Ceremony
Commencement Address from Sue Maes
- Sue C. Maes
- Watch the commencement address (ram)
It is with warmest regards that I greet you today. I'm honored to extend my congratulations to you. While I would rather personally greet you and shake your hand, I realize that you have completed your degree using virtual learning...thus, I greet you through the virtual world. On behalf of President Kirk Schulz, I wish to say that we are gratified that you chose Kansas State University for your degree attainment using the distance learning opportunities afforded to you by the Division of Continuing Education.
My message is forever simple. Now that you have completed a degree from Kansas State University, whether it is a bachelor's or a master's, whatever pathway your degree allows you to choose, love what you do. Be good at it and command respect and attention for your efforts. I know that you will bring creativity and courage to every field of your endeavors.
Recently I read a commencement address that Doris Kearns Goodwin gave at Dartmouth University. In the address she recalled a seminar she attended by Harvard psychologist Erik Erikson. Quoting Goodwin, “
he taught her that the richest and fullest lives attain an inner balance of work, love and play, in equal order, that to pursue one to the disregard of others is to open oneself to ultimate sadness in older age, whereas to pursue all three with equal dedication is to make possible an old age filled with serenity, peace, and fulfillment.”Obtaining a degree should be used as a stepping-stone to open new job opportunities, while at the same time taking the time to value quality family time and to re-engage with your community and friends. Thus, let your degree attainment only deepen those bonds and ties. Give back to your family and to the world around you.
Challenge yourself to achieve your fullest potential. As Mark Twain wrote: “
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore! Dream! Discover!”
- Commencement Address
- Sue C. Maes, PhD
- Dean
- Division of Continuing Education
- Kansas State University
