Degrees alone do not make a person smart, a commencement speaker said Saturday.
Julian Earls, executive in residence at Monte Ahuja College of Business Administration at Cleveland State University, spoke during Heidelberg University's graduate commencement ceremony Saturday afternoon. It was Heidelberg's 25th graduate commencement celebration.
Earls encouraged graduates to show support and character, cross disciplines and use their education in the persistence of values that make a difference.
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PHOTO BY ROB LEDWEDGE
Tiffany Grine Boehler of Tiffin receives a master’s degree in education during Heidelberg University’s graduate commencement ceremony Saturday.
"Use your lives so that those who see you are so inspired that they will motivate themselves to be like you," he said.
Earls said his parents always said the road to success always is under construction.
People, he said, always must acknowledge those who helped them and should not take for granted they know about their appreciation.
"Truth has to be accepted, even when it is not complimentary to you," he said.
Thirty-eight graduates received master's degrees in education, 14 graduates received master's degrees in business administration, 12 graduates received master's degrees in counseling and one graduate received a master's degree in music education.
Awards were won by Jamie Fall of Findlay and Juliet Thomas of Ashland, counseling; Melissa Belcher of Toledo, Tiffany Boehler of Tiffin, Maureen Bruno of Neapolis, Carrie Frey of Ottawa Lake, Mich., Thomas Hoffman of Huron and Mary Vetter of Toledo, education; Steven Neiling of Holland, business administration; and Brian Gaietto of Tiffin, music education.
Fall, who received a master's degree in counseling, was the student speaker and delivered a speech titled "High Anxiety." Fall, a mental health provider, recalled wondering whether she could balance work and family when she started her degree at Heidelberg. She declared she would make time and balance her life.
"I faced my fears," she said.
None of the graduates got through the experience of obtaining a master's degree alone, she said.
"What are you dying to do?" she asked.
