Good Evening Chancellor and Mrs. Fort, Vice Chancellor and Mrs. Martin, Interim Dean Murray, Associate Dean and Mrs. Sharpe, Associate Dean and Mrs. Kelly. Representatives from IBM, United Technologies, EDS, and the United Postal Service, our distinguished Computer Science honorees and graduating seniors.

And, good evening to all you, the parents, friends, faculty, and staff members, and other supporters that have been the meat and backbone for all of us being here today. You have really made tonight outstanding!

I wish to first say that it is not often that we get a chance to come back to share some of our experiences with you. I feel it is an extreme honor for me to be here with you today, to share something with you that I feel is important for you to remember not only tonight, but throughout your daily lives. Thank you, for allowing me the opportunity to share this time and special moment with you.

Let us begin by emphasizing the significance of this event. This is a special event because tonight marks an achievement, your achievement. Tonight marks your high scholastic endeavors and your successful completion of those college graduation requirements that you embarked upon years ago. Remember, what you have gone through throughout the years to get here, nobody, and I do mean nobody, can ever take away from you. You have earned tonight and any other event that honors your achievements. For these reasons, MARK just how special tonight truly is!

The Grasshopper Mindset

Let us think for a moment, what does this title mean to you? In the Old Testament it is stated that, "... we saw the giants, the sons of A’nak, which came of the giants; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."

From this what are you feeling? Do you get a sense that somebody felt overwhelmed, maybe somewhat small, inadequate, or if we carry it a bit further, belittled? Well, I want to tell you that those feelings, are indeed very normal and we have all felt that way, are in reality, useless. You might ask, "Why?" Having feelings such as these make you lose the battle before there was even a thought that there was a battle or war! I believe that God or whomever you believe has power over us all, has no use for anyone that feels or believes that they are overwhelmed, that they are small, that they have nothing to offer. I believe that God has no use for anyone that is consumed by failure or a series of events that have repeatedly gone not to our liking!

You might say, "What is she talking about?" Well, Let me tell begin by telling you a bit more about myself. My grandparents and parents placed high regards on education. My mother’s mother, Eva Mae Crawford, worked whatever jobs she could get to give all of her 3 children a chance to go to college. It is said that my father’s mother, Minnie Tallulah Walker, once threatened a man with his life for making a statement to her children that they should be out in the fields working rather than going to school. Growing up, I always felt that my ancestors wanted me to learn how to think, find answers to all of my questions, and to understand all that there is to know. Talk about the word sacrifice! My grandparents sacrificed for the betterment of their families! For these reasons as well as some of my own, I continued on in school and I studied!! I started off with a 4.0 in EE my first semester at A&T. It was not easy, but I graduated with a 3.0 in EE. I interned all 4 summers that I was in undergraduate school with Bellcore and NASA Ames. I was inducted in Alpha Lambda Delta, Tau Beta Pi, and Upsilon Pi Epsilon. I was very active in NSBE and held various positions within such as Vice President and President. I was a part of A&T’s Council of President’s. I received numerous scholarships and awards while at A&T. I receive the Roy Harris IEEE Scholarship. I received the NACME Scholarship, Southern Bell, Digital Equipment Corporation, GE Latimer Award and was also a NSBE scholar. I was in the Student Space Shuttle Program here at A&T. I later entered the Computer Science graduate studies program here and finished 3 semesters later with a 3.7. I interned that summer at Xerox Corporation. I received offers from BellSouth, Southwestern Bell Corporation, Martin Marietta, Northern Telecom, GE in Chicago, Intergraph Corporation, Xerox Corporation, and so forth and so forth. I wanted to make THE DOLLARS to become financial independent right off the bat, and, guess what, I did and I am!!!! Now, what am I talking about?

To those that much is given, I believe, most will try to take away! There are those that will try to make you feel overwhelmed, small, inadequate, inferior. Sometimes they do it with what they call experience, "Oh Ms. Walker, you do not know very much, at least not yet." Sometimes they might do it with what they call weekend meetings of which you knew nothing about. They may sometimes make you feel this way by not acknowledging your comments or suggestions in meetings by stating, "Oh, we did not hear you." Or, they might even just take credit for your suggestions, by repeating what you already stated. They will try to belittle you because you are from the South, the East, the West, or the North. They will say you are too small, too tall, too big, too short, too intimidating, too boisterous, too mild spoken, too organized, too unorganized, too friendly, too compassionate, too young, too old, too whatever! They will try you with anything and everything that they believe will make you feel SMALL.

