College commencement full of energy
June 19, 2009
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U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu encouraged Cincinnati State graduates to follow their dreams – and do their part to help the planet – as they go out into the world.
“Deeply rooted in all cultures is a sense of generational responsibility,’’ said Dr. Chu, a co-winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Physics.
And one of the big responsibilities that this generation faces, he said, is using energy wisely and taking other steps to help combat global warming.
“Beyond any reasonable doubt, the climate is changing,’’ Chu said, noting studies which show there is at least a 50-50 chance that average global temperatures will rise by as much as 9 degrees by the end of the century. That, he said, will lead to more severe weather in the Midwest, notably periods of heavy rain and flooding followed by summers with periods of severe drought.
“We have two choices," Chu asserted. "We can close our eyes and pretend it isn't happening, or we can realize the new reality and seize the opportunity.’’
That opportunity, he said, includes a new industrial revolution built around green energy. The trick, he told the audience, is to learn the skill that hockey great Wayne Gretzky mastered -- skate to where the puck is going instead of focusing on where it happens to be at the moment.
Dr. Chu, who among other things helped develop the use of lasers to trap individual atoms, also offered personal advice to the fledgling graduates. In a remarkably warm address, he extolled the virtues of simply being nice, calling to mind Jimmy Stewart’s character Elwood P. Dowd in the famous 1950 film, “Harvey.’’
Cincinnati State awarded more than 1,300 degrees Thursday. As Cincinnati State President John Henderson noted:
• The youngest graduate was 19, the oldest, 64.
• One graduate first enrolled at Cincinnati State in 1975.
• While 41 percent of the graduating class was under 25 years old, fully 14 percent were age 40 or above.
• Three percent of graduating students were military veterans.
• 28 nations were represented by students in the graduating class.
• Seven percent of the graduates came to Cincinnati State after earning a GED.
“It really doesn’t matter where you begin,’’ Dr. Henderson said. “It’s where you end that counts.’’
Among those singled out for special recognition during the ceremony were faculty members Meg Clark and Larry Feist (who was also presented the Distinguished Alumnus Award) and graduating student Colin Vogt, who holds a master’s degree in computer engineering but came to Cincinnati State for an associate’s degree because of its renewable energy program.
The opening prayer and meditation was offered by Fr. Antonios Wahba, pastor of St. George Coptic Orthodox Church in Port-Said, Egypt. He is the father of a graduating student, John Wahba.
The ceremony ended on a high note – a succession of them, actually – as Cincinnati State staff member Marcia Caulton performed “I Hope You Dance.’’
And that was Dr. Henderson’s call to his graduates: “Dance out of this place and make us proud.’’
