Address to the Graduates of 2011

Castlegar, B.C. | April 21, 2011

As prepared for delivery.

Dear graduates, distinguished guests, families, friends, faculty and staff of Selkirk College:

Welcome to Selkirk College; and a special welcome once again to our 2011 graduating class! Please join me in congratulating our amazing 2011 graduates! And welcome also to all the many family and friends of our graduates. We know how supportive you have been while your loved ones have been with us. We consider you now a part of our extended Selkirk family!!

Graduates, today is one of the very important days in the Selkirk College year. It is a day for all of us to celebrate both your tremendous learning accomplishments and to send you on to your next adventures with our very best wishes.

Today is the day that we let you go.

Now, this is not easy for us. You have been the focus of our work these last many weeks, months, and years. We have come to know you, have guided, shared and participated in your learning journey, and stood amazed at your transformation to a skilled, learned, talented, and empowered person.

In preparing for today, I’ve given a lot of thought to the symbolism of letting go.  Recently, during a difficult moment in my family’s life, a friend remarked: “Remember you have but one heart bounded by two arms; so to embrace something new, you must let something go. Choose wisely”.

Graduates, you have chosen wisely; and for you to have accomplished what we are celebrating today, to have learned so many new things, to have changed yourself through learning, you likely had to have let go to embrace something new.

You might have let go of reluctance in order to embrace a stronger belief in yourself; let go of self doubt in order to embrace dreams for a better future for you and your family; and you no doubt have made many sacrifices to let go of one path in order to embrace a new career, trade, or profession.

But in a different sense, you might also have let go of old ways of thinking about our world, how you learn, defend a point of view, and come to inquire and embrace new ideas: perhaps judgment was let go to embrace curiosity, apathy in favour of compassion, omission for inclusion, silence for voice, or entrenchment for forgiveness.  

At Selkirk College, we believe that learning is at the heart of what it means to be a person full of potential. Learning is the means to empowered, effective citizenship and all the syntax, grammar, customs, and fantastic obligations that the term implies. We hope your experiences at Selkirk have taught you that learning is not merely the acquisition of information or the ability to repeat a procedure, but a way of thoughtfully and wisely interacting with the world, with each other, and your community. This is the grand reward and great power of an education.

Human communities rely on a diversity of talented, competent, and engaged people. And learning allows you now to engage differently with your community; whether giving back through the competent practice of your craft, trade, career, discipline or profession; or through volunteerism, participation in our democracy, or simply through deepening your understanding of the challenges facing our world and humankind.

You have chosen wisely. And we at Selkirk College are happy for you!

So today we let you go and wish you well on that most important of journeys, the learning journey. To paraphrase Ghandi: ”Let your life now be your message.”

I will end with the old Scots farewell verse:

Fare thee well dear friend,

But haste ye back,

That we might sit awhile,

And raise a cup,

To thee, and me, and we.

Congratulations graduates and thank you!

~ ANGUS GRAEME