So, like many other individuals across the country this weekend, I attended a Graduation ceremony.

According to statistics, about 1.8 million Bachelor's degrees are awarded each year. This year, my older sister deservedly received one of those. Whether it was for yourself or for a loved one, many of us sat through a graduation commencement ceremony this past weekend and proudly welcomed the next wave of future teachers, engineers, nurses, doctors, social workers, accountants, business men and women, and many more into this exciting new stage of their lives.

I was, as I always am at these ceremonies, once again amazed by the evident perseverance, determination, and commitment required of each and every one of those graduates to attain that degree. As a college student just finishing my sophomore year, the main question in my mind is always: how? How did these students do it? How did they endure four or more years of seemingly endless long nights by pushing through the difficulty of handling school and work —grueling years of tests, papers, presentations and projects. How (I wondered) and why? Why did they go through all that? What got them through?

Then it struck me that these college graduates that I watched walk across the stage this weekend, as well as the countless others across the country, have at least one thing in common amongst their many differences. All of these students have different majors, stories, and experiences, however, one thing all led them to pursue and successfully finish their studies: the hope for change.

All of these graduates are similar in the sense that they are passionate about their field of study. They have spent many arduous semesters learning from talented and wise professors in their area of interest and gathering as much knowledge as possible in order to bring about new ideas, perspectives, and growth within their field.

While in the midst of seemingly endless finals, continuous studying, and copious amounts of coffee, it is often difficult to remember why we’re even doing this in the first place. It’s easy to get so wrapped up in having the "ideal" college experience, receiving the piece of paper with the university emblem stamped on it, and visualizing how we’ll decorate our graduation caps that we forget the real reason why we’re even pursuing our degrees in the first place. It’s simple to forget how lucky we are to have the opportunity to grow and learn at our university of choice and disregard the potential we embody.

Those simple and ultimately meaningless things that go along with getting our degrees will never motivate us to push through. There must be a bigger reason inside each and every one of us that solidifies what this degree means to us, and why we’re doing what we’re doing. For these graduates, whatever their major and passion, ultimately, they knew it wasn’t about them or for them, not even close. They didn't go through all those taxing and burdensome semesters solely because they wanted to, rather because they knew that the world needed them to. They put in all that hard work for the people whose lives they would ultimately touch and change with their impact in their future careers, not purely for their own personal gain.

So current college students, whatever your major is, however many years you have left before walking across that stage to finally accept that diploma, keep pushing forward. Keep working hard, be determined, and keep faith knowing that your major is going to mean so much more than receiving a piece of paper on the day you walk across a stage in your cap and gown. You will be the change this world needs. You will be equipped with skills necessary to lead. You will work for the betterment and continued growth of your field of study.

So, classes of 2018, 2019, 2020, and so forth: keep going. Keep working hard and always keep learning. You will make all the difference knowing that this degree isn’t for you, but for everyone else who can benefit from it and whose lives you will touch and impact through it. Congratulations class of 2017.