Find your calling, or at least, let it find you: My commencement address

The following is the text of the commencement address I delivered on July 22, 2023, at the 196th Ball State University Commencement.

Find your calling, or at least, let it find you

Thank you, President Mearns. It is a bit intimidating for me to stand before you this morning and have all of you—well, some of you—listening to what I have to say. I’m accustomed to being in a classroom where I have 20 to 30 learners, not an arena full of university trustees, President, Provost, college deans, faculty, graduates, and their family and friends. And even in the classroom, I seldom lecture, preferring to use flipped learning and lead discussions. Nonetheless, I am humbled to be here this morning.

So, having no idea what I should talk about, I turned to the Internet. I asked Twitter for wrong answers only, what I should talk about. My two favorites were these:

“Go make lots of money and donate to the university. You owe us for your success.”

And the other one, which perhaps will come true. We’ll see.

“Graduation speeches are given because of the belief that students must be properly sedated before being sent on their way.”

You can let me know how I did at the end. Neither one of those seemed like good paths to follow. So instead, I have two stories to tell you this morning. To start, I’ll read the first few lines of a story written by Theodor Seuss Geisel, more commonly known as Dr. Seuss. These words come from his book titled “Oh, the places you’ll go!”

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself

any direction you choose.

You're on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.

About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."

With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,

you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

His story then goes on to describe times when things don’t go the way you expect or want. It is during those times you need to push forward and believe in yourself. Here’s another story of an individual that fits well with Dr. Suess’ story and has Ball State connections.

Once upon a time in 1957—way back last century!, a child was born in Muncie and was raised by a loving family that had enough money to live, but not any extra. Both of his parents were first-generation college students, who graduated from Ball State. After graduation, his father worked for the Boy Scouts, and his mother initially worked in clerical accounting roles, and later, spent six years attending seminary part time, while she continued to work. She’s served in a various ministerial roles since.

While he was in first grade, the family moved to Kokomo, and three years later, moved to the western suburbs of Chicago. He graduated from high school in 1975, taking the usual compliment of academic courses and played clarinet in the band. One course worth mentioning here: Computer Programming.

He attended Manchester University in North Manchester, Indiana (at that time it was Manchester College) with no major in mind, but ultimately chose Social Work, after a few semesters. Because he enjoyed it in high school, he kept taking the occasional computer class to fill out his course schedule. He graduated in the spring of 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in social work, and an associate’s degree in computer applications.

Soon after graduation, the opportunity presented itself to interview for a computer programming position, and he started his first professional job on July 1, back here in Muncie. While working, he experienced transitions from punched cards, to computer terminals, to PCs, to networks, and ultimately, the web. He enjoyed his employment with that company for 28 years, starting as a computer programmer, and leaving as the Information Services Manager. However, his departure was not voluntary, but rather was due to his position being abruptly and unexpectedly eliminated in October 2007.

Storm clouds often arrive and darken the landscape. Some pass through quickly, while others seem to linger forever. Rather than focusing on the darkness, the old adage goes, you should look for the silver lining. After a few months of job and soul searching, he decided to go back to school. In January 2008, he started work on a Computer Science master’s degree—at the age of 50!

God was watching over him, as within a week's time, he applied to graduate school, was admitted, and was offered a graduate assistantship that provided tuition remission and a modest stipend—both of which were direly needed. He was definitely the oldest learner in his classes, and often, older than his professors. He hoped to make himself more employable and find a job after graduation.

 

Having worked in industry for nearly three decades meant that, although he had continued to learn, the current state of computer science had moved quicker than he had. He discovered that they were using computer programming languages that didn't even exist when he graduated in 1979.

Midway through his graduate coursework, he came to realize that he enjoyed teaching. Some of his professors noticed that. As he was completing his master’s degree in the spring of 2010, the opportunity to interview for a full-time college teaching position presented itself. Despite his enjoyment of working in industry, he found teaching even more enjoyable.

Oh, the places he’d go! Because of his new path, he has traveled to Denmark, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and a variety of US cities. He has presented papers internationally and locally. He has published in journals and books. 

But one of the biggest journeys on which he embarked, and the one which has brought him the most joy and fulfilment, is having the privilege of helping thousands of learners further their knowledge and understanding of computer science, themselves, and the world.

I think he found the silver lining.

He has not been on this journey alone, however. He had the support of family and other faculty. He constantly availed himself of new learning opportunities, whether that was formal training, or simple conversations. He learned along the way to carefully choose what you do and who you do it with. You’ll never do much better than those around you. He thinks it’s better to be a humble second fiddle player, because that means you have something to strive for and pushes you to be better.

He also learned to carefully choose his words. As a result of a sarcastic social media post he made on January 1, 2022, about having walked every day that year, he has, in fact, walked at least 20 minutes—usually much more—every day since. Yesterday was day number 567 in a row, and he’s walked over 3400 miles in that time. That’s roughly equivalent to walking from Miami, Florida to Seattle, Washington. Repeatedly doing something turned into a habit.

