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Given his accomplishments as an engineer and as a corporate leader, I'd reckon Norm had it right. And I would urge you to consider your next steps in similar terms: to focus on what those steps can teach you and where they can lead.

You will all leave this ceremony with the same piece of paper. It serves to assure all who will meet you that you spent some time at The Ohio State University. But, I hope and trust that many of you invested your time here, establishing for yourself a Triple-A Portfolio of intellectual capital assets.

I hope you walk out of here today with open eyes.

As you go forth, you'll find -- as I have --that the world is your toughest professor; that it discerns quickly whether you spent or invested your time in college; that finals come every day; that you are graded not by what you know, but by what you are willing to learn; that success comes from your ability to apply all the lessons your yesterdays have taught you to the challenges of each new day.

You'll find the only thing we ever do alone is have an idea, and so your own dreams will become enmeshed with the dreams of others, bound together in the fabric of human progress and experience.

You'll find that each time you dare to truly reach for a star, you achieve a little more and are much the better for it -- whether you devote your life to raising a family, starting a business, Improving your company's performance, serving the public trust or raising the world's standard of living.

In the end, we are all judged not by what we take to the grave, but by what we leave behind. We are judged not by the wonders we have seen, but by whether we were really looking and by how we shared the experience with others.

We are judged not by the dreams we dreamt at night in the dusty recesses of our minds -- but by those we dreamt in broad daylight. Dreams we dreamt with our eyes and ears and minds open wide.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Class of 97, I hope you all may know the challenge and exhilaration of making your boldest dreams come true.

I hope you all will be Dreamers of the Day.

Thank you.

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