Paul Smith’s honors 278 grads

Sunday’s commencement features speaker McKibben

By EMILY HUNKLER, Enterprise Staff Writer
PAUL SMITHS —With shouts of “That’s my boy!” and piercing whistles from the crowd full of family and friends, the Paul Smith’s College Class of 2008 walked across the stage to receive their degrees Sunday.

“It’s really an awesome feeling,” senior class president and class speaker Michelle Elizabeth Daus said, addressing her classmates. “For many of us, the excitement of new adventures has already consumed our thoughts.”

Daus, a business management and entrepreneurial studies graduate from Johnsonville, admitted to spending her first two weeks at Paul Smith’s in her car crying.

“To think that same girl is standing in front as class president at our graduation,” Daus said. “Be glad you have found something worth missing.”

The commencement address was given by environmental author and former member of the board of trustees at Paul Smith’s College, Bill McKibben.

“I will be brief, and I will be honest,” McKibben said. “You are graduating in what is not an easy time to do so.”

McKibben’s first book, “The End of Nature,” published in 1989, is regarded as one of the first books addressing the dangers of climate change.

“Viewed from outer space, the Earth no longer looks as it did when you were born,” McKibben said. “Even the Adirondacks stand to suffer from this warming of the globe that now has become unleashed.”

McKibben emphasized the importance of community and the need to reconnect with this notion.

“We feel a tremendous loss of community and lack of connection with other people,” he said, regarding the declining number of Americans who claim to lead happy lives. “You will need to change that for the sake of the environment and for the sake of your own lives.”

McKibben ended his speech by encouraging the graduates to take advantage of this transitional time in their lives to make the type of changes that will affect not only their own lives but the lives of those around them.

“There aren’t many times people have the chance to change the patterns of their hearts and minds; it is an enormous opportunity,” McKibben said.

After his speech, McKibben was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree.

When the speeches were finished, the ceremony honored 278 members of the class of 2008 followed by a reception on the shores of Lower St. Regis Lake.

“It was a great speech,” forestry graduate Chris Scofield of Homer, said of McKibben’s commencement address.

“(The commencement) was to the point, and it went quickly. We’re excited to get on with our lives,” Scofield said.

“We’re done!” Tyler Webb, a forestry graduate from Sunapee, N.H., said emphatically.

Contact Emily Hunkler at 891-2600 ext. 24 or ehunkler@adirondackdailyenterprise.com'>ehunkler@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.