PORTLAND — University of New England graduates were told Saturday, “You can get there from here.”
The university conferred 1,247 associate, bachelor, master and doctorate degrees at the event, which marked the graduation of 120 physicians.
As graduates filed into the Cumberland County Civic Center Saturday morning, friends and family members snapped photos and cheered and chanted from the bleachers.
One particularly enthusiastic bunch was a group of friends and family members of Tara Smith, a Yarmouth woman who was graduating with an associate’s degree in nursing. The five stood together in printed T-shirts that collectively spelled out “TARA!”
Her sister, Anna, said friends and family were getting together for a barbecue after the ceremony.
“I’m so proud of my sister,” she said.
Jennifer Patrick, 22, of Rutland, Vt., standing outside the civic center prior to the event, summed up her feeling as a combination of being excited to finally graduate, while at the same time, “a little nervous.”
“It’s been a long haul,” she said.
The animal behavior major will be heading out to an internship this summer at Georgia Aquarium to work with Beluga whales and seals.
U.S. Representative Mike Michaud received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University and gave the keynote address. Michaud told a joke about a tourist who asks a Mainer for directions, and the Mainer tells the person, “Sorry, you can’t get there from here.”
Michaud said many of the graduates may have had a similar feeling when they were told a class they wanted to take or a career they wanted to pursue was too difficult.
“I have learned that you can get there from here. However, it does take a little work,” he said.
Michaud told the graduates that after high school, he went to work for Great Northern Paper mill in East Millinocket, just as his father and grandfather had done before him. He said he loved his job, but discovered the mill was polluting the Penobscot River. He said he felt that there was a balance needed to protect the local economy and the environment.
Michaud said he wanted to do something to clean the river, and not just sit back and complain about it, so he ran for the Maine Legislature at the age of 25. People told him he wouldn’t win, because he was too young and he didn’t have any experience, but he proved the nay sayers wrong. Later, when he ran for Congress, he was told a paper mill worker without a college education would never get elected to Congress, and again, he persevered.
People may have to face competition and challenges while pursuing their dreams, but that is not a reason to give up, said Michaud.
“So find what drives you and let it guide you,” said Michaud. “If you do that, I am confident that you’ll be satisfied with the path that you have chosen. It won’t just be a job and paycheck, it will be something that truly fulfills your needs as well.”
UNE President Danielle Ripich acknowledged the strong commitment to volunteerism and community service by students.
“You have given so much of yourselves over the past several years, and it is my hope that this place you have called home has also nurtured you in your quest for knowledge and meaning,” she said. “It is time to leave UNE and enter a world that needs each of your unique talents now more than ever.”
— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.
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