Figure of Speech
Words of Advice for the Class of '08 and Beyond

By Dan Zak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 18, 2008; N01

Speech.

Speech.

SPEECH. SPEECH. SPEECH.

We give them at the start of things and at the end of things. Toasts at weddings. Eulogies at funerals. A college graduation, both the end of one era and the start of another, gets the mother of all speeches: the commencement address. This is where a graduate summons his best prose to motivate peers, where a famous person drops in to provide last-minute dispatches from the real world, all in an effort to pack inspirational gunpowder into a cannon about to hurtle an entire class into its future.

Speech: You'll do fine! Here's your diploma. Boom.

This is happening all over the country this month, and we're in the thick of commencement season here. Washington area colleges are catapulting armies of graduates into a tightening job market and a wintry economic climate. It's a hostile world, and maybe it always has been. But it's the commencement speakers' duty to herald the light at the end of the tunnel, even if Social Security is gone by the time the audience gets there.

Chins up, though. For those of us already out in the real world, and for collegians hungry to soak up some more inspiration, we picked the brains of seven people who spoke or were scheduled to speak at area schools. Read on to hear from them.

Words of Advice for the Class of '08 and Beyond

Students, distinguished faculty, proud family and friends: It is an honor to speak to you today and blah, blah, blah. Rather than sitting through a bunch of commencement speeches, we decided to do Q&As with seven of this year's speakers to get to the heart of the matter: What's your speech about, and what does it mean for the rest of us?

Julian Bond

Chairman of the NAACP and a professor at American University and the University of Virginia, Bond, 68, plans to give his latest commencement speech (he has made two dozen) today to George Washington University graduates on the Mall.

What have you learned about graduating seniors as an audience?

I've been to graduations where there's been some distraction -- luckily not caused by me but by a party spirit, and you wondered about the level of sobriety among these young people.

Do you have stock material after so many addresses, or does your speech change?

It changes. And for this one -- and I'm assuming it's not going to rain -- I want to take advantage of the setting because I was there at the March on Washington in '63. I'm going to try to give what I think is the standard commencement address, which is much better than "Hitch your wagons to a star." It essentially says you're at a place where you're beginning a different life and, if it hasn't happened already, you ought to devote some of that different life to social justice.

What's the key to a good address?

Brevity. The one thing that's almost constant in my commencement addresses is a story about my high school graduation. The commencement speaker was the late Mordecai Johnson, then president of Howard, and he spoke for what seemed like an hour and a half, and I say, "Someday I'll get a chance to do that," and then I say, "Luckily for you, this isn't it."

If you had to broaden your speech to address the whole country, what would you say?

I'd say America has solved many of its problems, but many remain, and it is our common responsibility to set them right.

Patrick Clancy

When we talked to him last week, Clancy, 21, was finishing the speech he was set to give Saturday to the School of Arts and Sciences at Catholic University. He's graduating with a degree in international economics and finance and plans to go into law enforcement.

Is it daunting to try to wrap up the college experience in five minutes?

I didn't want to start getting into details about personal experiences or certain events because nobody really has the same experience in college. I was thinking about getting people to think about what they've done individually, and as a class say, "This is what we should do with our degrees."

You answered the hotline at "America's Most Wanted" as an intern. That must have been interesting.

It's amazing how many years the show has been on TV. I remember watching it as a kid.

What kind of speech would John Walsh give?

It would probably be a message of doing good and fighting for justice and trying to make the world a safer place.

What motivated you to apply to be a graduation speaker?

Rudy Ruettiger [inspiration for the movie "Rudy"] came to campus a couple weeks ago. Some of the things he said were inspiring. He actually spoke for an hour and a half. He just kept going. So when I saw the invitation [to apply], I thought I'd really like to be the person up there.

If you had to broaden your speech to address the whole country, what would you say?

Right now is a difficult time -- politically, economically and socially -- and we are dealing with some of the most challenging issues our country has ever faced. It is everyone's responsibility right now to do whatever we can to help better our country and change things for the better.

Sylvia Earle

No human has been deeper into the ocean than Earle, 72, who walked 1,250 feet beneath its surface in 1979. Her quest to study marine ecosystems has earned her such nicknames as "Her Deepness" and "the Sturgeon General." We talked to the National Geographic explorer-in-residence a couple of days before she addressed American University graduates last Sunday.

How many commencement addresses have you given?

More than a dozen.

And you get an honorary doctorate at each?

Usually.

Where do keep all of them?

[Laughs.] Closet.

Do you remember the speeches when you graduated from Florida State and Duke?

I missed both of them.

Why?

I was on expeditions both times. Splashing around in the Gulf of Mexico for the first one, and for the second one I was in the Galapagos Islands.

Do you have stock material for the speech, or does it change every --

No, no, no. It has to change. Thoughts from a year ago would seem dated already. I'm going to focus on the vision and the reality of hope. There are a lot of reasons to be discouraged as a youngster coming along at this point in history, but the theme here is: If you had to choose a time to make a difference, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better time than now.

What have you learned over the years about graduating seniors as an audience?

They're distracted. They prefer something short. Laced with humor, if possible. The ceremony is something to be endured, and if you can help make it less of an ordeal and more meaningful, then good.

