Read Radnor Alum's Inspiring Graduation Speech

Matt Miller, the Radnor High School alum who has recovered from a near-fatal bicycle accident, spoke at the school's Comencement ceremony on Wednesday, June 12 at Villanova University. Below is the text of his speech.

I would like to begin by thanking you,  the class of 2013, for having me here tonight

As Mr. Schellenger said, I was sitting where you are just seven years ago and it is pretty cool for me to have the opportunity to pass on some things I have learned since leaving Radnor.

And the first thing I will share is that you all should be extremely proud to graduate from Radnor High School. Some of you know this. For others--including me at the time I graduated-- it might take some time to realize just what an accomplishment this is.

I went to one of the top undergraduate universities in the country and I have spent the last few years at a top medical school and I have never once met someone who was better prepared from their K-12 years than I was, thanks to Radnor. 

Whether your next step in life is college, beginning a career, or simply taking the time necessary to figure out what your next step will be, Radnor has given you the best preparation possible to succeed. And you should take comfort in knowing this.

But I am going to spend the next few minutes talking about three “life lessons” that will help you use the skills Radnor has given you.

These lessons allowed me to recover from my bicycling accident in November 2008 which resulted in severe traumatic brain injury and every bone in my face being shattered.

About 2 months after waking up from a medically-induced coma, I had completed all my fall semester classes at the University of Virginia. Just a little over 5 months after my accident, I finished a half-marathon going 9 minutes faster than my previous personal best.

Without question, I was lucky. I made it to the hospital alive, I was spared permanent brain injury, and I had the best medical care and support team anyone could ask for. But I also believe that the lessons I’m about to share with you contributed significantly to getting me to where I am today. And I am hopeful that they will help each of you, in your own way, as you begin a new chapter in your life.  So, here we go.

Lesson 1: Be persistent; stubborn even. If you want something in life remain determined and don’t stop fighting for it.

I was dumped by my now fiancé after the Radnor Middle School 8th grade semiformal…by AOL instant messenger! 4 years later though I finally convinced her to go out with me and the rest is history.

If you work hard and remain determined, good things will often happen. Just ask Emily…But good things don’t always happen. Which brings me to lesson number 2.  

Failure is not fatal.

There will be times in life when you give something everything you have yet fall short of your goals. And this can be a tough pill to swallow.

But realize that if you have worked hard and given something your best shot, then no matter what the result is, you have accomplished a lot. I learned this lesson my senior year at Radnor when I had worked harder than ever before to go to the state swim meet and help our team win. Yet by the end of the season, I had barely qualified for states and hardly improved my performances from the year before. 

However, perhaps surprisingly, I was not that disappointed because I knew how hard I had worked. I knew I had given it my best shot.

When you achieve success, your triumph is over and you begin working toward a new goal.

When you fall short, you have put your heart into accomplishing something, and no one can ever take that away.

Winston Churchill said this best: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal.  It is the courage to continue that counts.”

Most people will only regret the times in their lives when they failed to go after something because of fear of failure. I have never once looked back in disappointment because I tried something and did not succeed.  However, I have wished that I had gone after something that I let slip by because I didn’t think I could do it.

As you go forward in life, never let fear of failure stop you from going after your goals. Trying and not succeeding is a lot better than not trying at all.

And as I move to the last point, I will stay with the theme of not obsessing over the end result.

Lesson #3: How you do things in life is more important than how things turn out. To put it differently…the way we carry ourselves, our actions and our character mean a lot more than whether we achieve a certain outcome.

There are people, and you will run into them, who will make it priorities 1-100 to achieve success no matter what it does to their character, no matter how their pursuit of success affects those around them. 

Sometimes their world falls down upon them well after they have achieved success.

But suppose you “get away with it”—you achieve success even though your behavior wasn’t ethical, and no one knows. You will.

To this point in your lives, many of you have had someone looking over your shoulder—a loved one, a teacher, a coach—encouraging you to make the right choices, encouraging you to live life right. And when you have strayed from the path—as we all have done—there have typically been immediate consequences. After-school detention, being grounded by your parents, being benched from the next game.

As you gain independence, however, you will often make decisions that do not have such obvious and immediate consequences. You will be able to make choices that might make it easier to achieve a certain outcome, but only by jeopardizing your principles. 

As you gain freedom to make all your own decisions, remember the lessons you’ve received from loved ones, Radnor, and others. Make the choices you know are right.

Such as?

Treat everyone with respect no matter who they are, no matter what position they hold. A few months ago I was at a symposium held by a medical department at Penn. The chairman, when describing how best to position yourself for acceptance into their residency program after medical school, said two people could veto even the best candidate and prevent his or her acceptance. Those two individuals, he said, are him and his administrative assistant. Many qualified candidates had ruined their chances of being accepted to his program because they were disrespectful to his assistant during the application process.  And to the chairman, this spoke volumes about their character. You have heard it probably a hundred times but I will say it once more…treat everyone in life the way you’d like to be treated. It is the right thing to do and people will notice.

So, always be respectful. Also, no matter how much you accomplish remain humble. You can be confident without becoming arrogant. You do not need to speak of your own successes. Why? Because when you accomplish something great, people will know; you do not need to tell them. The most impressive people are those who have achieved great success yet pride themselves in their humility.

So, be respectful. Be humble. My last bit of advice is simple. Just live every day trying to be the best person you can be. Value your integrity and let this guide you. Remain honest, work hard, and be a team player. If you have the opportunity to help others around you—to make them look good—do not hesitate to take it. 

For every success I have achieved in life, others have always played a crucial role in my accomplishments. And if you look honestly at most of your achievements, I bet very few of them have been achieved without any help. Realizing this is what allows us to value everyone’s contribution in life, to treat everyone with respect, to go out of our way for others, and to always remain humble.

I cannot stress enough the importance of maintaining strong character and principles as you grow older. Honesty, hard-work, humility, and being a team player will earn tremendous respect from those around you. And this respect will help you build strong relationships. Relationships which will help you achieve success throughout life, bring you happiness every day, and even help save your life when you need others the most—as I learned four years ago after my bicycling accident. 

To conclude, I would like to congratulate you one last time on all of your accomplishments that have brought you to this point.

Radnor has given you the skills that will help you accomplish great things as you move forward.

And as you work toward accomplishing great things, do not let a single-minded focus on the end result get in the way of striving to be the best person you can be. A person of integrity.

Lastly, always remember that failure is not fatal. We all will fall short of our goals sometimes, and all successes come to an end. But not being afraid to fail and continuing to fight and pursue your goals will lead to success, fulfillment, and happiness throughout life.

Thank you so much and congratulations.