Graduation Day: Ready or Not, Here We Come!
President West, Provost Eggleston, Chairman
Borden, and other members of the platform party,
honored guests, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles,
spouses, other family members, but especially
graduating seniors. What a joy it is to be with you
today!
Class of 2016 – are you ready to graduate? Is the
world ready for you? Today, you are standing in a
threshold—a doorway between the past that is behind
you and the future ahead – between an ending and a
beginning -- an ending of what for you, the graduates,
and your families has been one of life’s most
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significant, and expensive, experiences. And a
beginning of the important role you will play as a
Huntingdon graduate in your communities, your
nation, and the world. Some of you may have been
pushed to come today – to attend this ceremony that
didn’t seem all that important. But I want to tell you
– this is really a big deal. Did you know that only six
to seven percent of the world’s population has a
college degree of any kind? This experience is one
that you’ll never forget – you may forget every single
thing I say, or every single thing President West says,
but you won’t forget this day!
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You probably know that a commencement
address is one of those obligations of graduation –
one that you have to sit through politely even if
you’re overdressed, hot, and pretty much ready to
just walk across this platform. I want to reassure you
that President West has given me a time limit – and
unlike some Methodist preachers I know, I’m going to
stick to it. At this point we have about 18 minutes to
go.
To begin, let me tell you about how my life
intersected with President West (or as my husband
and I call him, Cam). Cam married my husband John
Gardner and me in the year 2000 in our living room in
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Pisgah Forest, NC. Before then, but especially since,
we have maintained a strong friendship with both
Cam and his wife Elizabeth, and through them we
have watched the amazing growth and development
of this College. The last time we were here on
campus was in 2004 when Cameron West was
inaugurated as your president, and believe me,
Huntingdon is a very different and more vibrant
place now than it was then. Wherever you go when
you leave here –Alabama, another state, or
somewhere else in the world, you will be known,
respected, and enviedas a Huntingdon graduate, and
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that reputation will place you in roles of leadership in
wherever you go.
Not only have my husband and I kept up with
the progress of the College, we have also learned a
great deal about you. Cam has kept us up to date—
first, on your amazing roster ofinternships in which
you were able to connect your learning with work.
Raise your hand if you participated in an internship.
More recently the President’s office has shared with
us your plans after graduation. I congratulate you for
having a plan – plans are so important, but before I
forget it, I want to reassure you that if the plan you
have right this minute doesn’t work out exactly like
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you thought it would, that’s okay too. The reason it’s
okay is that you have developed at Huntingdon the
skills of persistence, flexibility, and leadership. These
are skills you will be able to pack up and take with
you wherever your life goes.Huntingdon has been
very intentional inpreparing you not merely for a job
but for a life calling - a wayfor you to live out your
values and sense of purpose.
And while we’re talking about plans, let me
confess to you that when I was a student at Duke
University back in the 1960s, I had no plans for a
career after college. In all honesty, for college women
in the 1960s, future plans for employment weren’t all
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that important. Almost every woman’s secret dream
was to find a husband, preferably a rich husband, to
take care of her – we called it the “MRS” degree – by
the way, that was, and still is, a very risky dream!
I had grown up and gone to a small high school
in a small North Carolina town. I did well in high
school, but my first year of college was a mess.
College courses were very hard for me – especially in
math. I saw my first D’s – I had never seen one of
those before – in calculus and in bowling – and at the
end of my second year I actually dropped out and,
surprise, surprise, got married. Not to this guy but to
someone else. (I won’t give you any more detail
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about that.) I stayed out of college for 10 years and
during that time had three children and a ton of
temporary jobs. When I think back on that 10-year
period, I learned a great deal – not from books but
from life, and much of that learning stays with me
today.
What I did was to walk through every open door
– to trust myself to go where life seemed to be leading
me. I finally returned to Duke when I was 30 years
old with a good bit of work experience under my
belt,much of it acquired by chance – by walking
through those open doors – and at that point I never
stopped until I became “Dr. Betsy Barefoot” – not a
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real doctor, but a doctor of higher education. That
took me another 18 years.
