Inspiring Remarks by Lynn McBee Offer Graduates Advice and Life Lessons

Keynote speaker Lynn McBee shared personal and professional experiences, both triumphs and tragedies, during an inspiring address to more than 400 UNT Dallas graduates at Commencement ceremonies on Dec. 17, 2024.

McBee, CEO of Young Women’s Preparatory Network (YWPN) in Dallas, spoke to undergraduate and graduate students prior to the conferral of their degrees at Texas Trust CU Theater in Grand Prairie. She is a longtime education advocate and passionate community leader and volunteer, whose life and career have been dedicated to helping others succeed and thrive.

Students from the Schools of Business, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Education, and Behavioral Health and Human Services, and the Graduate School, heard McBee’s heartfelt message making it clear that “adjusting course isn’t a failure.”

She stressed to students they are “living proof that boundaries can be expanded” through “tenacity, focus and heart.” McBee characterized the ceremonies as both a “personal milestone” for the 430 individual students and a “collective victory” for the whole graduating class, UNT Dallas and the entire region.

She told the crowd of graduates, their families and friends, and university employees, about the loss she suffered when her sister Shelley died of cancer. McBee said it prompted her to "explore new roads" and created "a new sense of purpose" in her and reminded students lives don't always progress in straight lines.

WATCH: Video of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Ceremonies Here

McBee also spoke about the cancer death of Lee Posey, who founded the first all-girls school in Texas in August 2004, the Irma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School. It inspired other such schools across the state. As a child, Posey had been mentored by a woman who found him walking down the street and asked him, "Why aren't you in school?" 

McBee said UNT Dallas is dedicated to providing an “opportunity accessible to everyone” and the positive “ripple effects” resulting from a quality education. She encouraged students to find a mentor and to give back to future generations. “Plant trees for shade you may never sit under,” she said, adding, “but shelter countless others.”

Her address mentioned two graduates by name: Anna Pedford, a 79-year-old great grandmother who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and Nicole Everitt, a 35-year-old mother of six who earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology.

State Senator Royce West (D-TX 23), who was the driving force in achieving legislative approval to build UNT Dallas, also addressed the crowd. “My DNA is intrinsically intertwined in UNT Dallas,” he said. “The best is yet to come.”

Sen. West challenged every graduate to become a “one person ambassador” for the university, noting it is the first and only public four-year university in the city of Dallas. “Look at that,” he said, holding up a photo of the beautiful, 240-acre campus in the Commencement program, “and think about where it will be in 20 years.”