{"id":129047,"date":"2020-12-18T13:34:18","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T20:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=129047"},"modified":"2020-12-21T07:52:22","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T14:52:22","slug":"commencement-keynote-erjavec-encourages-uccs-doers-accomplishers-and-dreamers-to-honor-their-best-selves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=129047","title":{"rendered":"Commencement Keynote: Erjavec encourages UCCS\u2019 \u201cdoers, accomplishers and dreamers\u201d to honor their best selves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/a>
Patty Erjavec ’15, president of Pueblo Community College, addressed 1,100 graduates and their families during the virtual Dec. 18 commencement ceremony.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In her keynote address at UCCS\u2019 fall 2020 Commencement, Patty\nErjavec \u201915 encouraged graduates to move forward not in spite of \u2013 but by using<\/em>\n\u2013 their disappointment in a virtual ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erjavec, a graduate of UCCS\u2019 Ph.D. program in education\nleadership, research and policy and president of Pueblo Community College,\naddressed 1,100 graduates and their families during the virtual Dec. 18\ncommencement ceremony. She congratulated graduates on their tenacity and\npersistence in graduating despite \u201ca world turned upside down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erjavec also acknowledged that graduates nationwide feel disappointed\nby not being able to walk across the Commencement stage in-person this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour disappointment is real,\u201d Erjavec said. \u201cLet\u2019s take the\nopportunity to use these feelings of disappointment to gain some clarity. I\nwould suggest that with clarity come conviction, true originality and a path\nforward as you begin to make many new decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erjavec gave three pieces of advice to graduates: First, to\nthink about the future and focus on their end goal; second, to make friends \u2013\nnot enemies; and finally, to use their disappointment to paint a clearer\npicture of their path to success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAcknowledge your pain,\u201d Erjavec advised. \u201cYou can use\ndisappointment to evaluate your experiences and paint a clearer picture of your\npath to success. It is a catalyst for identifying how to get unstuck and move\nforward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erjavec quoted entrepreneur Robert Kiyosaki, saying, \u201cThe\nsize of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of\nyour dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour opportunity lies in how you handle the setback. Do not let your disappointment of missing out on a typical graduation keep you from moving forward and doing the great things, the ambitious things,\u201d Erjavec said. \u201cTravel, get rich, get famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes, but as you do, do so with kindness as doers, as accomplishers, as dreamers \u2013 as your best self.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erjavec spoke to the graduates as the 12th Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. UCCS conferred degrees on a record-setting 1,100+ students who completed their academic programs in the summer and fall semesters. Congratulations to the Class of 2020!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In her keynote address at UCCS\u2019 fall 2020 Commencement, Patty Erjavec \u201915 encouraged graduates to move forward not in spite of \u2013 but by using \u2013 their disappointment in a virtual ceremony. (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":129056,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,49],"tags":[107,332],"class_list":["post-129047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-campus-announcements","tag-alumni-relations","tag-more-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/erjavec-commencement.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-xzp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129047"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129059,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129047\/revisions\/129059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/129056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}