Needless to say, I really loved being in college.
Actually, if someone would pay me to go back to
college today, I probably would. Maybe some of you
would like to hang out here a bit longer, to postpone
the ending. Maybe you’re a little reluctant to enter
“the real world” where the stakes are higher. But the
real world, whether it's the military, a job, graduate or
professional education, is knocking on your door and
welcoming you to cross the threshold.
Whatever your feelings at this moment as your
college career comes to at least a temporary close –
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joy, relief, sadness – you’re beginning a whole new
phase of learning. And inevitably you will learn
more after you leave Huntingdon than you learned
here. Huntingdon has given you a platform, a
springboard for lifelong learning, practice in thinking
critically about our crazy world. And it has given you
a set of values. I’m going to return to the topic of
values but before I do, let me introduce you to some
other ideas – the first of them is the whole notion of
being in transition.
My husband, John, and I are two scholars who
study the theme of transition before, during, and after
college – what it’s like to move from one stage to
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another – the fears, feelings, and reactions that are
common among all of them. Do you remember your
first day here at Huntingdon? Unless you were really
unusual, you were probably a little scared of what
was going to happen to you, a little uncertain about
whether you had made the right decision in coming
here, terrified that you were going to fail something –
you didn’t know what – afraid that you wouldn’t
have any real friends, and you were likely looking
around for someone, maybe a faculty or staff member
or an experienced student, whowould show you the
ropes.
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Some of you might have experienced a special
transition by being the first member of your family to
go to college. If you were the first in your family to
attend college, raise your hand. Let me give my
special congratulations to you and your families and
predict that although you were the first, you won’t be
the last. You have opened the door for sisters,
brothers, nieces, nephews, children, and
grandchildren who will follow your lead.
Leaving college is another transition. Whatever
your plans for tomorrow or the months to come,
you’re probably going to have many of those same
feelings – a little fear, some anxiety, and a desire for
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someone to take you by the hand and show you the
way. These feelings are normal and will pass. It’s
important for you now to have faith in yourself – to
know that you can be successful, no matter where life
takes you. It’s not blind faith in the future, but faith
based on all the experiences you have had in the past.
Another concept I want to explore with you and
that is your mindset – what you believe about
yourself and how, if those beliefs areset in stone, they
can actually hold you back.The topic of mindset
isgenerating a lot of buzzthese days – everyone from
school teachers to college professors is talking about
mindset. Researchers who study mindset believe that
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many of us grow up with a fixed mindset – certain
assumptions about ourselves that have been
influenced by early experiences and messages from
our family or friends. If you have a fixed mindset,
you will believe that there are certain things you
always do well and other things that you’ll never be
able to do, no matter how hard you try. People with
fixed mindsets believe their success or lack of success
isn’t really influenced by effort. They are terrified of
failure and will only try those activities in which they
know they will succeed.
If you have a fixed mindset, the real problem
comes when you fail at doing something you always
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thought you could do easily.I’m not asking for a show
of hands, but did any of you fail a test or exam here at
Huntingdon? Did any of you ever miss a shot or a
goal on a Huntingdon team? How did you react?
Were you surprised or frustrated? Did it stop you in
your tracks? Did it take away your motivation, at
least for a while? Or did you redouble your
effort?Given the fact that you’re sitting here, one
thing is certain: you didn’t quit. You were persistent
and resilient and you gave it another try.
Graduates, your mindset will also affect your life
after college – there will come a time when things
don’t go well for you – when you might make a
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mistake, be treated unfairly, lose a job, disappoint
yourself, or disappoint others. Your ability to be
resilient, to learn from what goes wrong in your life,
to stay the course and not give up will determine how
you ultimately write your own life story. As you
think about the members of your family, I bet that
each of you could name people who were and are
examples of resilience. Thank them for showing you
the importance of not giving up –they have helped
make you the person you are today.
