Members of the platform party, honored guests, friends and family, and members of the Class of 2011, good afternoon and welcome to Clinton Community College.
I’ve been President of Clinton Community College for about two years. College presidents wind up on all sorts of e-mail lists, and we try to stay up on all that is going on in the world of education. One of the electronic publications that comes to my inbox every weekday is Inside Higher Ed, a daily, electronic “newspaper” for college faculty and administrators. Especially at this time of year, Inside Higher Ed lists commencement speakers from around the country. The following dignitaries were among those listed as commencement speakers this year:
- Harvard: David Souter, Retired Supreme Court Justice
- St. Lawrence University: Tom Brokaw, Retired News Anchor at NBC
- Spellman College: First Lady Michelle Obama
… and you, my friends, are stuck with me.
But what I lack in name recognition, I hope to make up today in brevity and relevance. Woodrow Wilson said, “If you want me to talk for five minutes I need at least a week… But if you want to hear me speak for an hour I can start right now.”
Fortunately for all of you, I was invited to speak several weeks ago.
Therefore, I will be brief. It is a huge honor for me to be invited, and I want to do a good job. After all this is your commencement.
You probably have thought about that word recently: commencement. I know other graduation speakers have talked about it before. It seems kind of odd word for today, doesn’t it? This should be the celebration of your accomplishment, attainment of a goal, and it is. But this goal that you have reached today is not an endpoint; it’s a milestone. It’s more than a milestone; it’s the beginning of the rest of your life.
You know full well that getting through life without a high school diploma is difficult. Until now, even getting started on certain things has probably been difficult. You may have faced challenges related to a job, career advancement, pay increases, college and maybe even a social life. Life without a high school diploma is just plain harder. How many things have you wanted to start, that had to be delayed? There probably have been times when you just felt stuck, stopped, and blocked.
But you have done something about it. You’ve gotten yourself "unstuck." You’ve started to move again. You’ve gotten past the roadblock. You are ready to begin something new. After all, this is your commencement!
When I was briefed on the program that you have just completed, I found out that this year, some of you not only did the standard GED curriculum, but you did something new: the "GED Plus." Not only have you met the requirements for a high school diploma, you have done more. In collaboration with Clinton Community College, you have prepared yourselves for higher education and lifelong learning.
"Lifelong learning" can include a lot of things. It can be an apprenticeship in a trade. It can be advanced career training in a specialized field. And it can be college. Yes, it can be college.
Here you are at Clinton Community College… a graduate, prepared to enroll in college if you choose to do so. This isn’t such a scary place, is it? The “Plus” in “GED Plus” is an indication that you have something extra: Something more than just a diploma. You are prepared to take that next step. After all, this is your commencement.
One of my wife’s all-time favorite movies is The Wizard of Oz. Since it’s one of my wife’s favorites, it has also become one of mine. My favorite character is the Scarecrow. As Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, the Scarecrow proclaims from the very start that he’s not very smart. But when Dorothy couldn't figure out how to get him down off the fencepost, the Scarecrow figured it out for her. And when the Wicked Witch’s evil apple trees harassed Dorothy and her friends later in the movie, it was the Scarecrow who figured out how to trick those apple trees into giving up their fruit. And when Dorothy’s friends plotted to free Dorothy from the Wicked Witch’s castle, it was the Scarecrow who had came up with a plan.
Yet, when the Scarecrow got an audience with the “all powerful Oz,” the one thing that he asked for himself was a brain. As pretentious as the Wizard was, he was sincere enough to inform the Scarecrow that he already had a brain. The Scarecrow was very smart, indeed. But the Wizard said, what you lack my friend, is not a brain, but a diploma. And the Wizard presented the Scarecrow with a Th.D. – a Doctor of Thinkology.
Make no mistake, a credential without learning is hollow... far more hollow than the Tin Man’s chest. The Scarecrow’s credential, though, was not hollow. It was a testament to his intelligence, his persistence, his knowledge and his skills. Likewise, the diploma that is conferred on you today – while not a Th.D. – is certainly NOT hollow. Your GED is confirmation of something:
- Not that you are smart – your intelligence has always been there,
- Perhaps that you are persistent – because you had to stick to it to earn this credential,
- But most definitely, that you are learned – that you have basic knowledge and skills as a result of this program that you didn’t have before.
And the proof that you have these knowledge and skills is the start of great things to come. After all, this is your commencement.
In closing, let me share with you another quote, this one by Henry Ford. He said, “Whether you think you can’t or you think you can, you are right.”
- If you think you can’t, you’ll never try, and therefore you’ll never succeed.
- If you think you can, you will try, and persist, and work hard to achieve your goals.
“Whether you think you can’t or you think you can, you are right.”
Class of 2011, I think you can, and I think you will. After all, this is your commencement!
Congratulations and best wishes from all of us at Clinton Community College.
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