Jim Morouse Commencement Speech to Katherine Harvey Fellows
It’s been on my bucket list to give a commencement speech… I’m not sure I’ll ever be invited to do so… so I’m taking this opportunity to scratch another item off my list!
As most good commencement speeches start… Let me begin with gratitude…
- SB Foundation – THANK YOU for your long-standing, unwavering support of the Fellows and strengthening our social sector!
- Nominators – THANK YOU for helping us find the best/brightest – this was the most competitive fellowship process we’ve ever had with a record number of nominations.
- KHF Alumni – THANK YOU for building this important community! As we add 17 new alumni to your rolls today… you are over 100 strong in our community!
- Mentors/Speakers – THANK YOU! You are a critical link between the Fellows and their lives of service for others. Thanks for modeling community service and for being an on-going resource to the Fellows.
- Coaches – THANK YOU! This class has been so fortunate to have all-stars with a passion for each project area sharing the journey with our small teams.
- Family/friends/cheerleaders of all types – THANK YOU for “showing up” for the Fellows. Your encouragement will help drive these impressive leaders to make real change in our community!
- Fellows Launch Celebration Team – THANK YOU (Dawn, Molly, Tracy) for leading the charge for this special day… your creativity and energy are seen all around us tonight – THANK YOU.
- Ron/Andrea – Thank you for your gracious hospitality and for sharing this amazing space with our community!
I’d like to begin my formal comments encouraging you to VOTE – if you haven’t, polls are open until 8 p.m.!
For my part… I finished my research/ballot last week. Put two stamps on it (just to be sure it would get there!)
The completed ballot sat on my desk for over a week… until this morning at 8 a.m. where I dropped it off at our local polling station (located in a Presbyterian Church).
I have to admit… the simple feeling of voting in public… looking at the volunteers, voting booths, collection boxes, etc. Seeing people from all walks of life being “citizen actors” was uplifting and underscored the meaning of community (and freedom and tradition and politics and hope)…
Voting is an expression of community… and a real privilege I don’t take lightly!
My commencement speech is inspired by a Starbuck’s ad entitled “Everyday we have a choice” (by the way, it’s NOT about ordering a café latte versus a caramel frappucino!!!!).
Every day we have a choice
… my wish for this wonderful cohort of leaders is to follow this mantra:
- Where some people choose indifference, I choose compassion.
- Where some people choose partisanship, I choose leadership.
- Where some people choose isolation, I choose community.
What was I feeling this morning in the polling station???… I was feeling this community.
We live in an amazing world at an amazing time. For all of our devices, headphones, binge watching and other modern practices that drive us towards ISOLATION… we need community to bring us together.
At the end of the day, it is IN COMMUNITY that we govern, make decisions and hopefully find beauty/joy in working with others on things that matter to us.
I’d like to close by saying this isn’t a GRADUATION, but a LAUNCH PARTY.
Today, we LAUNCH this wonderful group into the community with:
- New skills
- Increased confidence
- Deeper connections
On behalf of the…
- 2 facilitators
- 25+ individual community leaders who have attended/taught our class sessions
- 18 mentors
- 4 project coaches
- 100+ alumni
- and all of the family, friends and supporters gathered here…
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!! Thunderous Applause…
It’s my pleasure to turn the festivities over to Dawn Mitcham who will preside over the OFFICIAL launch of this amazing group of leaders!!!
Dawn…
From the Noozhawk: Katherine Harvey Fellows Earn Their Capes at the Santa Barbara Foundation
This essay originally published on June 7, 2016.