It's a tradition here at Boise State to
select a student to speak at
commencement. For me and for most of us
on this stage who hear these speeches
twice a year this is an amazing and
awesome moment. Where we see the depth
and the breadth of accomplishments and
experiences that a Boise State student
can amass while pursuing an
undergraduate degree and let me tell you
something this year's speaker is no
exception.
We have another first today,
we have another first, for the first time at
a commencement at Boise State University
our student speaker is an international
student and her parents are here today
from France
Roger and the Nadean, three of her siblings, and
some of her best friends are right over
there in section 24 and guess what she
managed to keep that a secret from them
and I'm the first one to tell them their
daughter is the commencement speaker at
Boise State University, how's that?
OCÉANE PELLOILLE is a Boise State
University top ten scholar and an
athlete, as well as a dynamic thoughtful
driven articulate, and considerate global
citizen OCÉANE is from a small town near
Orleans, France about two hours south of
Paris she came to Boise State on an
athletic scholarship to play golf
first-generation college student she
arrived in an unfamiliar place far away
from home and family, but she was driven
by resilience that defined her as an
athlete and she excelled academically as
well. Her interest in helping others
intensified during a trip to Jamaica
with Boise State's Student Involvement
and Leadership Center and it inspired
her to build her experience with
not-for-profit organizations with
language and education in less developed
countries through Boise State School of
Public Service OCÉANE pursued an
independent study seeking to explain the
variables that impact the education and
inequality in Chile, Brazil, and Mexico.
Her capstone project involved
researching and analyzing variables that
influence access to primary education in
Guatemala. OCÉANE has also found time to share her
experiences and skills with others along
the way as a volunteer with Big Brothers
Big Sisters in an advocate for
Make-a-Wish Idaho. OCÉANE was acknowledged
as an All-American athlete, academic, and
she has served on our student athlete
association committee. She's fluent in
three languages English, French, and
American Sign Language. Her family and
friends made the trip, as I said earlier
and we're just delighted to have you
with us today. Boise State class of 2017
helped me welcome
OCÉANE PELLOILLE
Thank you, well I'd like to say Bonjour à tous, to all of you. It's a really
it's really an honor to represent all of
you today
so first I like all of us to get
comfortable and I'm gonna invite every
single one of you teachers,
alumni, graduates, families, and even
you President Kustra to close your eyes.
Please everyone just close your eyes now
that you comfortable and now I'd like
you to remember all moments when you
made a mistake in the last year to have
to just be spilled your cup of coffee or
maybe you made a bigger mistake that's
really important to you, so now that you
remember it. I'd like you to remember
what how you talk to yourself what words
did you use with which tone and how did
you feel. Now that you remember that
mistake on account is three I'm going to
ask you to look at the person sitting
right next to you and you're going to
tell that person exactly what you told
yourself using the same tone the same
words and please don't cheat stop do it
exactly like you imagined it. Are you ready one,
two, three, say it to your neighbor
Well I'm pretty sure I've heard a couple
of, your stupid or you suck, why did you
do this then. Isn't it funny that we would
never say that to anyone else but for
some reason this is how we talk to
yourself I would never say that to my
friends or my family because I trust
them and I want to encourage them
anytime, but I think I realized this
exists I was really hit home and made me
realize that there's a difference
between being driven and being extremely
hard on yourself and actually negatively
impacting yourself. I've read a book a
couple months ago and it said every time
you use a bad word to describe yourself
pinch yourself, while I swear a week
later my thumb was hurting and this is
what we do to our soul when we just use
such bad words and I think the point of
that is that you just define yourself by
what you are doing instead of by who you
are because I think we will all agree
here that living here I won't
don't really care about what
people have, what business they own, so we
do we will remember how they make us
feel what is it that lies within their
heart what are the values they set up
for and I think the main point of that
is that we are not human doing so we are
human beings
one of my favorite author and
entrepreneur Adam Brown once said
"Those I met they find themselves by what was
on their mind not on their business card."
and today I just want to honor someone
that really really influenced me and
opened the door of wizdom to me that I'm
sure all of us know is Christina and
Christina works at the parking kiosk by
the library and the administration
building I know all of us know Christina
and we've all experienced frustration
with parking at some point I'm sure, but
I am sure that every single one of us
every time we encountered Christina she
really changed our day and made us feel
special and you know she's not a
superhuman she's just using a human
trait that we all have and it's her
smile. I truly believe that the smile is
the most beautiful expression of your
soul and that Christina let it shine for
the good of the world and I invited
Christina I don't know if she's here
today but I hope that she can hear this
cause to me she's a real leader so yes
we might grow in this world and we might
all have business cards yes the most of
all we might be leaders and a leader
will always try to connect with people's
heart by finding out what passion lies
within their heart
this is our responsibility to bring
people to become their most positive
selfs. I always love to meet people truly
because I believe that we all have
something to teach the world we're all
extremely different but we are all part
of a piece of the puzzle we're all
crucial to the whole picture
so now as you look back on the
experience at Boise State I hope that you
realize that you came here with many
fears and some were real but some were
not and you overcame it and you maybe
also tackle them down, but reality is
only what you see. The reason why I
say that is because the only person you
will forever view with, is yourself. So
trust yourself don't wait for people's
approval because you are here to
accomplish your life mission so what is
a who do you want to become?  This is so
through your experiences here
you felt a lot of emotions and you
learned about your behaviors and your
reactions in the faces of challenges, so
I hope that it shows you how powerful
you can be. Trust the voice inside your
heart because if you stop listening it's
only going to stop talking to you,
so I believe that we all came here with
a spark Boise State's ignited a flame so
now it is your responsibility to find
peace within your heart and you find
what sets your soul on fire because you
know what a fire does it spreads fast
and it's going to be hard to stop messy
[Crowd: Cheers]
