Distinguished What?!

A few months ago, I received a phone call from the head of the department of accounting at Texas A&M-Commerce.  They wanted me to be their Alumni Ambassador for 2012.  Apparently, every year each department at the university selects one alumni to represent their department who has gone on to be successful after graduating from there.  And they wanted me?!  It doesn't seem like I would fit the bill, but I entertained the idea.  In addition to attending the luncheon and awards ceremony, they also wanted me to come speak to a group of accounting students.  Wait! Public speaking is still not one of my strong suits.  I get super-nervous about it.  Anyways, there could not have been a worse time than this week at work for me to miss pretty much an entire day.  But I did it.  I was so busy the past few weeks with work that I have been procrastinating on writing my speech/talking points for the class.  Work just piled up, so after I finished my work the night before, I was up til 1:30am writing my speech!  Needless to say I was exhausted on my big day.  I was also allowed to bring a guest with me.  I initially thought of bringing Jordan; although he would be bored out of his mind, he would go if I really asked him too.  But then I thought, what person has been so instrumental in helping me select my career path and being a great mentor to me for 15 years?  My high school accounting teacher, Mrs. Richardson.  Not only was she a terrific teacher to me for four years, we have kept in touch and she has been a part of other big days: my wedding, baby showers for both my boys, and long heart-to-heart talks when I've needed someone to listen.  She's always a voice of reason.  She was the perfect person to attend with me, and she so graciously took the whole day off of work to go with me.

I hate to admit it, but Thursday was my first day back to campus since the day I walked across the stage to collect my diplomas in December 2004.  Woopsie.  Needless to say, the campus has changed in the past seven years, and new buildings are everywhere.  I'm so glad I printed off a campus map to help me find my way.  I made my way (in the cold rain!) to the new Alumni Center for a breakfast reception to meet the accounting department head and mingle with him, other professors/deans, and the other 35 or so alumni ambassadors for their respective departments.  I totally felt out of place and much younger than nearly everyone else there.  Could I really be considered distinguished enough and be among such great company to receive this award?!  After mingling for an hour or so, we headed over to the Business building to get ready for the class I would be speaking to.  When I was first approached about this, I was asked to speak about 40  minutes.  WTH?!  What in the world could I talk about for that long?  They wanted me to talk about my career at KPMG, what I did, and encourage other students to pursue a career in accounting (not necessarily public accounting like me).  Our recruiting department at work was nice enough to hook me up with some KPMG magazines about us and internship opportunities and also some neat little supply kits with our logo on it.  What kid wouldn't want some free stuff?

After being introduced, I stepped up to the podium to face about 80 students.  Gulp!  My heart was pounding out of my chest as I began to speak.  After about 5 minutes, I finally calmed down and managed to speak for 30 minutes.  I answered some questions from both students and professors, they applauded me and I made my exit.  Yay me, I did it!  I felt so much relief after I was done.  I hope I didn't scare them; after all, March is not exactly the best time of year for me to be positive and encouraging about a career in accounting when I'm working crazy hours. :)

After relaxing with the department head and Mrs. Rich for a few minutes, we headed over to the luncheon portion, where they introduced each alumni ambassador, read a bio about us, and received our award.  I had to write my own bio beforehadn, which was weird to talk about myself in third-person.  Odd for sure.  Finally, we had all been recognized, posed for some pictures, and I was on my way.

Although I had so much anxiety about going to speak and didn't necessarily want to take the time away from work to attend, I'm so glad that I did.  I may not have gone to some big prestigious university like SMU, but I'm still pretty dang proud of myself for being selected as the accounting department's alumni ambassador for TAMU-C.  After all, I was the first person on both sides of my family to attend and graduate from college.  I'm thankful for the recognition, and for Mrs. Richardson for coming out to support me.  She's always there for me when I need her!

Anyways, that's me, a distinguished alumni, after only being out of school for 7 years.  Eeeeek! :)