so why did my education have to be. It seemed pretty straightforward until the first time I had to take a proctored exam. What do you mean they'll be watching me the whole time? Wait. I have to put on pants. But for each of us in this room we made it work. Whether it was waking up at 5:00 am to get some studying in, staying up late while everyone else was asleep or printing out cohorts schedules and guides from work we made things happen. Whenever I did feel lost in a course I again used my personal compass who by now had a name and a face. My men Jeremy little. </p> <p>[applause]</p> <p>Life doesn't stop just because you're going to school and you're bound to get lost along the way, but I knew my mentor Jeremy would get on the phone and say hey, this is were you should be going. I found myself reassured as I progressed to a degree. By day I'm a travel coordinator. By night and sure he'd say I was Carmen San Diego, I'm always on the move. Between scuba diving a 100 feet under water through a Sunday Ken airplane or being hopelessly lost in France. With my mentor I was able to stay connected and keep up with my goals. When I started my job it was only a temporary position. I had no idea what the expectations were or where it could go. Because of WGU I was able to take what I learned in my degree program and turn a simple job into a stable career. Both the president and the CFO of my company quickly became impressed with my analytical skills and noticed that I was applying to my work what I was learning in school. I've since been promoted, given a supervisory role, a raise and asked to create an entire department around my individual position. It's the competence and the confidence I now have that has made me become invaluable to my company. I'm not lost the anymore because of this sense because of WGU. The compass can look different for everyone. It can be in the face of your child, the smile of a spouse, the knowing look of a parent or the support of a friend. Whatever your compass is, it all guided us to Western Governors University along our path to our true north and congratulations graduates, we did it.</p> <p>[applause]</p>