For Holt Class of 2011, the Future Is Now
Commencement keynote speaker Terry Teachout got a hearty laugh when he told the Hamilton Holt School class of 2011 on May 7, “Be proud for all the days of your life, but after lunch, remember that you’ve got to go back to work on Monday.” Teachout—drama critic of The Wall Street Journal, critic-at-large of Commentary, and author of “Sightings,” a biweekly column of the Friday Journal about the arts in America—praised the graduates for their academic accomplishment: “You have done something remarkable; you got a college degree at night.” Acknowledging that most of them had attended Rollins “after putting in a full day’s work, he said, “That tells me everything about you, and it fills me with admiration.” But his message was plainly about the future, which, for the class of 2011, was 48 hours away. “It’s about what to do on Monday morning.”
Promising to reveal to the class what the world wants from them as well as what they should want from the world—aptly using movie scenes and Broadway stories to illustrate his points—Teachout offered them just two tips for living the rest their lives.
One: “Be professional,” he said. “Show up on time, be a good colleague, get the job done, and do it well enough that nobody has to clean up your mess.” In a world hungry for professionalism, the clever folks with the quick answers rarely succeed if they don’t behave professionally, he explained. “Be a professional, and you’ll never have to look for work, at least not for very long.”
Two: “Whatever you end up doing in this life, make sure above all it is interesting,” he advised. Using his father as an example, Teachout spelled out the sobering implications of not choosing a profession carefully or of setting one’s career sights too low: “You’re probably going to spend a third of the rest of your life—eight hours out of 24—working for a living, and if what you do bores you, that means you’re going to spend a third of the rest of your life being bored.”
In closing, Teachout again congratulated the class of 2011 for their “truly remarkable” accomplishment. But he maintained his focus on the immediacy of their future: “Don’t spend the rest of your life eating your heart out because you didn’t give it your very best shot right now.” Read Terry Teachout's Full Speech.
Outstanding Graduating Senior Keith Leisner also addressed the graduates. An English major who plans to pursue a doctorate in English literature and language, Leisner spoke about the importance of the written word, lamenting the impossibility of reading the 130 million books published in modern history and the hundreds of thousands published each year, but acknowledging his gratitude. “While I haven’t fully given up on being well read, I’m already blessed to have discovered what surely will become a literary pillar of my life as I prepare for graduate school,” he said.
Leisner also acknowledged the many difficulties of attending college while holding down a job, but reiterated his gratitude, thanking not only his teachers and his scholarship donors but also his fellow students. Attributing his success to his classmates, he said, “Holt students constantly challenged me to be a better student and a better man by graciously critiquing my work.”
Not surprisingly, Leisner ended his remarks by returning to the subject of writing, noting that writing is used to increase standardized test scores, council trauma victims, and build civilizations through enduring texts. “Unequivocally, written discourse is our liberal arts heritage,” he said. “Still, despite its ability to recursively affect all areas of our development, writing is becoming increasingly undervalued in our society.” And he offered his own words of advice for those whose future has just begun. “So as we move forward, class of 2011, remember to leave something behind. Remember your liberal arts heritage. Remember to keep writing, for all our sakes.”
Hamilton Holt School Faculty Awards
Assistant Professor of English Paul Reich received the Walter E. Barden Distinguished Teaching Award, an award presented by the Hamilton Holt School Student Government Association to a faculty member who has demonstrated innovation and creativity in teaching and responsiveness and commitment to adult learning.
Hamilton Holt School Student Awards
- Outstanding Graduating Senior — Keith Leisner
- Outstanding Graduate for the Master of Arts in Counseling Program — Marnie Davis
- Kappa Delta Pi Award — Ona Delussey and Stephanie Sullivan-Courson
- Summa Cum Laude — 26 students
- Magna Cum Laude — 23 students
- Cum Laude — 17 students
- With Honors (graduate) — 40 students
