The Pep Band sends off the Class of 2012.
Waiting to enter the MacInnes Student Ice Arena before the ceremony, the grads were given their last exam over the loudspeaker: “You have to line-up two by two.”
April Hintzman was on her way to the Marshfield (Wisconsin) Lab after graduation. The clinical laboratory science major from Menomonie, Wisconsin, was smiling and ready to move on. Brock Dean, a software engineering grad from Marlette, Michigan, was on his way to Dematic in Grand Rapids, a conveyer, sorting, and logistics company.
Civil engineer Dena Andrie, from Traverse City, had three interviews lined up: Payne and Dolan, OHM, and Integrys; the first two are construction and engineering concerns, the third focuses on energy. She had high hopes. Chemical engineering major Tyler Brown from Midland was headed to Monroe, Michigan, and Gerdeau Special Steel, where he’ll start his career as a management associate.
Our youngest attendee was eighteen-day-old Collette Ingram. She was getting fed by dad, Allan, from Cleveland, before getting to their seats and watching his brother (and her uncle) Mark take his oath with fellow Air Force ROTC cadets. Mark was on his way to Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Martha Sullivan ’80 was the commencement speaker and received an honorary doctorate. Her talk focused on the pursuit of possibilities, expanding boundaries, and finding neglected frontiers. She implored the graduates to begin with questions “that would get under your skin,” citing her own beginnings at Texas Instruments and her eventual leadership role with Sensata Technologies, maker of sensors and controls. Next, she said the pursuit must be their own.
She wanted her career to be challenging and full of travel, and recently she had been to Japan, Korea, Malaysia, China, France, Bulgaria, and “the strangest land of all: Hollywood.”
She said that, during rough times, they would encounter a purveyor of the problem and to recall the Janis Joplin song, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” The analytical skills learned at Tech will help them succeed, she said.
Addressing the female grads, she said their biggest obstacle would be self-doubt, “that the guys just hide better,” especially in the work/life balance. “Be all in,” she said. “The treasure is in the pursuit, the thrill of discovery, the experience in the adventure."
And to everyone: “Welcome to the journey.”
Dennis '92 '09
Frank
was up for a little steelhead fishing, and he missed
the run. He was moving on to other species.
After that, my commencement was over. It took all of 10 minutes, but
it was, dare I say, just as rewarding as what everyone up in Houghton
experienced in place of Mind Trekking. I'm happy with the results, anyway.
Jay
Ruohonen '84