My fellow students
My fellow students, faculty, administrators, business leaders, city officials, family and friends, thank you for coming out today for the dedication of this new expansion of Drury University. And, I would like to offer my personal, special thanks to Dr.
Martha Cummings and Lu Adams for their support over the years.Drury is a special place that meets the needs of this community and individuals. With this new expansion, it will be better able to meet the demand for local education and local opportunity. Today, drawing a bit from my education here, I want to talk to you about the laws of supply and demand and everything that Drury supplies to this community.We should start at the beginning.
Not everyone who starts college begins right after high school. For some of us, life intervenes.Before I came to Drury University, I was a wife and then a mom. I had four beautiful children before I began my college experience and when I started college, I had no idea how to take care of myself or them. Like many others, my divorce was ugly and it left me downtrodden and unsure of myself.Then, I came to Drury.
I needed a good education and Drury was ready to meet the demand.I needed a supportive staff and Drury was ready to meet the demand.As a business student, I need new facilities to learn in and again today, Drury is ready to meet the demand.In business, we study the laws of supply and demand extensively. It would be very easy for someone to say that the demand for good educational facilities is too low in this area to warrant a good supply, but Drury University has been ready to step up to the challenge and meet those demands and more.As a new student, divorcee and mom, I demanded a lot of support from the faculty and staff of Drury and the university has stepped up to meet the challenge.
I had no idea if I could make it or not, but the faculty and staff of Drury made it clear that if I was willing to meet their demands, they would supply me with the quality education I neededI met Drury’s challenge and it met mine. This community needed a larger facility to meet the educational needs and Drury made a commitment to supply it. Most of my time at Drury has been in this very facility, so the expansion here today is especially important to me. I know firsthand what this facility will mean to moms like me who come back to school and improve their lives with the help of Drury.This expansion will help meet the demand for space that a good education requires, but I would also implore you to remember that a university is more than bricks and buildings. The things that Drury supplies to its students and its community goes far beyond what we are celebrating here today.
Life intervenes and what we intend or hope for is not always what happens. I had hoped life for my children would always be easy and happy. It hasn’t been. Instead, they had to cope with a smaller supply of Mom and lots more demands on my time as I worked on my degree here at Drury. They coped and helped me through.A hundred times over the years, I might have given up if not for the intangible gifts that Drury supplies to its students.
From a bright smile on a really rough day to the never ending words of support and encouragement, Drury staff and faculty seemed to really care about how I was doing and doing what they could to help me through the rough parts.Because of their dedication to motivating students and helping them to thrive, today I have four happy and healthy children. I manage four thriving businesses and I am just a few short months away from completing my degree in business.With efforts like the one they are making today, Drury supplies the tools so that anyone can make their life a better place to be. They supply the tools to make our community and our world a better place to live. And, for those who are willing to work, Drury supplies hope.With that, what else do we need?
