The Commencement Address That I Never Had

In honor of my sister finally become respectable and earning her B.A. degree from the University of Oregon, I felt inspired to write a graduation speech that I would give to graduates today were there anyone to ask me to do so. Part of what inspired me to do this is because her graduation speaker, an editorial writer for The Oregonian who is an alumnus of Oregon (go Ducks), gave a pretty good speech that was also relatively short. I also still feel cheated that we did not have a graduation speaker when I graduated from Cal Poly 20 years ago (John Madden was rumored but alas this was just a rumor – we ended up with just the university president boring us all), and thanks to Alaska Airlines I had an longer than expected flight up to Oregon and I needed to keep myself occupied while sitting in the Sacramento airport waiting for my unplanned connecting flight to Portland.

"First I want to of course offer up my congratulations to you, the graduating class of 2009, and to everyone who helped you achieve the goal that we are here today to celebrate.

"Usually these speeches are intended to provide you with a glimpse into the future, the quote real world, and to give you words of inspiration as you set off into this world. Well, this isn't going to be one of those speeches, because let’s face it, the real world kind of sucks right now. I would guess that most of you know this already, probably better than I do, so there is no use going on with false platitudes about how there are a lot of opportunities out there for you because, well, there aren't a lot of opportunities out there for anybody. Instead, I hope to provide you with some advice on how to proceed from here. Hopefully this advice will one day be useful to you, or at least will not put you to sleep.

"Some of you may not care to hear any words of advice from me. You already know what you’ll be doing tomorrow and next week and beyond. All of your plans are set and you are ready to go. To you I can only say good luck and god speed, with the knowledge that most of the graduates who feel this way are skipping this ceremony and have probably already left campus for good such that I don’t need to worry about finding something witty or profound to say to them.

"No, my advice is for those of you who are not sure what you’ll be doing tomorrow or next week or beyond. Maybe you have a job or a grad school seat lined up, maybe you don’t. I would guess that you are feeling a mixture of emotions right now. Part of you is happy that you are finally done with school and will receive the diploma that you worked so hard the last 2, 3, 4, 5, or even more years to attain. I would bet, though, that part of you is sad to see this day come, because you are about to say goodbye to the world that you have built for yourself here and basically start all over again, and that can be one scary thought.

"If you ever want to know what a ghost town feels like, visit the campus tomorrow. All of the buildings, quads, and sidewalks that just yesterday were teeming with students will be empty. All of the students will be gone, all of the faculty will be back home, all of the buildings will be closed and locked, all of the dorms will be empty, and only the janitors will be around to clean up after the ceremonies. It is kind of eerie and spooky, perhaps even scary, to be surrounded by all that emptiness. It perhaps mirrors the feelings that some of you may have now, the scary emptiness that comes with saying those final goodbyes to your friends, your classmates, your professors, and the campus community that you have called home. You hope that by staying in contact with your friends and professors that you’ll be able to maintain some semblance of the life that you have enjoyed here, but deep down you know that it won’t be the same.

"And now you face the challenge of having to find a new home with new friends, new co-workers, new advisors, and a new life. This could seem daunting, especially with the current economic climate, but it is not as big of a challenge as it might now appear to be. For many of you your college experience was your first time away from home, the first time you got to decide what to eat for dinner or which roommates you lived with or even whether or not you were going to attend classes that day or which party to attend that night. Even if someone else was paying for it you still got to decide, or at least have a say, in how the money was spent. By surviving and perhaps even thriving in this environment you proved that you could make a life for yourself and that you could establish an identity of your own. The survival skills that you learned while being here will also help you establish a new life, a new identity for yourself, when you leave. And these skills are just as important as the technical skills and body of knowledge that you gained in pursuit of the degree that you will be awarded today.

"I would also advice you all to be patient. If you already have a career path laid out for yourself that’s great, but don’t panic if you don’t have any idea what to do. You still have plenty of time to figure that out. I know you hear all these platitudes about living for today and only doing what you want to do for a living, but unless you are very lucky or very crazy this is probably not the live that you will end up leading. Indeed, chances are that the life you will one day have will be very different from the one you now think you will have. It may turn out that you’ll end up in a career that is different from what you studied. I know plenty of people who have successful careers in fields that were not the ones that that they studied in college. That is not to say that your time here would have been wasted. My brother, for example, went to college with the intent on being an athletic trainer, but then signed up for an art class that he liked so much that he turned it into a career. If you are patient and flexible you will eventually be able to establish a career for yourself no matter what condition the economy or the job market is in, and who knows, you might even one day get that dream job where you get paid for doing what you want to do.

"I graduated from college with a degree in architectural engineering, but at the time I didn't really want to be a structural engineer. I did not share the same enthusiasm for structures and buildings that many of my classmates had, and unlike most of them I did not have a job lined up yet when I graduated. So I really did not know if I would be able and willing to last in this profession beyond a few years or so. After 20 years in the business I've come to the conclusion that this was the right profession for me, but it took a long time to come to that realization. I learned that structural engineering was the best combination of what I most wanted to do and what I was best capable of doing. I knew I was good at math but I didn't want to be someone that only calculated a bunch of numbers. I wanted to do something that I could see and show off to my parents, and also something that gave me opportunities to create new and interesting things. However, I also learned that my creative skills had their limits and that I would never be happy doing something that required a skill set that I just did not have. Structural engineering allows me to use my math and logic skills in creative and tangible ways without having to attempt to sketch a work of art. It provides an opportunity to give back to the community in visible ways that, yes, I can show off to my parents. While I still don’t get teary eyed and gushy talking about the latest building by the "it" architect of the day I now have a greater appreciation for the buildings engineered by others because I better understand the challenges that those other engineers faced and overcame, an appreciation that I did not have when I graduated.

"So my parting thoughts to you are this. It is perfectly natural to feel unsure and even a little bit scared about what will happen to you after today. Your life will be different and it will be a challenge to establish a new life for yourself, but the fact that you are standing here today is proof that you have the ability to overcome these challenges and succeed. It may take a while for it to happen, but if you were able to survive college and walk out of here with a degree in your hand then you stand a good chance to surviving life after college and walking onward into a successful career and a successful life. My hope is that this will one day happen for all of you. I wish you all the best. Thank you and good luck."