“Don’t get stuck in one place. Stand on the rim of the Grand Canyon and go to Yellowstone and Yosemite. After all, you own them. Whatever you do, walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, listen to jazz music, the only art form created by America. Read. The book is still the greatest man-made machine of all time. Write. Keep journals. Besides your children, there is no surer way to keep a practical sort of immortality.” —Ken Burns, at Monday’s Commencement (Photo by Gary Gilbert)
Commencement 2009: ‘When It Rains, Share Your Umbrella’
Burns tells grads: Look to past for lessons on preparing for future’s challenges
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Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns urged the Class of 2009 to look to the past to become better people today and to improve society for the future.“Do not forget to help, no, serve those less fortunate,” Burns said. “When it rains, share your umbrella.”
It was an appropriate message to the thousands of students, family and friends gathered to celebrate the Class of 2009 at the 133rd Commencement Exercises in Alumni Stadium. Graduates huddled under umbrellas and beneath blankets as rain fell intermittently throughout the ceremony.
But dreary weather did not dampen the spirits of the Class of 2009, especially Carroll School of Management grad Michael Hepburn, who donned a florescent orange construction hard-hat with his black gown and posed for pictures with a cigar in hand. Hepburn sat next to his more traditionally dressed brother and BC soccer player, Stephen, also receiving his degree from CSOM that day.
“I got (the hat) at Game Day freshman year, four years ago, and have worn it to every one of my brother’s soccer games since. It seemed fitting to wear today too,” said Michael Hepburn.
The Hepburns were among almost 3,400 undergraduate and graduate students who received their diplomas Monday. University President William P. Leahy, SJ, presented honorary degrees to Burns, Margot C. Connell, Joseph E. Corcoran, Rev. Daniel J. Harrington, SJ, Carolyn A. Lynch and Benaree Pratt Wiley.
In his remarks to the graduates, Fr. Leahy said he was confident that God would be with them and sustain them as they journey to life beyond the Heights.
“I think of an Old Testament passage from the book of the Prophet Jeremiah, which proclaims, ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘Plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, says the Lord.’ Those words apply to us in our day as well,” said Fr. Leahy.
Burns — whose “The Civil War” was the highest-rated series in American public television history — said that while today’s grads are setting forth at a time of great uncertainty in the nation and the world, “history, I have learned over 30 years of practice, is the greatest teacher there is,” he said.
“As you pursue your goals in life...pursue your past,” Burns said to the graduating class. “Let it be your guide. Insist on having a past and then you will have a future. Don’t confuse success with excellence. The poet Robert Penn Warren once informed me that careerism is death. Replace cynicism with its age-old corrective: skepticism.
“Travel. Don’t get stuck in one place. Stand on the rim of the Grand Canyon and go to Yellowstone and Yosemite. After all, you own them. Whatever you do, walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, listen to jazz music, the only art form created by America,” said Burns. “Read. The book is still the greatest man-made machine of all time. Write. Keep journals. Besides your children, there is no surer way to keep a practical sort of immortality.
“Serve your country. Insist that we fight the right wars. Governments always forget that. Insist that we support the sciences and the arts, especially the arts. They have nothing to do with the defense of the country, they just make the country worth defending,” Burns said.
Connell School of Nursing student Lauren Fadely was recognized as the Edward H. Finnegan, SJ, Memorial Award winner, BC’s top Commencement honor.
Alumni Association President Thomas Flannery welcomed the Class of 2009 to a network of more than 152,000 BC alumni throughout the world.
“We trust that your Jesuit education at Boston College has prepared you intellectually and spiritually to indeed ever to excel and to truly be a person for others who will use their influence for good in all their future endeavors,” said Flannery.
The University Chorale concluded the University ceremony with renditions of “Alma Mater” and “For Boston” before graduates collected their diplomas from their individual school ceremonies.
Melissa Beecher can be reached at melissa.beecher@bc.edu