I emphasize the word "TRY," because they will continue on and on until they feel as if they have you in check, to think and act like them. I mean, why were you hired or asked to perform such a duty? Think about it. It was because of your ideas, your demeanor, your ability to bring a new outlook to their project, group, or organization. I believe that it is wrong to believe that you are inferior, that you cannot do whatever it is slated for you to do. I believe that it is wrong to feel that you do not have anything to give or offer to the group that you are working, to your job, to your community, and most importantly, to YOURSELF! You might feel as if you are inadequate or have nothing to contribute, but everyone, that is definitely not true!!!!

We all have something to contribute. When we contribute, we really extend ourselves and further our capabilities. We find that we are capable of doing more than we ever thought previously. We find that our contributions allow us to move forward, to make this world a better place for ourselves, our families, the society in which we live!

One of my favorite poems is from Alice Walker’s book of poetry titled Revolutionary Petunias and other selected poems, titled:

Women

They were women then,

my mama’s generation.

Husky of voice, stout of step, with fists as well as hands.

How they battered down doors

And ironed Starched white shirts

How they led Armies, Headragged Generals

Across mined Fields

Booby-trapped Ditches

to discover books, desks, a place for us

How they knew what we MUST know, without knowing a page of it themselves.

Let me tell you, that if my ancestors felt a smidgen that I was something without even knowing me, that they were paving the way for me, without even knowing me, how can I let anyone make me feel any less?

Now, please do not get me wrong...I am not telling you to perform somersaults and cartwheels in the boardroom or to brag and boast about whatever your qualifications may be. I want you to exemplify confidence. You cannot allow opportunities to come to you if you feel that you are not worthy of the opportunity! You have to be ready for them in every situation you encounter! Some may confuse confidence with conceit. No! Conceit is when you THINK that they North, South, East, and West are YOU! A confident person is one who welcomes criticism, is open to ideas, works well with others, helps others. A confident person does all of this because they know that they are somebody who can and will make a difference. Those that try to put you down are really insecure persons. They are insecure of themselves, their abilities, their history, and their achievements to the point that by making you feel inadequate, makes them believe that they will appear larger than life! They know that something is not right within themselves, so they choose you to take out their frustrations.

Do not enter into the Grasshopper Mindset. It’s amazing, but The Grasshopper Mindset allows others to use your deficiencies, and we all have them, to become their ASSETS! I once heard someone say, "All of us can be more than what we are, but, we are not yet what we can be." The Grasshopper Mindset keeps you from being what you can be! Stand up, speak up, accept more responsibility. Do not be afraid to ask questions. Do not be afraid to say, "I do not know, let me get back to you." There is an African proverb that states, "If you wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes. If you do not wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes." Do not let anyone take charge of your opportunities that are yet to be.

As I stand here and look at all of you, I see so very, very many opportunities. With your background and obvious dedication and achievements, I see test engineers, certification engineers, software developers and designers, tech leads, software planners, software consultants, product planners, department managers. I see owners of their own companies. I see independent contractors, writers, senior level executives, senior level programmers. I see graphic artisans. I see head hunters, marketing professionals, corporate recruiters, talent scouts. I see advisors. I see faculty members and department chairpersons. I even see Chancellors out there!

There are 86, 400 seconds in a day. That might seem like a lot. But note that, you can never get those seconds back. But, you can use them wisely with careful planning and by not entering into the Grasshopper Mindset. Time is of the essence. Seek knowledge, do not cower from it. As Dr. MLK, Jr. once stated, "Nothing is worse on this earth than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." With this mindset, you would be cowering away from however sincere it may be. Other ways to be ready for opportunity are to improve your writing skills, communication skills, business, and personal finance skills. Think seriously about your future past what you are doing now. Have FUN! Never think that it is too late to do anything or to change anything. As the first African-American female astronaut to go up in space, Dr. Mae Jemison states, "Time is always right to do the right thing." You will find that when you have taken care of yourself, you can focus more intently on other things like... finding more OPPORTUNITY!

As I stand here before you this evening, I wish to say, Congratulations to all of the computer science honorees and graduating seniors. I am sure that everyone is so very proud of all of you. Also, congratulations should also go out to all that have made this moment possible. Do not worry about what your purpose is, YOU will make a difference in this world if you do not shy away from opportunity or allow others to persuade you not too.

Go forward, but remember,

The Grasshopper Mindset, it hinders us before we even know it has!!