Informative Essay On Convocation

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Thursday September 3rd from 10am to 12am, we celebrated Appalachian State University. We celebrated her 116th year and it was our 23rd annual convocation. When I first hear that we had something called “convocation” and I had to attend it, the first thing that came to mind was prayer and religion. So I was pretty hesitant to go, because I didn’t want the “APP STATE WAY” of religion to be forced upon me. However, I was told that Ishmael Beah was going to be speaking at convocation. So then I began to think that convocation is when the author of your “common book” comes to speak with us. But again I was wrong. Convocation is a tribute to us, it is a time to commemorate the lives before us. and honor our community,the place that we call home. It is a time to understand the richness of traditions and culture. Convocation is a way to truly understand what App State is about, and to truly become a mountaineer.
But like everyone else, my favorite part about convocation was listening to Ishmael Beah. Ishmael Beah …show more content…

From the stories he told, I learned that education and knowledge is something that no one can take away from you. Ishmael also told us that he enrolled into college to be a lawyer, but came out a writer. Which, taught me not to limit myself, to use my college time to explore things and take away lessons from things that weaken me. Last but not at least, he told us the “paintball” story, about how him and friends went paintballing.They had no idea that Ishmael was a boy soldier, and he was kicking their butts in paintball. And from that day he learned what a “normal” childhood looks like, but he began to envy his friends. Because paintball would be the close they would ever get to knowing what war is really like. That story made me truly appreciative for my life, and made me understand that I am doing things that most people around the world would kill to be

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