Due to the efforts of many very supportive people with whom he worked, he has been nominated for and received a variety of awards and recognitions over the years, one recent being the Ball State University Outstanding Faculty Award. What he did not know, until after receiving the award last fall, was that the recipient of that award is traditionally the speaker at the next summer commencement.

Yes, this story has been about me, in case it was not obvious. You’ve been listening to me tell stories for the last few minutes because others believed in me and supported me. I firmly believe there are many other professors who are just as deserving, and perhaps more so than I, they just need to be nominated.

OK students, if you’ve not been taking notes, now’s the time to get out the pencil and paper. Here are the six take-aways from my story:

1. Look for the silver linings and be ready to act.
2. Be willing to change course if your current circumstances are not fulfilling. You’ll never see new landscapes if you travel the same road all the time.
3. Be present and attentive, and things tend to work out. Be someone you are not, and you’ll miss out on the full expression of yourself. 
4. Be supportive of those around you.
5. Find your calling, or at least, let it find you. Become good at it.
6. Be humble. 

And now, I’ll close with the end of Dr. Seuss’ story that I opened with.

You'll get mixed up, of course,

as you already know.

You'll get mixed up

with many strange birds as you go.

So be sure when you step.

Step with care and great tact

and remember that Life's

a Great Balancing Act.

Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.

And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?

Yes! You will, indeed!

(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...

be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray

or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,

You're off to Great Places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting.

So... get on your way!

And, with apologies to Dr. Seuss, I add a few lines of my own:

Set a course for yourself on old and new roads,

And life will take you to places untold.

Watch for the linings of silver in clouds,

And opportunities don’t miss because you’re too proud.

And never forget to be dexterous and clever

Because Cardinals Fly in every endeavor.

Be humble and supportive of those around you,

And find your calling—or at least, let it find you!

Cardinals, it is time to fly!

Video of my address

If you'd like to watch a video of my address, here you go!

Image credit: Jennifer Coy

Ten years after having a dark storm cloud arrive on my scene

Storm clouds often arrive and darken the landscape. Some pass through quickly, while others seem to linger forever. Rather than focusing on the darkness, the old adage goes, you need to look for the silver lining. A dark storm cloud arrived on my horizon ten years ago this morning, seemingly with no silver lining.

At roughly 7:30 AM on Wednesday, October 3, 2007, my world was turned upside down, or at least turned sideways. It was then that I was invited into the company president's office and told that my position was being eliminated, and my services would no longer be required by the company, effective immediately. I was not a terribly happy camper at this point. In hindsight, I should have seen it coming, but I had not been looking for it, so it came as a surprise. A surprise for which I was not prepared.

To put this into perspective, I had worked for this company since July 1, 1979--nearly three decades. To further put this in perspective, except for a couple high school jobs, this position was my first and only professional job for which I had ever interviewed. For the next three months, I learned what it meant to be unemployed, and daily looking for work.

The many job applications led to a few interviews, but either the companies weren't interested in me, or I wasn't interested in the position, after learning more about it. One week led to another, and I found myself waking up early on a Wednesday morning between Christmas and New Years, and not being able to go back to sleep.

For years, I had thought about earning a master's degree, but never acted on it.  After three months, and still not having a paying position, the prospect of returning to school came to the forefront. Early on that Wednesday morning, I filled out the online application for graduate school at Ball State University (BSU), and waited to push the submit button. Around 7:30 AM my wife arose and I asked her what she thought of me applying. After a brief conversation, we agreed that we'd make it work, and figure out how to pay for it somehow. I pushed the submit button, not really knowing what was coming next.

By 10:30 that Wednesday morning, I had an email from the BSU Computer Science Department chair indicating that if I could complete the graduate school application process by the end of the day Friday (classes started the next Monday!), he had an empty graduate assistantship he could offer me. A big part of the "how will we pay for this" question was just answered. At 5:15 PM on Friday, the last pieces fell into place, and I was officially a graduate student.

Officially a graduate student, and being ready for classes to start Monday are two different things.  Monday morning I met with a faculty member to figure out in what classes I should enroll. Having worked in industry for nearly thirty years meant that, although I had continued to learn, the current state of computer science had moved quicker than I had. I had a bit of catching up to do, to have the same knowledge as students graduating with a bachelor's degree. They were using computer programming languages that didn't even exist when I graduated with my Bachelor's degree in 1979. Soon, that all got sorted out, I registered for classes, and thus started my graduate school journey.

Jumping ahead in the story a bit, in May 2010, I graduated from BSU with a Master's of Science degree in Computer Science. Oh, I jumped a bit too far... A few month's before, a new contract faculty position in the BSU Computer Science Department was posted. I applied, and was selected to fill this position, starting in the fall of 2010. I was officially a college professor, and have been since!

So where has my journey taken me? The answer includes a lot of places I may not have traveled were it not for my dark storm cloud arriving ten years ago. I have physically traveled to Denmark, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and a variety of USA cities. I have presented papers internationally and locally. I have been published in journals and books. But one of the biggest journeys on which I have embarked since graduating in 2010, and the one which has brought me so much joy and satisfaction, is having the privilege of helping thousands of college students further their knowledge of computer science, themselves, and the world.

I think I have found the silver lining.