Former Baltimore mayor and dean of the Howard University School of Law Kurt Schmoke told Hamilton College graduates to "be aware of wonder and instill in your child or some other child the sense of wonder, discovery and an appetite for knowledge," in his address at Hamilton's 193rd commencement on Sunday, May 22. Bachelor of arts degrees were awarded to 423 Hamilton graduates at the ceremony, held in the Margaret Bundy Scott Field House.
In his address, Schmoke discussed the importance of family and "the crucial role that parenting plays in the society in which we live." He said that in his role as an elected official, first as a prosecutor then as a mayor of Baltimore, he "saw most vividly the impact of good and bad parenting." Schmoke said Baltimore was diverse in makeup. "In our downtown area you could drive one way and see the best in urban America and you could drive another way and see the worst in urban America," he said. "We were at the same time home to great museums, wonderful stadiums, fine architecture and also to one half of the entire state's welfare recipients, AIDS infants and drug addicts."
Schmoke
said, "One might think in this situation that you could predict the
academic achievement of students by their income level or by the
neighborhood in which they lived. That was not the case. More than any
other factor, the involvement of parents in the lives of their children
was the greatest predictor of success or failure."
"Why is the role of parents so crucial?," Schmoke asked. "It is because in a person's most formative years it is the parent who imparts values and lessons that affect individuals throughout their lives, guiding messages that become imbedded deep within our hearts and minds." He noted that by parent, he was referring to any adult who "assumes the nurturing role that we associate with the term 'parent.' Those children who did not have positive parental influence and gift of a nurturing environment were often the ones that I saw on my visit to the courts, the juvenile justice facilities and the jails," Schmoke recalled.
Quoting from author Robert Fulghum's book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Schmoke then summarized some lessons first taught by parents at home, including, "Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Don't take things that aren't yours and, be aware of wonder."
"Just think of what an important contribution you will make to future generations by instilling in your child or some other child the sense of wonder, discovery and an appetite for knowledge," said Schmoke.
Class valedictorian Daniel Walker,
(Marcellus, N.Y.) also spoke at the ceremony. "Often I've thought
life can't get any better than college. I think it's worth spending a
few minutes wrestling with this today, figuring our how we might escape
this feeling that the best days in our lives are behind us. In short,
we should age well. Rather than tell younger generations what life was
like when we were their age, we ought to enjoy our own age, to live in
a world of action, not one of nostalgia. There's a point at which well
have to leave childhood behind us, but that doesn't mean that
childishness should ever be below us," said Walker. He urged graduates
to have more adventures… "Try to build some instability into your
life…Nostalgia is stupid if it cripples us. Instead of mourning the
freedom we had at Hamilton, we should take it away from the Hill with
us."
Also speaking on behalf of the graduates was Alexandra Sear (Canterbury,
Conn.), winner of the James M. Soper Merrill Prize, given to the
student who best typifies the ideals of the College. Sear said
transferring to Hamilton in the second semester of her freshman year
made her "understand how lucky we are to have had the choice to attend
Hamilton…From this point on we have the luxury of choosing what we want
to do with our lives, our jobs. Our time here has prepared us for
much," Sear said, "Our degree opens many doors and we are fortunate to
be able to choose between door # 1 and being a doctor or door # 100 and
going into the Peace Corps."
"But," she asked, "what ones will we take? Hopefully if we choose
wisely the paths that will lead us to become the people we want to be
and not someone we would really rather not spend time with."
Honorary degrees
were awarded to Hamilton College graduate Mary Bonauto '83, civil
rights project director, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders
(GLAD), Boston; The Reverend Peter J. Gomes, Plummer Professor of
Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church at Harvard
University; Hamilton graduate Francis H. Musselman '50, life trustee
and former chairman of the Kirkland College board of trustees; Schmoke;
and Joseph Volpe, general manager, Metropolitan Opera, New York, N.Y.
