Graduation - May 02, 2009

My family and I drove down to Cedar City/ St. George for my graduation from Southern Utah University. It was a little weird to step foot on campus for the first time on my graduation day. I was fortunate to do a cohort where the teachers came or already worked here in Salt Lake. I still have two classes this July and then I am officailly done!

Main commencement ceremony - I am in this picture somewhere. We were the 110 class to graduate from the school.

Changing of the tassels.

Jimmie F. Jones was given an honorary doctrate of fine arts. He is an amazing landscape artist.

Thomas S. Monson gave the commencement address.

He said there is no map or guide that shows each superhighway, every fork and turning in the road, the washed-out bridge or the blocked mountain pass. "Yet, if we listen carefully, we seem to hear the voices of those who have walked this way before. They speak as one. Their message? The past is behind; learn from it. The future is ahead; prepare for it. The present is here; live in it."

The past is behind; learn from it. He noted that youth sometimes frown on the possibility of learning from the past, but he pointed out that the roads they "travel so briskly lead out of dim antiquity…. When one fails to learn from the lessons of the past, he is doomed to repeat the same mistakes and suffer their attendant consequences."

The future is ahead; prepare for it. President Monson commented on the astounding rate at which the world is advancing. "Our challenge is to advance with it. To do so, we had better take time to be informed, or time will leave us behind."

The person who quits learning upon leaving the university is giving in to an idea of limited usefulness, limited satisfaction and limited happiness, he said.

"Oliver Wendell Holmes decided to take up the study of Greek at the age of 94. When asked by a friend why he had decided to do so this late in life, he replied: 'Why, my good sir, it's now or never!'?"

The present is here; live in it. "This is an age when man moves toward solving the mysteries of the highest heavens and of the deepest oceans. In our lifetime man has made greater strides in science, in physics, in medicine and in engineering than did all his forebears in countless generations of struggle up the ladder of civilization.

"Ahead is the open road. Those who walk it successfully ignore irrelevant distractions and refrain from activities that do not contribute to attainment of their purpose. They disregard the billboards designed to divert them into this or that blind alley of ease and pleasure. They stand on their own feet, set their own goals, and win their own victories.

"Not to be overlooked is your commitment to that which you pursue, as well as your regard for those with whom you will associate."

He quoted Will Rogers, humorist and social commentator: "If you want to live a happy, successful and fulfilling life, you must learn to love people and use things — never to use people and love things.'"

President Monson's challenge to the graduating class members is found in the lyrics of a Broadway song:

To dream the impossible dream;
To fight the unbeatable foe;
To bear with unbearable sorrow,
To run where the brave dare not go.
To right the unrightable wrong;
To love, pure and chaste, from afar;
To try, when your arms are too weary,
To reach the unreachable star ("Man of La Mancha").
"Like the stars of the heavens are the ideals of your life — you can't touch them with your hands, but by following them you will reach your destination."

Valuable message for SUU graduates

Waiting to be hooded.

Jordan Cohort III

Stacey and I

I would not have made it through the program wihtout these ladies, Zelda, Karen, and Cindy.