Disciples colleges and universities recently held graduation ceremonies and a number featured well-known speakers giving the commencement address.
Tougaloo College hosted New York Times bestselling author and civil and human rights advocate Stacey Abrams. Abrams, who grew up in Mississippi and who’s parents graduated from Tougaloo, shared that “My parents were part of the civil rights movement. They would tell us stories about the safe haven they found in this magical place, with its trees and its history and its lessons learned.” Abrams told graduates that when she decided to run for governor of Georgia in 2018, there were many, even friends, who doubted her. They told her she was smart enough to do the job but said that no African American women had ever been governor of a state in US history. But Abrams persevered and encouraged graduates, saying “You cannot edit your desires. You are not allowed to limit what you believe you can achieve. The world is waiting for you to come and we need your help to make this world right-side up.”
Chapman University hosted Matt and Ross Duffer, Chapman alumni (’07) who created the Netflix hit “Stranger Things.” The Duffer Brothers shared that while people may look at the brothers’ success now and think it was easy, it was a difficult and long road. Using examples from film, they asked, “Would Luke Skywalker have become Luke Skywalker if he wasn’t pulled into the Death Star? Would Neo have become Neo if Morpheus wasn’t kidnapped? There is no movie without obstacles and the same is true of your life.” They went on to tell graduates, “Don’t hide form your failures, don’t run from the obstacles. Confront them head on, learn from them and blow up the Death Star.”
The University of Lynchburg heard from Kathrine Switzer, the first women to officially run the Boston Marathon. She attended what was then Lynchburg College 53 years ago, playing field hockey, lacrosse and basketball. While there was not a women’s track team at the time, then men’s track coach Aubrey Moon asked her to run in a meet. After transferring to Syracuse, she went on to run full marathons and decided, with the encouragement of a coach, to officially enter the Boston Marathon: “Other women were not in the race or didn’t undertake difficult or adventurous things because they were afraid. They were afraid of all those old myths that limited them.” However, she also shared that that “I wasn’t special. I had an opportunity. Talent is everywhere. It only needs an opportunity.”
At Barton College, graduates heard from the Reverend Canon Nontombi Naomi Tutu, Missioner for Racial and Economic Equity at the Cathedral of All Souls in Ashville, NC. The daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Rev. Tutu said that “Our world desperately needs changing. We live in a time when many live in fear, when many live in the margins of our society, when there seems to be more that separates us than brings us together. Therefore, we need people who dream big, who see a different world, who believe that our world can indeed be a better place.” She noted, however, that “To do that, you must believe you have the ability to change the world. Even if not the entire world then at least the world of another person. And to do these things you must have compassion for the world and you must have compassion for yourself.”
Jarvis Christian College hosted Donna Brazile, the first African American women to lead a mainstream presidential campaign and former chair of the Democratic National Committee. Brazile shared that in the current political and social climate, graduates must be willing to speak truth to power: “You can’t sit down and get anything. You’ve got to step up and sometimes you can’t wait for somebody to call. You’ve just got to be there because you know you should be there.” Brazile also encouraged graduates to take responsibility as leaders because “You soon will be in charge. Whether it’s as a national leader, a small-business owner or as a neighborhood leader, the responsibility for what happens next will be yours.”
HELM congratulates all the graduates from the fifteen Disciples related colleges and universities and looks forward to seeing the gifts you bring and the changes you make in our communities and world.