 Would Mr. Zachary Zimmerman please come forward? Mr. Zachary Zimmerman, a decorated combat veteran, is a business administration major, a member of the Phi Theta Caput Honor Society. He is graduating with a 4.0 grade point average. Congratulations. Good morning. I would like to start by thanking the Board of Trustees for honoring me with this scholarship, the Macklin family, for founding the Macklin Business Institute, Montgomery College's amazing professors, staff, and administration, my family for supporting me in good times and bad, specifically my newest family. Peggy and Jeff, you took me into your home and treated me like a son. And I can never thank you enough for that. Most importantly, to my smoking hot wife, Sarah, thank you for your unwavering love and support. I would not be here for you. There is no honor or award I could ever win that should not be considered at least half yours. Where would I be without Montgomery College? The easy answer to this question is Afghanistan, or at least training to go back to Afghanistan. Two years ago, I needed to make a decision. I had worked so hard to become a non-commissioned officer in the Marine Corps, and I was eager to finally lead my own team of Marines. But like most Marines who achieved the rank of Corporal, my promotion coincided with the end of my four-year enlistment. Something else also happened during this time period. I met a girl named Sarah, who was so smart and beautiful that she easily intimidated an usually unflappable infantry Marine. Little did I know that in just under two years, she would be my wife. I was initially apprehensive about leaving a job I'd become great at, and I'd put my life and limbs on the line to get to where I was. Sarah was just as apprehensive about the continuance in my Marine Corps career, and what has become a familiar trend my wife got her way. I would say goodbye to the first thing I'd ever truly excelled at for something I'd never been more than mediocre, school. When I stepped into Professor McIntyre's US history class in the winter of 2011, I was just as scared as I'd ever been on any patrol in Iraq or Afghanistan. This may sound ridiculous to people who hear me comparing my US history class to IEDs, mortars, and firefights. But I was not afraid to death or bodily harm. I was afraid of a return to mediocrity. I was afraid of a feeling that had become all too familiar in high school, the feeling of being below average. But I knew that I had excelled at being a Marine, so I decided to attack the classrooms of Montgomery College with the same intensity and determination that I had on the previous battlefields I had fought on, which brings me back to MC. After a year and a half, I have learned this is so much more than just a two-year institution. It is a foundation for the American dream, a place that a student will have every ounce of their effort put into their studies matched by their professors, a place where a Marine can test into math 091, the equivalent of elementary algebra, and one year later, that same student can have an A in applied theory calculus. As a Macklin business student, I have learned to embrace the use of mathematics and accounting to find answers to questions through quantitative methods. So here is a statistical analysis of where I'd be without Montgomery College. As a veteran under the age of 24, without a college degree, I would have a 30% chance of being unemployed, a 6% chance to live in poverty, and a 5% chance of being homeless. And most importantly, without Montgomery College, I would have a 0% chance of standing in front of you today. The famous Michigan football coach Bo Schembelechler once said, luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. At Montgomery College, it is the student's job to bestow the preparation. And I can tell you firsthand through nothing more than hard work and determination that at Montgomery College, a prepared student will be met with endless opportunities. Thank you, and congratulations.