Mayor Curry tells students, "YOLO"

Curry delivered commencement speech at Jacksonville University

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Nearly 900 new graduates from Jacksonville University had a special speaker delivering their commencement address Saturday morning on campus. Mayor Lenny Curry was asked to speak to the students as they begin their next phase of life.

Mayor Curry spoke at length during commencement, quoting the singer Prince at the beginning of his speech and Steve Jobs. Curry also told them about his journey to get where he is today.

Curry said, “If you can only recall a single thing from my talk, please remember this. You only get to do ‘this thing called life’ once. There are no do overs. Live your life with the motto ‘YOLO. You Only Live Once.”

With flags of the many countries that the graduates are from flying behind the stage, it was clear that for the 894 graduates, there are many different paths that led them to this point and many different paths they will take from here. Curry urged students to be in control of what they do, to lead the life they want to live, even if it's a change from what they might be doing now.

“Choose your road. Walk your path. Flip it all upside down. Follow your passion and your dreams. Don’t live anyone else’s version of your life. And don’t let your circumstances define your life,” Curry said.

This was the first time Curry has delivered a commencement speech. He even acknowledged that he was nervous to give it, despite giving countless speeches before. Curry talked about starting his own business the path he took to get where is now making it clear that even if you know exactly what your dreams are in life, you have to be ready when the opportunity comes to take advantage of it.

“It’s not enough to just want something. You have to work for it," Curry said. "You have to be focused and you have to put yourself in the position, so that when opportunity knocks, you’re at the door holding the handle. I want each of you sitting here today to have your hand on the handle when your opportunity presents itself, whether it’s in one year, five years, 10 or 20. You have to be ready.”