Four commencement speeches in four lines
Michelle Rhee at St. Rose's commencement. Apparently her daughters are not very good at soccer, but they still get trophies. This bothers her.
Commencement was this past weekend for the College of St. Rose, the University at Albany, Siena College, and the Sage Colleges. Here are four of the commencement speeches in four lines (or so):
St. Rose: former DC schools chancellor Michelle Rhee
"We should be striving always to be better or we will never be better. Our country needs to regain its competitive spirit." [St. Rose press release]
UAlbany: alumnus, and Wicked author, Gregory Maguire
"Stories start right out with action. Your story starts today. What will you imagine?" [TU]
Siena: Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
In referring to George Bernard Shaw's remark that youth is wasted on the young: "Please prove Mr. Shaw to be wrong. You are ready for the world now and the world certainly is ready for you, and needs you." [Troy Record]
Sage Colleges: LouAnne Johnson, the teacher and author whose book became the movie Dangerous Minds
While doing an impression of the main character in her book Muchacho: "You don't get the life you got because of being lucky, or poor, or Mexican. You get it because of the way you think about yourself. Because you think you're a loser, you're going to be a loser. If you think you're going to be a success, you gotta set your intention. Like I used to be afraid of being an intellectual because I thought was going to get my ass kicked all the time. But then I figured that's only in school. When you get out of school, people don't kick your ass for being smart -- they give you money." [Sage Colleges video]
Commencements coming up: Skidmore (May 21), RPI (May 28 [corrected]), and Union (June 12).
photo via the College of St. Rose
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Comments
RPI's graduation is being held on Memorial Day weekend the 28th. This is a very convenient way to enjoy one's "long" weekend...
... said -R. on May 16, 2011 at 1:32 PM | link
RPI's commencement is May 28th.
... said Amy on May 16, 2011 at 1:35 PM | link
I think, you're actually a weekend ahead of yourselves for RPI. They graduate the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend (May 28).
... said Cassie on May 16, 2011 at 1:38 PM | link
I was imagining being dry at the UAlbany graduation... being a photographer does have it's rewards, but there are also some tradeoffs... I was cold and wet, but had a great time! =D
... said Andy on May 16, 2011 at 7:00 PM | link
When Michelle Rhee said, "Our country needs to regain its competitive spirit," she must have been referring to the test answers in her DC schools mysteriously being erased and corrected after-the-fact so the students would pass.
... said upstater on May 16, 2011 at 9:54 PM | link
I agree with Rhee on the soccer trophies. This practice has produced young people who think they should pass because they "tried".
... said jb on May 18, 2011 at 6:40 PM | link