7th Annual Awards Banquet

Keynote Address by Julie (Sansoni) Ferrario presented at the 7th Annual Awards Banquet - May 10, 2006

Thank you, Elaine Parker. It's a pleasure to be here tonight.

I have to admit I was very excited when Elaine first called and asked me to speak here tonight. I said yes right away, even though she insisted that I take some time to think about it first. It was later, when I was trying to decide what to say, that I started to get nervous about the whole thing.

The fact is I've been thinking about what to say for the last couple of weeks, but I didn't actually get all my thoughts together until this morning. I felt like I knew what I wanted to say, but I wasn't quite sure how to say it. The other day, while out in the garden, pulling weeds, an inner voice said, "Just make a decision! You've got to decide what you are going to say!"

And that was it...that word, "decision."

Decisions, decisions...we make decisions all the time!

Do you know how many decisions you made today? Maybe 100? 500? 1000?

I wondered...so I went online and looked it up. There was one study quoted that said the average person makes 612 decisions a day.

If that's true, then by the time we're 20, we've made almost 4-1/2 MILLION decisions! That's an awful lot, isn't it?!

The decisions we make shape our lives. What kind of a person we are going to be...where we're going to go to college...what career we're interested in...what classes we need to take to get us to that goal. Some of these decisions are easy to make...others are more difficult. Many decisions, once made, open us up to so many possibilities, that we are now required to make even more decisions.

When I was a senior at Atwater High School, I thought I had it all figured out. I was going to go to UC Davis and pursue a career in medicine. It was my Dad, a graduate of Notre Dame himself, who asked me to apply there. He just wanted to see if I could get in and I really didn't even want to take the extra time to fill out all the paperwork! But, I made the decision to do so, for him. When I found out I was accepted, all of a sudden I had another decision to make. I hadn't seriously considered Notre Dame as an option until I shared the news with some of my friends. They were so excited for me to have such an interesting opportunity! I began to rethink all my decisions up to that point and suddenly UC Davis seemed too close to home and I decided to give it a shot and accept at Notre Dame, a school I had never visited in a state I'd never been to before, 2000 miles away from everything I knew.

The decisions we make early in our lives affect the decisions we'll be making later in our lives. I bet most of you who are receiving a scholarship, award or recognition tonight have made some difficult decisions along the way. It might be more entertaining to turn on the TV and watch a movie, but the decision to spend a few more hours studying for a test or to go out of your way to volunteer your time, talents and resources in the community have been far more rewarding in the long run.

One of the things I realized when I opted for Notre Dame was that the cost of my education was going to be a lot greater there than it would have been at UC Davis. So, I applied for as many scholarships as I could find, and one of the scholarships I received came from Soroptimist of Atwater. I knew that every scholarship, no matter how big or small, was going to help me pay for my education. And the scholarships that I received for my freshman year did more than that. They provided enough money that I didn't have to take a job that first year, and I could devote more time and energy to studying and fitting in with my new surroundings.

The decisions we make can affect how others view us. Are we dependable, trustworthy, forward-thinking, or community-minded? Those are the labels that other people attach to us, based on what we decide to do with our time and how we decide to use the talents and skills with which we are endowed. The fact that we are all gathered together in this room tonight has very much to do with the decisions we've made in our lives and the desire for the Soroptimists to honor our actions.

Being away at college really helped me to learn who I was and who I wanted to be. I was very fortunate to attend a university that promoted the concept of giving. While at Notre Dame, I participated in a number of service projects. I helped deliver leftover trays of food from the dining hall to the local homeless shelter. I participated in Fall Cleanup Days, where we went around and raked the leaves in people's yards, and in Christmas in April, where we cleaned up homes and repainted them in some of the poorest South Bend neighborhoods. I learned that there was real joy in helping others. I also learned that I didn't really want to become a doctor after all. I decided to come home and give back to the people who mattered most to me, my parents, and to the communities of Atwater and Merced, that had helped shape me as a person.

The decisions we make don't just affect us...they affect others too. We learn along the way that we can't make selfish decisions all the time. So, we consider the consequences before we make a decision. We try to think through as many of the possible outcomes of an action before we take it (or we wish we did afterwards). But, there are always times when we just can't know what the end result of a decision is going to be.

There were times when I didn't think I'd be able to graduate from Notre Dame. I wasn't sure if there would be enough money. My parents would say, "Don't worry about that. Just stay focused on your classes." Somehow, I made it. Through a combination of jobs, loans, scholarships and a lot of sacrifice on the part of my parents, I was able to stay all four years at Notre Dame and graduate on time. I realized that was a big accomplishment and that it might not have been possible without all the help from fine organizations like Soroptimist International. So, I did something that probably not that many people think of doing…I wrote thank you letters to each group that had given me money along the way to help with my education, and I enclosed a copy of my transcript, showing all the classes I had taken in four years and what my grades were. I wanted to share with them the impact their donation had had on my life.

Think of all the decisions you've made in your lives that have brought you to this day, to this hour, to this place. Would you say that the good decisions have outweighed the bad? Have you made the right decisions? One of my favorite quotes is from Mark Twain. He once said, "Always do right. You will gratify some people and astonish the rest!"

I believe that it is because of the good decisions you've made that you are being recognized tonight by the Soroptimists. I love that name, Soroptimist…because it's got the word "optimist" in it. These are women who view the cup as half full and not half empty. They see the potential and they celebrate it. Tonight, they are seeing the potential in you and they are celebrating you! They believe in you and they believe you can accomplish great things in your lives!

There's a sequel to my story. Not long after I returned home from college, I had a chance to meet up with one of the members of the Atwater Soroptimist Club. She told me that my thank you letter had come at an opportune time…when the closure of Castle Air Force Base and dwindling numbers in their membership had caused the members to consider canceling their scholarship program. She said my letter had done much to rally members' spirits and made them realize they really were making a difference by offering scholarship opportunities.

Who knows…perhaps my decision all those years ago to write that letter helped in a small way to make tonight a reality for all of us. I'll let you decide!

I'm very honored to have been chosen as your keynote speaker for this evening. Once again, I have the opportunity to thank the Soroptimists for their past support in my life as well as for their general support of educational opportunities, community service, and leadership positions for women.

For my last remark, I'm heading back to the garden, which is my favorite place for thinking deeply: The recognition you receive tonight is but a seed. Plant it in the garden of your life and let it grow. Nurture it and it will become something bigger than you…something you can share with future generations.

And do right…you'll astonish the world! Thank you very much!

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