8/12/2019 Cascadia Graduation Speech –

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/cascadia-graduation-speech- 1/2

C a s c a d i a G r a d u a t i o n S p e e c h –   2 0 1 3

So when I sat down to write this speech I had every intention of wowing you all

with my inspiration and wit. I wanted to “Kid President’ this moment with music

and emotional cadences; Pertinently inserted quotes from cultural icons and Poet

Laureates. I wanted to give that Seussian rally cry; “You have brains in your heads;

You have feet in your shoes; You can steer yourself any direction you choose” … I

wanted to wow with inspiration and wit, but what I realized as I began to write is

that “wows” often fade into wetland echoes and wit without substance is always

fleeting.

I wanted to write to you about “Oh the Places You’ll Go” and sudde nly realized that

I don’t care. 

It’s not that I don’t care about you, where you will end up, but as I sit and reflect on

my hopes and desires for each and every one of my students and the larger

Cascadian student body, I think that the “Places You’ll Go” is a tertiary byproduct of

the “Things You Will Do” and the “Person You Will Be”.  

In sociology we often exhort the act of being engaged and active members of your

world rather than passive voyeurs of an automated social system. We parrot the

phrase, “with great power comes great responsibility” and like Uncle Ben hope that

we remain as a haunting voice in the memories of all our students. Each student

here today has truly been given access to that great power called ‘knowledge’ and

just like Spiderman … knowledge is really sticky.

Knowledge is that thoroughly chewed Bubbalicious on the bottom of your shoe that

forces you to slow down and be aware of your world and the people in it.

Knowledge is that McGyver mastered Duct Tape allowing you to take what simply

“is” and transform it into the unending possibilities of what “could be”.  

Yes, Knowledge is very sticky. Once you come in contact with it, you can’t easily

shake it away. But there is a catch …  Once that viscid substance called knowledge

sets roots in the things you do, it will inevitably sprout the stems of something

much more demanding - Transformation.

8/12/2019 Cascadia Graduation Speech –

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Like the spider venom coursing through the young photojournalist, or the gama-

rays through the Hulkish scientist – with knowledge we are called to transform.

Like the sobering cries of the discarded and oppressed piercing through our

comfort and contentment – with knowledge we are called to transform.

Like the rhythmic coins beating out SOS as I leisurely stroll down Broadway and

Pine – with knowledge we are called to transform.

You see, knowledge, by its insatiable nature, is not content to simply hang from you

like an Alphabet magnet set; it wants to mold and mix, intermingle and transform.

So that you aren’t just trained to do the actions of teachers and scientists, and

doctors, and lawyers, and mathematicians, and artists, and authors, and parents,

and business owners, and counselors, and nurse, and managers, and Senators, and

social workers, and administrators, and sociologists … but rather our ultimate

desire for you here at Cascadia is that you are trained, yes, but more so that you are

nurtured into “being” and “becoming” so that the things you do directly stem from

the person you are.

We desire this because all of your instructors and counselors and administrators

here at Cascadia know that whether you’re just  a small town girl, living in a lonely

world, or sauntering along one of those ‘roads less traveled’ , we know that you are

desperately needed. From your time here at Cascadia to your time in the

workplace, at home, in your communities and for some, even more education, we

know that the person you ’ve become here at Cascadia is desperately needed.

Lean into the knowledge and transformation of your education and I promise you,

you will marvel at the things you’ll be able to do.  

Because, when the knowledge you’ve gained shapes the things that you do, then the

person you become can’t help but change the place you’ll go … and Oh the Places

You Will Go!

Congratulations Cascadian graduates!