Ohio University graduates, many wearing caps adorned with everything from flashing lights to paint and glitter, gathered in The Convo yesterday for two commencement ceremonies.
Award-winning surgeon and writer Atul Gawande gave an address at both ceremonies, asking the graduating students to “unlock the unexpected abilities that might be inside you.”
Gawande is a medical staff member at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and an associate professor at Harvard University, as well as a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine. He holds degrees from Stanford University, Oxford University and Harvard University, and he graduated from Athens High School in 1983.
“Thank you for inviting a ‘townie’ to give your graduation address,” he said, adding that the graduates should look for ‘upsets’ in their lives. “I was here during the dark years of Bobcat football. You learn not to expect too much. But you also learn you can hope for it.”
There are two things every graduate should learn, Gawande said: true skill and human connection.
“There is a deep, soul-feeding satisfaction in mastering something,” he said. “… The human connection you need to thrive and get along in the world requires withholding judgement.”
OU President Roderick McDavis also offered advice to the graduates.
“Each of you has had special support in achieving your educational goal,” he said. “Your diploma is more than a piece of paper … You have made our university better by your presence.”
The ceremonies also included music from the Ohio University Wind Ensemble and solo performances of the national anthem and the alma mater by students in the School of Music.
The two ceremonies recognizing undergraduate students took place at 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. yesterday in The Convo. Graduate and medical students were honored in a separate ceremony Friday morning. More than 4,000 students graduated from OU this weekend, according to a university news release.
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