Now one other essential part of any
commencement speech is advice-giving. I have to
confess to you that I don’t give a lot of advice these
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days, unless I think it’s absolutely essential. So in
selecting some advice for you, I worked hard to pick
six ideas that I really think will make a difference as
you go forward.So, here’s number one:
1. Stop waiting on others to solve the world’s
problems. Whether they’re here in Montgomery or in
Washington, or on the campaign trail, we’re finding
that many individuals who call themselvesstate or
national leaders have feet of clay. They disappoint us
all the time. So to quote the columnist, Arianna
Huffington, turn to the leader in the mirror and tap
into your own leadership potential rather than relying
on others to make the world right.
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2. Don’t let whatever fearthat is lurking in your
head get in your way. The French philosopher,
Montaigne put it like this, “There were many terrible
things in my life, but most of them never happened.”
Push down those little nagging fears – refuse to let
them stop you from doing what you want to do.
Power through them and you’ll likely see them
disappear. My own grandmother used to say, trust
more and worry less. Sounds easy, but if you’re a
worrier, and you know who you are, it can be a
struggle.
3. Practice commitment. Hopefully in your life
and your family’s life, you’ve seen examples of
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commitment. Commitment is what turns a promise
into reality. In today’s world, it’s easy to avoid
commitment – to believe that the grass will be greener
in another place or with another person. But without
commitment to a person, a faith, a purpose, you’ll
always be living a tentative life – a life with one foot
out the door.
4. Keep learning. If you thought that college
graduation was the end of learning, think again. It is
really just the beginning. Take advantage of every
opportunity you have to learn, to challenge yourself.
If you haven’t already thought of continuing your
education in graduate school, think of it as a
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possibility. I learned through my own weird
educational experience, that the older I got, the more I
learned, and the more I enjoyed learning.
5. Give thanks. It’s tempting to think that you’ve
done everything yourself – through your own
abilities. But every single individual here this
afternoon has benefitted from the support of someone
else. Perhaps it was a minister in your church, a high
school teacher, a coach, a family member, or someone
you met here at Huntingdon. If those people are still
living, thank them. Start immediately. Before you
leave this place, thank every faculty or staff member
who helped and supported you. Thank the President,
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the Provost, your parents, and other family members.
You know, they really care about you. And make
giving thanks a life-long habit!
6. Finally, I hope you will continue to explore
and deepen your faith, your beliefs, your most basic
values, and your understanding of the creator. That
understanding may change over time. Mine has,
thankfully. My childhood God was a sort of magical
genie, a bearded old man with whom I could make
bargains and who would inevitably get me out of
trouble if I made sure to be inSt. Paul Methodist
Church on Sunday and to put a quarter in the
collection plate. But remember 1st Corinthians,
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Chapter 13, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I
understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I
became a man (or woman), I put away childish
things.” What will that mean for you? Since
everyone’s spiritual journey is unique, I only know
what it has meant for me. For me,at this time in my
life,my spiritual beliefs are centered in the power of
love, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
Graduates, you have been blessed to be students
at Huntingdon College. You now have the stamp of
the College on your forehead – perhaps it’s invisible
to the naked eye, but it’s there.You are different from
the person you would have been if you had gone to
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the University of Alabama, Auburn, or Alabama
State. You have lived, studied, and played in an
environment based on a distinct set of values that are
consistent with the Judeo-Christian faith and the
United Methodist Church, and because you were
here, you will never be the same. How have you
changed? Let me quote President West as he reflected
in 2008 on how being at Huntingdon College would
influence and even transform students who studied
here.
And I quote, “My goal for Huntingdon students
educated in the liberal arts is for them to think
critically and morally, to communicate with clarity
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and civility, and to extend themselves in service far
beyond their own backyards.”
Graduates, this is your charge: What will it mean
for you to think critically, to apply a moral yardstick
to all your decisions? What will it mean in your
neighborhood or your home for you to communicate
clearly and in a civil manner? And what will it mean
for you to lose your own self-interest in service to
others? Only you can answer those questions.
You are officially ready to live those Huntingdon
values, to take on the world! You are Huntingdon
College – now and in the future. God bless each of
you. God bless Huntingdon College.
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