Kylie Kelce returned to her alma mater as she saw off her last graduation.
The wife of Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce gave the commencement speech at Cabrini University in Radnor, Pa., on Sunday, May 19, as the school prepares to close after 67 years of operation.
According to local ABC affiliate WPVI, the college announced last June that it would close after the 2023-2024 school year. Cabrini will sell its property to nearby Villanova University.
Kylie — who graduated from Cabrini in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in communications — began her speech to the 3,200 class of 2024 with a joke about her increasingly famous family, which drew laughs from the audience after she said the university “can’t even get top five Kelce” as their speaker at the ceremony.
“My husband, Jason Kelce, is known for giving some pretty moving speeches,” she joked, referring to the athlete’s highly publicized speech earlier this year in which he announced his retirement from professional football. “He didn’t help me write my words today, so you can go ahead and lower those expectations.”
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Kylie, whose maiden name is McDevitt, played field hockey at Cabrini. She was named a first-team All-CSAC and first-team ECAC South All-Stars during her senior year in 2016 and previously served as the head field hockey coach at her former high school.
In her address, she joked that despite “the current state of the pop culture news cycle, I really prefer to fly under the radar.”
The Cabrini alum also took time to answer one of the biggest questions from college graduates: “What’s next?”
‘I don’t know’ can be an honest and sufficient answer,’ she told the audience. “The truth is, no one has ever fully explained their life. And if anyone tells you otherwise, they’re lying.”
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Kylie also talked about becoming a mother, and reflected on being in the same shoes as her parents. She and Jason, 36, have three young daughters: Wyatt Elizabeth, Elliotte Ray and Bennett Llewellyn.
“This is part of the beauty of getting older and wiser. You are better equipped with the knowledge to make more informed decisions,” Kylie continued. “Just look at me now. I’m 32 years old, I’m a mother of three.”
“Where did the time go? I couldn’t tell you,” she said. “But what I can tell you is that I have no idea what I’m doing. We do it every day. We’re just trying not to mess up our kids – find out our parents did it too.”
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The former athlete also touched on the “beauty” in preserving each graduate’s unique qualities and personality traits, and using them to stand out from the crowd in life after college.
“What a boring world it would be if you and your colleagues sitting on either side thought exactly the same way, enjoyed exactly the same things, and participated in exactly the same activities,” she observed.
Kylie Kelce is coming to Milan Fashion Week in February 2024.
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“I’m well aware that my current position in life is a result of the wonderful people around me, but I’ll be damned if I don’t stay true to myself in everything I do and make sure I’m always being my authentic self,” Kylie added, seemingly referring to her husband and his family. “So find the things that speak to you. Your enthusiasm can be channeled to create change, and you are wonderful just the way you are.”
In an emotional moment, Kylie said she was “trying not to cry” as she talked about Cabrini’s imminent closure and sale to Villanova.
“This was home and you found your extended family here,” she said of the college. “In the next few months, as the sign on the front door no longer reads Cabrini and the new school moves in, know that your home still exists.”
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Source: HIS Education