Dr. Anne Marie Borneman, Board Chair Deb Takes, trustees, alumni, faculty, graduates, students, staff, families, and friends, it is a privilege to welcome you to the 2012 Graduate Commencement Ceremony at Cabrini College.
It is my honor to present the 2012 Cabrini College Master Degree Recipients!
Graduates, today we celebrate what you have achieved through hard work and determination, but like any achievement, it is not accomplished by one alone.
For many of you graduates, the support of family was instrumental. So at this time, I ask the families of today’s graduates to please stand and be recognized!
We are also honored to have Cabrini’s distinguished faculty members here with us today. It is my privilege to recognize these women and men who dedicate themselves to teaching, scholarship, leadership, mentoring, and to providing an Education of the Heart for Cabrini College students. I ask that faculty please stand and be recognized.
Graduates, you are moments away from receiving an advanced degree in either education or leadership, and I just know that the college’s namesake, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, is smiling with a heart full of joy.
Like each of you, Mother Cabrini was an educator and a leader. In fact, as Mother Cabrini proved in her remarkable life, you can often use these words interchangeably, because in many ways the best educators are leaders and the best leaders educate.
Through your studies, you know the common skills that educators and leaders share, but you share something greater than mere skills. You share a common responsibility, a responsibility to shape the world into a place worth educating and worth leading.
Mother Cabrini felt called to lead and to teach, but she wouldn’t lead people just anywhere, or teach just anything. No. Like you, Mother Cabrini had a choice; namely, where and for what purpose to lead, to teach.
As well-prepared leaders and educators, you must answer the same question Mother Cabrini answered: Where and for what purpose to lead, to teach?
I am very confident that you will excel in your professional lives:
- in the classroom, exciting students minds to learn
- in the board room, directing organizations to new heights
- as school principals, non-profit directors, superintendents, and corporate executives
But where else will you teach and lead? Are you going to shape a world that is worth teaching, worth leading? It is often repeated among educators and leaders that nearly every moment is a teachable moment. If this is true, then every moment is an opportunity:
- to teach one person to think from the heart
- to lead one community toward socially conscious prosperity
- to educate this nation about hidden injustice
- and to lead our world toward peace and compassionate action
The knowledge and tools you gained at Cabrini College in education and leadership can be used anywhere and everywhere, for anything and for everything.
So I suggest taking time throughout your life to reflect on your actions, meditating on “the what” and “the why” of your actions. And when you do reflect, I pray that what you find makes your family proud, makes your college proud, and most importantly, gives you reason to be proud of yourself.
Graduates, if you feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of teaching and leading, fear not, for you teach and lead because you are called to do so.
So in moments of doubt, heed that call. In moments of frustration, nourish that call. In moments when you feel lost, be guided by that call. And during moments like today, honor and celebrate that call just as we honor and celebrate you.
In closing, graduates, I congratulate you on receiving a master’s degree. I pray that you find blessings around every corner and that your success continues to grow.
Enjoy this day, dream about tomorrow and plan a future world that is a bit better on account of you.
Thank you and God bless you in all that you do.
President Marie Angelella George
Sunday, May 20, 2012