Sunday's graduation was the first graduation ceremony I have participated in as a member of the Kelley School of Business staff. The entire auditorium at the Convention Center was packed not only with the graduates, but with parents, friends, grandparents, and Kelley faculty and staff member celebrating the graduates' achievements. It is no small feat to leave this school with a Kelley diploma and it was incredibly gratifying for me to share this moment with so many students that I have had the privilege to work with during their time on campus.
And of course, it was Mother's Day - my own mom had to wait for a Mother's Day dinner as opposed to our traditional family breakfast - but I cannot imagine a better way for the moms in the audience to spend Mother's Day than to see their children walk on stage and have their diploma hand-delivered by the Dean. (In the interest of full disclosure, students do not actually receive their diploma on stage. It is purely ceremonial - the diploma cases are empty and just given out so that there are some picture worthy moments on graduation day. The diplomas themselves are mailed out three months after the students have been officially certified for graduation. Now you know the full story)
Below is a great graduation story. It's a high school graduation story, but still both funny and applicable. It was written by Rabbi Marc Gellmann in 2005 in his online column for Newsweek. You can find the full article here (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8318170/site/newsweek/)
The Naked Graduate (an excerpt)
During graduation ceremonies seven years ago this week at a small private high school in Vermont, each of the 14 seniors was given a chance to address the assembled guests and speak for a few minutes on a topic of their choice. Most of the graduates chose the conventional topics of what they remembered most about high school, their plans for the future, and the obligatory litany of thanks to family, teachers and friends. A few of them even thanked God. This was before the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for anyone to invoke God's name for anything at any time during a graduation ceremony unless of course somebody sneezes.
One of the graduates, a young woman whom we shall call Molly Smith, began her speech. At its beginning, Molly's speech was just like all the others. She spoke of how the school had challenged and inspired her individuality, and then, as she explained later, in her attempt to express the spirituality of her graduation, Molly tossed down her mortorboard, slipped out of her white graduation robe and completed her speech about truth, wisdom, confidence and the road less traveled--stark naked. Even though they were in Vermont, the audience of 200 went wild; then the local media went wild; and then the national media went wild. Molly was even invited to appear on the David Letterman show.
Bob told me that nearly every resident of his small Vermont town got a call from one of those tabloid TV shows asking them if they knew of anyone who had a photograph or a videotape of Molly Smith giving her speech naked. There was one, and only one. Apparently when Molly dropped her robe everyone was so shocked that they did not even think of taking a picture, except for a man named Jay Cavallaro. Jay was the professional videographer who had been hired by the school to record the graduation ceremony, and so he had the whole naked truth on high-quality professional videotape. He quickly became a very popular guy.
Let me tell you what Bob told me about Jay. He had just opened up his video-production services company. He was in debt, married and anxious to start a family, but he couldn't because he had no money and his wife needed some surgery. Then, suddenly the tabloids were competing to buy the tape and the offering price soared to $100,000. Jay was looking at manna from heaven. It was, after all, a public event, and Molly had made absolutely no attempt to hide--anything. It was a windfall and just the moment Jay Cavallaro needed some wind. And this is what Jay did: he turned down all the offers--all of them. He just said no. Jay later explained the reason. He said, "It wouldn't have been right." That was that. It just wouldn't have been right.
So, to the class of 2005 I say--make two lists for yourselves. The first list is the list of the things you will do for money. The second list is the list of things you will not do for money because it wouldn't be right. Then, throw away the first list, keep the second list with you at all times and go live your life. Everything else is a cinch. Just ask Jay.
