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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

President's Wednesday Message


On Saturday, we will welcome MCC’s graduating class of 2016. Air horns will blow, confetti will fall, and the Blue Cross Arena will resound with applause for the inspiring individuals walking across that stage. 

Commencements are celebrations for our newest Tribunes. They should also be celebrations for our collective community. Our graduates are leaving MCC with knowledge, skills, and abilities that will benefit all of us. As they turn their tassels, they are claiming their futures and making ours brighter, stronger, better. 

In a season of commencement speeches, one has stood out for me this year (well, at least until Shawn Dunwoody’s next weekend, then it will be two). This speech belongs to Sharad Sagar, a member of Tufts University’s class of 2016. Mr. Sagar’s family history in India mirrors that of many of our students here in Rochester: frequent moves, the loss of his mother at an early age, few financial resources. From these difficult beginnings grew enormous success, a brother graduated from MIT, a sister from Columbia, and now Mr. Sagar’s own achievement.

His speech is well-worth reading in full. It will convince you that our future is in good hands: the hands of young (and not so young) people who are creative, thoughtful, fearless, smart, and dedicated. People who are willing to push boundaries and barriers and raise expectations for themselves and others. Here is one passage:

Very often we sit back thinking good things will happen, knowing that good things take time and hoping that someone else will do it. The world needs you, Class of 2016. Change needs you. Change needs people who are willing to invest themselves and their time and their energy and all that they can in making it happen. And, remember, if we don’t quit; if we choose to walk the more difficult path; if we refuse to give up, no matter how long the road or how steep the climb; we will make change happen. So, my first message to you is that “the world needs you!” Change needs you.



And, as we do that, let’s be grateful to all those came in before us. After all, we stand here today owing a debt to each one of them. Grateful to all those men and women, young and old alike, who paved the path forward for us, brick by brick.


Since reading Mr. Sagar’s speech, I have been reflecting on how I see his passion in our students, students who do not quit, who continue to walk the more difficult path, working to make change happen in themselves, their families, their neighborhoods, their community … and in us. Every day, they remind us why we are here, why MCC is here.

Thank you for helping to pave our students’ way, each step, from their first day at MCC to their last moment of celebration at commencement. They needed you and you were there. In turn, our graduates’ education will help them build the road forward for all of us. We need them and they will be there.

Congratulations, class of 2016!

Please share a story of an MCC student you know who persevered and plans to receive his or her degree and/or certificate this Saturday on the blog.

Anne M. Kress
Office of the President
06/01/2016