Washington College President Mitchell B. Reiss opened the 2013 commencement praising graduates for their tolerance and openness to new ideas.
The video is about five minutes.
The full text of Reiss’ commencement address
Good morning.
Welcome family and friends, faculty and staff, honored guests, and especially our graduating seniors, to another beautiful day in Chestertown. This day, graduation day, has to be the most satisfying academic event of the year. Better than the first day of classes. More fun than Convocation. Way better than the day you took your last final.
Now, graduates, we’re going to spend some time this morning celebrating you and your accomplishments. But before we do that, I think we need to acknowledge some very special people who have been instrumental in your success. No, I’m not talking about the folks at Wikipedia.
I am talking about your parents, grandparents, siblings, relatives and other friends who have supported you, financially, emotionally, and in every way possible, during the past few years. Many of them are here today to celebrate this occasion with you.
Graduates, please join me in thanking your families and friends.
And there is another group here today who also deserve to be recognized – your professors. From your GRW course to your Senior Capstone Experience, our superb faculty has advised you, mentored you, challenged you and encouraged you.
They have walked with you these past few years as you have found your intellectual purpose and passion. Graduates, please join me in thanking our faculty.
So graduates. Now what?
Frankly, yours is a generation that perplexes those of us who have come before you. A recent survey suggests that young people today are more “Generation Me” than “Generation We,” more interested in money, fame, and personal satisfaction than in civic engagement and concern for others. You expect more from technology, but less of one another. You have the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship and community.
The immediacy of new media makes your lives remarkably unfiltered, and you have a tendency to over-share. Your instinct is to tell others exactly what you think, and share every detail of your life. And you are confident that other people care, really care, about what you are posting, tweeting and texting.
People my age find this fascinating.
You time shift relentlessly. You want what you want, where and when you want it, and technology delivers it right to your doorstep or computer screen.
This instant gratification is empowering, but it also has some serious downsides. If you download just one song from iTunes’, you can’t appreciate the scope of an artist’s work.
Yours is a generation that has never listened to the B-side of a vinyl record—or in some cases, has even seen a vinyl record.
It can also be lonely and isolating to live in the center of your own universe, an audience of one, plugged in but tuned out, listening only to voices that echo your own opinions and prejudices.
But based on my personal experiences with this generation, and particularly with you, this graduating class, this is far from the whole story. You and your peers seem less beholden to what’s been done in the past, and more interested in what works for you and for others. You are far more tolerant than your elders, and more open to new ideas and new ways of thinking and doing.
You know that you can’t always take things at face value. You know that you can’t look at just one side of an issue. You have to play the B-side.
That’s one of the most important lessons you’ve learned here. These characteristics of an open and inquiring mind are at the core of the liberal arts education we honor today with a diploma.
As undergraduates at Washington College, you’ve been privileged to be part of a special community where the individual matters, but where you’re also lifted up by the collective experience. Here you’ve found a true sense of camaraderie among friends and classmates.
Here, through the alchemy of an exceptional liberal arts education, you have cast your differences into strengths. You have spun apathy into compassion. You have turned self-doubt into confidence.
You have transformed strangers into lifelong friends. Three hundred and twenty-two individuals — all classmates and members of the Class of 2013— can now speak as a powerful chorus of dreamers and doers, inspired by your singular Washington College experience.
This graduating class has been fully forged in a crucible of common experiences and is stronger for it. You’ve enjoyed some amazing “together” moments: welcoming our College mascot, Gus; collaborating in a stellar production of The Tragedy of King Lear; cheering as the men’s lacrosse team beat Salisbury to win the War on the Shore.
You’ve participated in transformative projects for social change, built homes for the disadvantaged and campaigned for global human rights.
You have walked together through the streets—some of you in red high heels— raising awareness for domestic violence. You’ve walked together through the night, raising nearly $150,000 over the past three years for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.
You have run together, danced together, studied together, played together, sung together, performed together, maybe cried together, and certainly laughed together.
Some of that ends today. As it should.
You are ready and, I hope, eager, to begin the next phase of your life.
But rest assured, you will always be a part of the Washington College family. We want to continue to share in your triumphs and victories.
And just as we follow you on your journey, I hope you will keep tabs on us. Watch us as we inspire new generations of talented young men and women to become citizen leaders – as you’ve become.
So, graduates, congratulations.
Wherever your travels may lead, we hope you will circle back
to Chestertown again, and soon.
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