By Tom Ganser
Correspondent
Kachel Fieldhouse was the site for the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater mid-year commencement ceremony Dec. 14.
Chancellor Richard J. Telfer, a faculty member of UW-W and a resident of Whitewater for almost 30 years, began his remarks by telling the graduates: “The lessons you’ve learned here have equipped you to tackle the many opportunities you will face in life.”
Telfer noted that although most of the graduates (741 bachelor’s degree and 91 master’s degree) come from an area within 80 miles of Whitewater, diversity is still evident among them since 30 of the students are military veterans, 95 of the graduates are considered non-traditional students, 54 graduates took advantage of services offered through the Center for Students with Disabilities and 26 are from countries outside the United States.
He also pointed out the 76 undergraduate students qualified to graduate cum laude (grade point average over 3.4), 93 magna cum laude (GPA over 3.6) and 42 summa cum laude (GPA over 3.85).
“I’m sure that most graduating students have somewhat mixed feelings about leaving UW-Whitewater,” Telfer said. “They have enjoyed their time at this institution and in the Whitewater community. At the same time graduates also recognize that it is time to move on. It is time for them to use their education and to continue to give of themselves in everything they do — while remembering that UW-Whitewater has played and will always play a prominent role in their lives.”
Michael S. Mifflin was the student speaker. Hailing from Sun Prairie, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of Arts and Communication in a major that combined his interests in media arts and game development.
Despite a rough first semester that landed him on academic probation as a freshman, Mifflin successfully rebuilt his grade point average while embracing the rewards of being involved in campus. He was a resident assistant, a Warhawk Ambassador, a member of the Hawk Squad and the German club, president of the Association of Resident Assistants, vice president of the National Residence Hall Honorary and a member of Rho Alpha Sigma, the national honor society of resident assistants.
Despite a wide variety of experiences during their years at UW-W, Mifflin said that all of the graduates gathered are now looking to the future, and “seeing the future is easier than we all think.”
“If you envision yourself doing what you want to do, if you work hard at whatever it is you enjoy, if you work towards accomplishing your goals and don’t let failure hold you down, don’t let people tell you that you can’t do it or that you won’t be good at it: if you pursue your vision of excellence and never give up, you can already see the future,” Mifflin said.
“We don’t need super powers to achieve this,” he added. “We don’t need a spider bite, a magic ring or to be born a superman to do any of this.”
Mifflin put a high value on the UW-W college experience since it meant being “forced to meet people that were different than us, thought differently than us, dreamed differently from us.”
“We have chosen the lives we are about to lead because we are free thinkers,” Mifflin concluded. “A college education is so much more than a degree. It is a showing of an education both in and out of the classroom.”
Margaret Farrow, a member of the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents, Wisconsin’s first female lieutenant governor and a former schoolteacher was the featured speaker. She began her remarks saying that the opportunity to address the graduates was her “Christmas present.”
While joining in their justifiable celebration of the day, Farrow told the students: “Think about what you will do tomorrow, maybe more so Monday, because that’s when you begin the rest of your life. That’s when you continue to not live a different way, but to continue to learn as you learned here.”
Farrow stressed the importance of lifelong learning in both formal and informal ways. “You’re going to continue to grow if you keep your ears and eyes open and the brain working well.”
“If you don’t, get a shovel, dig a hole and climb in it,” she added.
In preparing her remarks, Farrow said she had asked several CEOs for advice to share with the graduates.
“You’re going to be doing whatever you’re doing for a long time, so make sure you enjoy doing it and that your passionate about it, and if you’re not, you better start looking around the horizon and find something that you can be passionate about,” one CEO said.
Another emphasized loyalty to one’s employer, saying, “Don’t walk out the door when something really good comes along if they already, with you, have developed a whole new ability level that you have. Become part of that family.”
Commitment was another common message Farrow heard, “to yourself, your fellow workers, your fellow career that trotters and to what you’re doing.”
“Don’t let anyone sell you short,” one CEO emphasized to Farrow. “If you think you can do something or you have an idea that you want to create something, don’t let someone take that away from you. Keep your eye on your belief.”
Farrow herself added respect to the list: “Respect yourself and respect everyone that you are coming in contact with.”
She also challenged the graduates to get involved with the processes of democracy.
“I want you to understand how we as a nation, state, communities govern and get our act done. Our government is not a spectator sport and you sit on the sidelines and say, ‘Let somebody else find the answers. Let somebody else solve the problems. Let somebody else do it,’” Farrow told the graduates.
Additionally, she highlighted the importance of getting involved in the political process as an elected official close to home. “That’s how you get government officials who know they’re working for their neighbors [and] they’re spending their neighbor’s money,” and who have the opportunity to “meet them in the grocery store and hear really, really quick feedback,” Farrow said.
Ending with her hope that most of the graduates will continue to live in Wisconsin, Farrow’s final piece of advice to the graduates was this: “Be a good citizen, be a good professional, vote, and be someone else’s hero as you mentor others. Have them look to you because of the way you live your adult side of life.”
