In case you didn’t know, Mitch Albom is a syndicated columnist for the Detroit Free Press, has written four successful novels, and is a sports commentator for ESPN. He is also the keynote speaker for the 2011 commencement ceremony, and I for one couldn’t be more excited.

Albom succeeds in three careers I’ve dreamed of pursuing at one point or another. Although his résumé speaks to me personally, Albom has something to offer all of us as graduating seniors about to enter the so-called real world. That something is a simple message that contradicts what every single one of us will be thinking as we sit on the Quad in our caps and gowns: There’s hope for the future. Hope that we can not only be successful in one profession, but even three careers if we choose to pursue that many.

In his March 20 column for the Detroit Free Press, Albom wrote to high school seniors applying to college and how getting rejected may be a blessing in disguise. However, there’s one piece in there that resonates with us grads: “When you get older, you realize college doesn’t make you, you make college. Many an Ivy Leaguer is now lying on a couch, and many a community college grad is running a profitable company.”

The point is, we don’t know where we’re going to be in five, 10 or 20 years from now, but Albom is living proof that success is attainable once we leave our college bubble.

Kudos to the public affairs department for acquiring a speaker of Albom’s caliber.