So I'm sitting nervous in the seventh row. Why nervous? I don't know - I'm not the one graduating. But then Denise Tong comes on, 10 years+ younger and full of that spirit I felt going through the Academy back in '95. And she drums off several insights I had forgotten about entrepreneurs. One stuck - we create opportunity from challenge. Lemonade from lemons. And I get fired up! We ARE the dragon slayers of our age!

It is up to US to make America work for our children and granchildren. It is up to US to be leaders - to use our money-making skills to show all who care to listen that business can be done fun, with ethics #1, while we still have our time in the sun.

So now that the world of opportunity has been opened to you, you have no choice. You have a moral obligation to use the skills you have just learned to help other people learn. Use the Academy and its members to help you along your path. Don't be afraid to ask for help. You must take the big chances now while you still have the time to start over. And if you fail, never forget, there's a whole lotta people here to help you start over - I'm one of them. And there are many sitting beside me.

Eric Robbins SEA Class of 1995