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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

President's Wednesday Message


“You don't actually have to build a rocket or go into space, but please take us somewhere. Please keep us moving. Push us, lift us up. Make us better.” Brian Williams, George Washington University

“My advice to you: live in the moment. Stay fluid and roll with those changes. Life is just a big extended improvisation. Embrace the ever changing, ever evolving world with the best rule I’ve ever found. Say “YES AND.” Jane Lynch, Smith College

"I just want to pause for a moment on the word 'invent' because the phrase isn't 'succeed in the future,' it's not 'plan for the future' or 'do the best you can in the future.' It's 'invent the future.' And with those three words comes a simple message: a call to chart your own course and live life on your own terms... In the end, it's up to each of us to define ourselves. It's up to each of us to invent our own future with the choices we make and the actions we take." Michelle Obama, Virginia Tech University

The commencement speech is, by now, a form of art all its own. The worst speeches seem to possess the ability to stop time, making hours of minutes and days of hours. The commencement speaker at my doctoral ceremony posited a theory about the disappearance of the honey bees, a topic I still struggle to connect to anything related to graduation. Were we to see our own extinction in the plight of the bees? Not exactly the uplifting thoughts one desires.

The quotes beginning this message come from some of this season’s commencement addresses. There are, by now, dozens of “best of” lists floating around for the 2012 speeches. These quotes comprise my top three. Why? In so many ways, every graduation speaker tells students to make the world a better place. What makes these quotes different is that each speaker frames this charge, this heavy responsibility, as an exciting and irresistible opportunity. The “push … lift” of soaring ahead. The“YES AND” of horizonless potential. The invention and re-invention possible in “the choices we make and the actions we take.”

As we join together next Saturday morning to watch our students commence, I will shake each hand with a joy borne of the knowledge that each graduate is a “YES AND.” Yes, he has succeeded at MCC and this is just the beginning of a career in nursing at Strong! Yes, she has earned her degree and is transferring to study engineering at RIT! These opportunities are built on a firm foundation of past “YES AND” experiences—gathering the confidence to come to college or ask for help, passing a test or writing a great paper, joining or leading a club. You have helped to make this possible. You have lived in the moment with our students and encouraged them to see each moment after as a golden one full of promise.

In return, our students’ success makes us better. It pushes us to invent MCC anew each year, to create a new future. When our students commence into the “ever changing, ever evolving world,” we commence right along with them. They keep us moving … ever forward … And, we thank them!

What’s your favorite commencement speech quote? Or a thought of your own for our students? Please share it on the blog.

Anne M. Kress
President's Office
05/30/2012