Kevin Fullerton, owner of Springboard Creative and graduate of Northwest Missouri State University, gave the commencement speech at his alma mater on April 28th.

Fullerton addressed graduates and their families during the 10 a.m. commencement ceremony for the graduate school and the Booth College of Business and Professional Studies. While Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon addressed the 2 p.m. ceremony for the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Education and Human Services.

“We are so pleased to have Gov. Jay Nixon and Kevin Fullerton joining us for our spring commencement ceremonies,” Northwest President Dr. John Jasinski said. “Both Gov. Nixon and Mr. Fullerton will speak eloquently about how to capitalize on the student success our graduates obtain as Bearcats and parlay it into being productive and contributing members to society. They are very supportive of Northwest and we always welcome them on campus as advocates for our students and what we do at our University.”

“Playing it safe never EVER leads to great success. If you want to truly be successful you have to take chances. Scary chances. Crap-your-pants chances. You can’t wade into opportunites. You have to leap boldly.”

Last fall Fullerton received the Northwest Alumni Association’s 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award. He is an active member of the Mass Communications Professional Advisory Committee, the professional adviser for the advertising campaigns class and assists both the Tower and Northwest Missourian publications students.

“Receiving the Distinguished Alumni Award was a huge honor. But being given the chance to address students on their graduation day was an unbelievable honor. It is day I will always remember. And hopefully, so will they – for all the right reasons.”

Fortunately on this day, Fullerton didn’t trip, throw up or say anything worse than “crap your pants.” We’re so proud.

Watch his speech here. (Come on. It’s only 12 minutes.)