I suppose you're always using the ocean as a metaphor.

It's not just a metaphor. It's something that embraces all of us. You have to take care of it if you're going to survive. . . . As someone who's been under water so much, I can't resist my special perspective that the Earth is blue and we need to take care of the place that cares for us.

Wendy Kopp

Kopp, 40, nursed a thesis proposal in 1989 into Teach for America, a more than 5,000-strong educating force . The chief executive has given speeches on and off since her first at Syracuse University, when she was 25 years old. We spoke to her last week, when she had a draft of the speech she was set to deliver Saturday at Georgetown University.

Do you remember the commencement speech when you graduated from Princeton?

Oh, gosh. Oh, dear. Oh, no. I don't remember.

Were you there?

I was there. I did graduate. Did we even have one? Oh, gosh. This is terrible. It was 19 years ago.

You did a speech last year and the year before. Is this a racket for you?

I actually did two last year. And made a new rule saying I would do no more than one a year.

Why do you say yes to them?

It's a huge opportunity to try to influence the thinking of our nation's future leaders, and it gives me a chance to step back and reflect on what the most important message is for them.

What have you learned about graduating seniors as an audience?

You know, it's different from school to school, and the setting matters a lot. As I recall, the UNC-Chapel Hill commencement was in the football stadium. I was wondering if folks were actually listening.

Do you ever speak words of hope to a graduating class but have doubts about the difficulties they'll face?

I think I'm optimistic and genuinely believe that young people are uniquely positioned to make a difference in the world, especially in the face of entrenched social problems that those of us who are more experienced have given up on.

Sasha Lakshmi Ponappa

P onappa, 25, is back from a West Coast internship to pick up her master's in social work from Gallaudet University. After her speech, which was scheduled for Friday, she plans to continue her work helping end domestic violence against deaf women and children, and hopes to bring about similar changes in her native India. The interview was conducted via interpreter Joseph McCleary.

Have you made an address like this before?

Yes, and I'm nervous every time. I've learned a lesson, though: not to drink coffee. The caffeine makes me really shaky.

What's your main theme?

My key message is the power of choice. We need to make a conscious choice throughout the rest of our lives to be leaders, to speak up, to make changes we want to see.

Any great speeches serve as inspiration?

This may be too common, but I was really inspired by Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. I remember reading it as a kid. As a person of color, a woman and a deaf person, to me his vision is beautiful: that everyone, no matter who they are, will be accepted.

If you had to broaden your speech to address the whole country, what would you say?

Every person and community has something to contribute to society. Despite our differences, we can recognize these positive characteristics and appreciate what makes all of us unique. Collectively, we should aim to be more united. That way we can deal with major challenges w ith those strengths.

Natalie Prizel

A native Washingtonian, Prizel, 23, is graduating with a bachelor's in English and a certificate in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies from the University of Maryland. She'll give her speech Thursday at the Comcast Center. She plans to apply to PhD programs and eventually teach literary modernism and sexuality at a university.

What's the speech about?

I just finished an honors thesis on Faulkner, narrative and marginalized identities in "Light in August" --

Whoa.

I have this interest in narrative structure, language and how it reflects and creates social identities. The speech is about how our language shapes how we identify, and it encourages people to be conscious about that as they go into the world.

Since you're a Faulknerian, will you deliver the speech as five narrators of varying ages and mental capacities?

I had not considered that, but that would be really cool. If I could get my sister, who's an actress, to help . . .

What's the key to a good address?

I can't even remember our high school commencement address. I try to avoid cliche. That's a big thing. To be motivating without using cliche is difficult.

What great speeches do you like?

I took a class on language and politics, and they showed us a Barbara Jordan speech on Watergate. A black lesbian speaking about the president in Congress -- that was pretty cool.

If you had to broaden your speech to address the whole country, what would you say?

I think it is important that people consider how the language they use and the stories they tell not only reflect their social identities and views of the world, but can also shape their self-perception and the world in which we live.

Jonathan Wharton

Graduating with a PhD in political science from Howard University, Wharton, 34, has lived in New Jersey the past two years to work on his dissertation. He addressed the class of 2008 on May 10.

So your time speechwriting on the Hill must have been useful for this task.

The university secretary was surprised that the speech didn't need much editing.

Is it about being motivational?

I wanted to highlight the positive aspects of Howard -- volunteering and community involvement -- and see that the mission is carried out beyond the classroom. The professors inspire us, and we should be reminded about that, that we have the legacy.

What's the topic of your dissertation?

I'm investigating urban elections, particularly Newark's mayoral elections in 2002 and 2006, about voters' concerns at polls, and [Mayor] Cory Booker not being black enough, a la Barack Obama. Especially with this generation of leaders coming out -- Adrian Fenty, [Massachusetts Gov.] Deval Patrick, Obama -- someone has to consider the nuances of these next generations.

Is the era of great political speechmaking over, or just beginning?

I think that there's a divide that exists between the constituents and the legislators, and somehow it's not getting across both ways. In terms of speeches being charismatic and inspirational, they are more packaged and prepared, and that has to do with the professionalization of communicating. That's my concern.