You've all waited your entire lives for this moment, yet it feels like the best years are ending. Little do you know, that your best years are just beginning. You have your entire life ahead of you... I hope you're ready.

I hope you are ready for the next step. I hope you have dreams, and plans to reach for them. I hope your spirit is open, but your mind is prepared. These next few years are crucial and can mean the difference between success and failure. The decisions you make will determine the rest of your life and heavily influence the opportunities your children will have.

Now, I'm only a sophomore in college, and you may say, "Now what do you know about my future?" You're probably right. I don't have much experience in the real world, however, I have witnessed first hand the successors and the failures. I have watched person after person make decisions, good and bad. They had every intention of being successful and raising a family that would follow in their footsteps. Unfortunately, many of these people ended up regretting the decisions they made in the past. Here is a piece of advice that I have learned from these people: Leave the past in the past, be present in the present, but always keep your eye on the future. For instance, the mistake you made yesterday can be fixed today, if you think about the long-term effects. No one ever said that life was easy, so don't walk away feeling as though things are out of your hands. You can always regain control of your own life.

I am a firm believer in right and wrong. However, deciding which is which can be awfully challenging. We have been trained since day one to make decisions, but there is no one that can better prepare you for the decisions you will make in the future than you. As you walk across the stage and are handed your diploma, understand that this is the first right decision you will make as an adult. From then on you will come across millions of options and each will sound better or worse than the last. Don't panic, everyone deals with this. It is a normal adult thing. Whether you decide to go to college or take on a job right out of high school does not matter. What matters is that you choose what will positively impact your future. What do you need in order to achieve your goals? What is step one in your unique plan of success? I hope you are ready to make this decision, because it is coming, whether you like it or not.

I hope you are ready to care about more than yourself. You will soon be raising a family; therefore, the decisions you make will heavily impact their lives as well. We weren't given this life on earth to only grow in our own success, but to also help each other grow. Build a friendship with that coworker or classmate. You will need someone to lean on when choosing from right and wrong is not so easy. Accountability partners can be hidden angels. God doesn't place "props" into our lives. Pay attention to those around you; they are all lessons.

I hope you all are ready to live your lives and move on from your child-like decisions. However, life is supposed to be fun, and it is important to laugh and enjoy what you have worked for. Making decisions is hard, and so is having to get up and go to work/school everyday, but I promise you there is nothing better than knowing you have helped someone or have achieved what you have always dreamed of. I hope you all have the happiest lives.

Congratulations, class of 2016. Work hard, laugh often, and live life to the fullest. God bless.