Thank you. When I received my degrees from Kansas State more than 40 years ago, I never dreamed that one day I would be back to speak at Commencement and receive an honorary doctorate. It is a privilege to come back home and be recognized by this outstanding institution, and I am especially honored to join you on this special day in your lives.

You are among the almost 750 Wildcats to receive graduate degrees awarded by Kansas State this month, including 75 Ph.D.’s in 32 disciplines. I understand there are several students who will be awarded the M.S. in Adult Education and Leadership who completed your degrees while participating in the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth. Congratulations on balancing work, school, and all that goes with it, and thank you for your service! 

Commencement is a celebration of personal accomplishments and the power of teamwork, as well as a visible symbol of your university fulfilling its role of equipping the next generation with what it and society need most. It is one of my favorite events, as it represents both an end and a beginning. Many of you have already earned awards in agricultural economics, education, engineering, entomology, family services, nutrition, and physics, among others. You represent a rich diversity of scholarship and research endeavors.

As graduate students, many of you probably spent a great deal of your time here inside a lab or searching online for information as part of your research, but I also hope that during your time at Kansas State, you have collected memories and friendships that will last a lifetime.  

Kevin Riley, editor-in-chief of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, once said: “Nothing is more important to a culture, a family, a company, and even a university than the stories people tell about it.” Today, I want to talk about your story.

As we go through life, each of us is writing a story. With your graduation today, you are part of K-State’s story, and it is part of yours. Some might call your story an autobiography, and to others it is a history, but that is not important. What is important is to think about what kind of story you will write, and to be purposeful in what you want to accomplish.

Today, you are going out into the world prepared to address some of the world’s greatest challenges. You are also ending one chapter in your story, the chapter on your time here at K-State. You have other chapters from the past, and many more ahead of you to write.

In your story, there will be things you can’t prepare for or control, things that may surprise you — events that you did not expect and opportunities that you had never hoped for. There will be people who come and go; some will be written into your story unexpectedly, and some will be written out sooner than you might want.

And, just as people publish instant updates on Facebook and Twitter, you can be sure that people will be constantly reading your story as it develops.

You are receiving your advanced degree at a time of great global challenges. We have almost eight billion people on the planet, and we are consuming natural resources at a rate that cannot be sustained. Clean water and food are in seriously short supply in many regions of the world, and we have challenges in areas such as energy, sustainability, medicine, cybersecurity, poverty, and health care, to name a few. I hope your story records that you have helped to address some of these challenges.

As Kansas State graduates, you have the potential to make a real difference in our world. One of the relevant questions undergirding your story will be, “What have you done to contribute to your community, to collaborate with others to address some of the really big challenges, or to enrich the lives of others and inspire, empower, and mentor people so that the work and the vision of a better world can continue for generations to come?”

As I look out at each of you, I am so jealous. In your lifetime, you will see and do some amazing things, things that will boggle the mind — you will cure cancer, see interplanetary space travel become a reality, and perhaps actually achieve world peace.

I hope that these amazing things are part of your story, but I also hope that your story has a chapter on how you have helped humankind, how you have helped your community, or the millions of underprivileged people somewhere in the world.

As you receive your degree today, do not forget to include an acknowledgement section of your story. There have been many who have helped you along the way, and there will be many others — remember to thank them and to recognize the guidance, advice, and assistance that they provided. The best way you can do this is to make your story part of theirs. They have written your foreword, and it’s up to you to create the masterpiece.

Finally, the granting of your diploma today is the beginning of the next chapter in your story. I hope you will also see it for the potential it represents as you begin the next chapters of your lives. I hope that you are able to craft a really memorable story, one that helps to improve and change the world, one that those who love and honor you with their presence here today will be proud to read and to share.

All the best and God’s speed on your journey.

Thank you.
G.P. “Bud” Peterson

Blank Space (small)
(text and background only visible when logged in)