Note: Astronaut Don Pettit, a 1978 chemical engineering graduate of OSU and veteran of two voyages to the International Space Station, offered the following verse-form remarks as the keynote speaker for Saturday's commencement ceremony at OSU, the university's 141st graduation.
This commencement is not about what you have done;
it is about what you are going to do;
it is about the future.
The future for you is bright,
as it is for every new class
The future is filled with opportunity
given to us in part because we have frontiers in which to explore
Frontiers are places where our normal intuition does not apply,
the answers are not in the back of the book
frontiers are places that are rich in discovery
And as such they captivate your soul,
they tickle your imagination
and enrich your mind
Frontiers are all around us,
at the bottom of the ocean
in the stratosphere
under the stage of a microscope
into the human social order of how we live
or off into space
As long as there are new generations coming behind the old,
there will never be a final frontier
choose one that sings to your heart
and begin to explore
But I caution you,
frontiers are relentless in the application of universal rules
mistakes cost more than -10 points on a mid-term exam
Frontiers have the excitement of discovery,
making something new where before there was only vacuum
it does not get any better than that
In a frontier, you can once again see the world through the eye's of a child
Someday, decades from now,
a change in your perspective will happen
you will find yourself returning back to your educational roots
And working on what you can do for the next generation of bright eyed students
Perhaps you may find yourself before a graduating class,
standing in their line of commencement
each anxiously to consume life with a big spoon
and to create what they may of the future
And perhaps you can let them know that there are new frontiers to explore
and how bright their future shines
posted 06-12-2010 03:37 PM
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