Here is the speech I gave that day.
"Thank you for having me today.Thanks also to Dr. Frank Booth, the faculty, parents, friends and of course, the graduating class of Brenau Academy for 2001. By choosing Brenau Academy, your parents have already shown a deep commitment to your education and to your long-term success in your future family life or career choices. The unique choice if single sex education that is under assault must be preserved. There are those who say that they are pro-choice, but that does not extend to education in their world.
I first began to look at education options when the story of Shannon Faulkner and the Citadel was in the news. I believed that the option should be preserved, but I did not know why. I learned why from and unusual source. Kevin Jarrard, a Gainesville, Georgia man, happened to the head of the corps of cadets that year at the Citadel. He shared with me and I confirmed with other sources that single sex education was even more beneficial to women that to men who made that choice. Only 4% of women choose to attend women's schools, but 50% of the female members of Congress went to women's schools and more that 75% of women who are executives in Fortune 500 companies went to women's schools at some time in their academic career. It is simple, the women do everything in this environment and they learn how to lead. You have made a wise choice and even if you do not attend a women's college, you will always have this experience at Brenau Academy as the foundation of your education.
Education is lifelong and message today is to keep your options open. Today's changing environment is ideally suited for the choices women make in life. There is talk of the "glass ceiling" or the "mommy track." I am here to tell you that it does not exist. Women have choices in life and must take them. You will soon enter college and prepare for life after college and you will make choices.You will make choices on your major, c, your first "real" job, to marry or not, to have children or not. At every step of the way keep your options open.
I graduated from college in the fall of 1979 and went on a long search that winter for a job in my chosen field of television production. I was offered a couple of jobs but none that I felt I could support myself on so I tool a job as an Executive Trainee at Rich's in Atlanta. I spent 10 years in a retail career. I worked in training, as a assistant buyer, a store liaison, buyer and group manager. I traveled and worked for some of the most innovative minds. After I married, I left that world for a new one. It was the world of being a wife and mother. I had a ready made family of three little boys and added a little girl. If you had told me in college that I would enjoy and thrive in this environment, I would have told you that you were crazy.
I have always been politically active. In the 1990s, I began calling into a radio show. I was asked to come by and be a guest one day and one thing led to another and I am now hosting "The Martha Zoller Show" for WDUN in Gainesville, Georgia. I have been hosting a television show for Brenau University and am now a member of Fox5Atlanta's The Georgia Gang.
The key is flexibility and being open and keeping your priorities straight. I am still a wife and mother first and I schedule my life around that. As far as money goes, I probably could make more, but at what cost? The questions you must ask yourself are what is it worth to me and my family and where does it put me on my path of priorities? Women have the options, so make the choices. We can have it all, just not at the same time.
As you go forward, do your best. Colin Powell tells of his first experience with racism in his biography. He got a summer job with a trucking company a thought he would be a driver. When he arrived the first day he found out the Blacks were not drivers and that the only job for a Black man at this company was sweeping. He was the best sweeper he could be. When the summer was over, he was offered a job as a driver for the next summer. Someone is always watching, so do the best you can at everything.
Get involved in your community and register to vote. Volunteer in a charitable organization or on a political campaign. Know the issues and make your voice heard. It we learned anything from the 2000 Presidential Campaign it is that every vote counts. I will go a step further, seize the power. Run for office, from the school boards to the State House, take the power.
Put faith in your life and make it the center piece. It will guide you. If you are lucky enough to be a parent, be the best parent you can be. No job is more important that raising your child. Do well what your parents did well and do not repeat their mistakes. Take a step forward.
In conclusion, education does not stop with high school, college or graduate school. It goes on in every aspect of your life. This is a beginning and you have the power.Thank you."
After the speech and the ceremony concluded, a good male friend of mine came up to me and said that I made him wish he was a woman. In looking back, what this speech is really about is the freedom that we so cherish in this country. This is the only country in the world where we have the choice to be what we want to be and the opportunity to make it happen. As our brothers and sisters fight for freedom around the world, the least we as home can do is make the most of the opportunities given us and the choices we make.
Let me know what you think about this and other opinions posted here. Tune in every weekday from 9-11 am for The Martha Zoller Show and join me weekly on The Brenau News Forum and Fox5 Atlanta's The Georgia Gang.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/7/191911