Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Earlier this year I went to my daughter’s graduation. Yes, she has been out of High School and College. This was the next step. She received her master’s degree. When she began this process, I was being interviewed by a journalism student and he asked who my hero was. After a short pause, I named her and explained she had begun her program to obtain a graduate degree. I was and am a proud father.

She was motivated to change her career path. This girl who did not want to be in front of the camera in media class in high school has decided to teach media, journalism, drama, English, and/or speech. While obtaining her teaching certificates she has been substitute teaching. She is ready to move into her own classroom next year. If you need a new teacher for any of these subjects, contact me and I will give her your information. Of course, she is the best applicant you could hire.

My other two children have their bachelor’s degrees as well. One has been an elementary teacher for years while our last is a home school educator. I express it that way because she trades off some subjects with other parents. Her degree is in engineering. Teaching is in her DNA.

As usual, we heard a commencement address. It was short and sweet. He told us to time him because he knew it was only seven minutes long. The school slogan is “Shine On.” His comments were based around this theme. As I have for over fifty years, I have been thinking about what I would say if asked to present a commencement address.

I would look at any slogans or mission statement that a particular school used as this speaker did. We highly trained professional speakers have many tricks that we use to make our words as memorable as possible. One that the amateurs miss is to keep it short. When Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg address, he was not the featured speaker. Do you know the name of the other man? Most people have never heard of him.

We want to give the graduates hope and encouragement. We want them to see the occasion as a beginning and not an ending. I would begin with a personal story or joke. Have you heard the one about the graduate who was so proud that she had earned her cap and gown that she wore it every day for the rest of her life and was even buried in it seventy-five years later? Finding a designer to make a wedding dress that fit over it was the difficult part.

Every great talk must have a catchphrase like “Go ahead. Make my day.” “Four score and seven years ago” worked for Lincoln. I think I would use something more like “Give a hoot. Don’t pollute.” Or “Help prevent forest fires. Pee on the campfire before you leave.” Maybe I should use “Live as if someone is writing your story.”

Graduates often do not listen to these commencement addresses. A short time later, my grandsons and her sons graduated from High School. Adulthood is beginning for them. Their speakers were administrators and some of their classmates. I enjoyed those speakers also. The students more than the professional educators.

Life teaches us many lessons. I learned some in school. I have been educated more by the day-to-day life I lead. My three points would be, always use spell check, sometimes color outside the lines, and live your life as if you are writing your own story.

Let me close with this. Your story has not been written, yet. Make it a good one. Thanks, Doc Brown.

©Copyright 2022 by Charles Kensinger