![\"\"](\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/IMG_0100-RS.jpg\")
<\/a>Kirsty Spence, Associate Professor in the Department of Sport Management delivers the morning Convocation address.<\/p><\/div>\n
Distinguished Teaching Award recipient Kirsty Spence, who delivered the morning Convocation address, expressed what many were feeling Friday when she said \u201cthere are few other events that I love more at Brock than Convocation day.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo share in the pride and joy that graduates emanate as they walk this stage and to meet parents and family members after all this time they have entrusted their own to us as Brock students is monumentous to me,\u201d said the associate professor of Sport Management.<\/p>\n
Spence encouraged the graduands to stay authentic to themselves and work to discover their purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe inspired with the knowledge that it is you who gets to learn what is a good enough purpose for yourself and be full in yourself in doing so,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Delivering the afternoon address was Associate Professor of History Elizabeth Vlossak, who acknowledged that the new graduates might be feeling overwhelmed.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, you may feel scared and alone. The world and our future may seem pretty bleak. All around us, we\u2019re confronted with challenges that seem insurmountable,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As a historian of 20th century Europe, Vlossak said she is sometimes saddened by society\u2019s inability to learn from its past mistakes, but she believes studying the past also provides us \u201cwith powerful reminders of the amazing achievements humans are capable of and locates the inspiration we need in these dark times.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are responsible for becoming attuned to what people are telling you is impossible and deciding if they\u2019re actually right,\u201d said Vlossak. \u201cIf they\u2019re not, you must work as a society and a community to make the possibilities that will change the world for the better. Apathy is no longer an acceptable response. You leave Brock University today equipped with the skills, knowledge and experience to take up this challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n