Studer Community Institute

Graduates: Toot your horn without blowing it

June 2, 2015
/ Reggie Dogan
/ education

I almost tooted my horn when I saw two guys in matching black shirts and slacks, waiting at a crosswalk, clutching their oboe and trombone. I looked around for a marching band until I saw them dash across the street toward the Pensacola Bay Center. It dawned on me that they were on their way to toot their horns as part of a high school graduation ceremony that day. Indeed, it’s that time of year when seniors take that first step toward the big stage of the rest of their lives. High school graduation is, for many teenagers, their first and most memorable milestone. They have spent the preponderance of their early years preparing for this day. There is good reason they call these ceremonies “commencement exercises.” Graduation is not the end; it is the beginning. Graduation is a process that goes on until the last day of our lives. If we can grasp that reality, it will make all the difference in the world in the things we do and achieve in the days, months and years to come. Graduation is an annual rite of passage for all seniors, and the ceremony to celebrate it is an important part of it. So is the commencement address. Graduation speeches are supposed to be inspiring, leaving graduates with a parting pieces of wisdom before they embark on their new lives. But they also can be boring, embarrassing and sometimes just disgustingly pitiful. I remember absolutely nothing about my high school commencement address. I don’t know who said what, and no amount of shock therapy or mental gymnastics can clear the fog in my mental skies. My college commencement address, however, was unforgettable. As a broadcast journalism major at the University of South Carolina, I found it serendipitous to have Ted Koppel as the commencement speaker. Koppel at the time was the venerable host of ABC’s late-night news program “Nightline.” Thanks to the technological marvel of Google, I found a newspaper clip of his speech that hot August day. With the trademark helmet of hair flopped over his forehead, Koppel pointed out that most Americans have a tendency “to measure the importance of events by how recently they happened.” In his speech Koppel, before 1,405 new graduates in the Carolina Coliseum, said time ultimately provides “a far truer glass through which to view events than a live TV camera.” Koppel surely had an impact on me as I still can recite his words almost verbatim decades later. I learned that day that a great commencement speech is enjoyed, not simply endured. Ideally, the speaker puts serious thought into their words, says something meaningful and sticks to the topic to keep the message on track.. They are, or at least should be, aware of the motive and the moment: graduates really just want to get their diploma, ditch those silly caps and gowns and get on with the pomp and circumstance of the special day. Over the years, I sat through my fair share of commencement ceremonies and heard countless speeches that I scarcely care to remember. I’ve also been granted the pleasure a time or two to deliver a few speeches myself. It’s likely wishful thinking but my hope is that I left lasting impression on some of graduates anxious for me to shut up, sit down so they can shout out and get down with their newfound but short-lived freedom. One year, not too long ago, I decided to tailor my speech to one graduate instead of the entire graduating class. I called it, “Audience of One,” and I reminded that one unique, extraordinary graduate that we are counting on him or her to build for us a better world. “You’ve great opportunity and challenge ahead of you, my audience of one out of all these many. “Most of mine — not all, I trust, but surely most — is far behind me. “If only it were possible to start over again, there are so many mistakes I’ve made that now I would avoid. There are so many missed opportunities that this time I’d seize and take advantage of. “There are so many things that I lacked courage to try, so many things that I did badly because I hadn’t the vision to do them well. “If tomorrow I could start again … but I can’t. “You must make all of your mistakes, and you must make, too, the best of your opportunities. “You, the lonely one, the different one, the dreamer of great dreams. “You who can be, if only you will, a leader to the frontiers of a new and more meaningful freedom for all of us, all of us without exception. “I put great confidence in you. Great confidence and all my hopes. “Don’t let me down.” To the graduates this year, I too have great faith and trust in you. You began elementary school as young children, but you’re leaving high school as young adults. You’ve completed a basic education that should serve as the platform we use to launce ourselves into our futures. Some of you will go to college or the military, others will go straight into the workforce, but each will travel his own path. No matter where you go or what you choose to do, there will be challenges ahead. What I’m asking from each of you is to meet those challenges straight on with your head held high and your heart wide open. It’s not enough to simply try to get by in life. That doesn’t move the world forward. You must try to excel in everything you do; strive for excellence in every task large or small. Congratulations, graduates. This is one day you can toot your own horn without blowing it.

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Graduates: Toot your horn without blowing it

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