Jay Knudtson addresses SEMO graduates: 'We're gettin' 'er done today, mom and dad; we're gettin' 'er done today'

Degrees were presented to 657 Southeast Missouri State University students Saturday at the Show Me Center, with a speech by Jay B. Knudtson � also member of the fall 2018 graduating class � during the afternoon ceremony.

Knudtson of Cape Girardeau is a member of the Southeast Board of Regents and executive vice president and bank board director of First Missouri State.

During multiple one-on-one occasions with Southeast president Carlos Vargas-Aburto, Knudtson said he revealed his dream was to acquire his college degree.

�After I said, �I�m not a very good student, and at 55, I�m not sure that my memory is very good anymore, and I�m not a good test taker,�� Knudtson said. �I�ll never forget [Vargas] saying, �Oh no, Jay, you can do it!��

Two-and-a-half years and 43 credit hours later, Knudtson earned the opportunity � and a degree in general studies � to address his own graduating class.

Knudtson spoke Saturday on several topics including that a degree matters, controlling the controllable, the importance of accomplishments and presenting oneself for success.

�Don�t anybody tell me that a degree doesn�t matter,� he stressed. �It should be on everybody�s bucket list, to-do list and goal. ... What a college degree really means is what it does for you as a person and what it does to enhance your brand.�

He said the experience of attaining his degree has been incredible, because he�s been able to step away from the board of regents role and �pull that curtain back as a student.�

�I�m fortunate to have my mom and dad in the crowd today,� Knudtson said. �It was a fall day 36 years ago that you dropped me off at the University of Minnesota. I remember it well.�

Knudtson exclaimed from the podium, �We�re gettin� �er done today, mom and dad; we�re gettin� �er done today.�

Aside from his peers� accomplishment of graduating, there are other things well within the students� control they must be committed to, he said.

He stressed the importance of setting goals, documenting those goals, connecting with someone for accountability purposes and bettering oneself externally.

�Dress appropriately,� he said. �If you�re the best dressed person in the room, you will separate from everyone else. It shows commitment, it shows you care, and most of all, you�ll feel better about yourself.�

Knudtson added, �Be committed to being on time. It�s so abused today and it shows disrespect. ... Be respectful of others. Say �Yes, ma�am,� and �Yes, sir.� I�m telling you, it works.�

�It�s all about enhancing your brand,� he said. �You have to look at yourself as being a brand, and you have to be thinking about how you�re going to enhance it every day.�

Knudtson, former mayor of Cape Girardeau and a 2006 recipient of Southeast�s Vandiver Show Me State Award, is executive vice president and bank board director of First Missouri State Bank. He served for 13 years as senior vice president of Bank of America in Cape Girardeau, according to a university release.

He was born and raised in Minnesota. He studied at the Graduate School of Banking in Boulder, Colorado; the Graduate School of Real Estate Finance in Dallas; the University of Minnesota; and Southeast Missouri State University, the release stated.

Missouri Department of Higher Education head Zora Mulligan spoke at the morning ceremony.

The morning ceremony was for students in the College of Education, Health and Human Studies and Harrison College of Business and Computing, while the afternoon ceremony was for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and Holland College of Arts and Media.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

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