OT: Who was your commencement speaker?
Ugh.
That chinese guy was awesome.
My favorite part of his speech was when he said, "When I got to UofM I thought the Big House was a prison. I thought the fishbowl was an aquarium and that Ugg boots and North Face jackets were the unofficial school uniform. I later learned that only the third one was true."
He was great!
I thought Larry did a pretty good job. I mean, it wasn't a sexy choice, but he did well. I do remember drifting off towards the end of the speech and kind of wishing that he'd said something along the lines of "and because the economy sucks so hard and Google's made of freaking money, there'll be a check taped to the back of your diploma. Get wasted on us. Peace out and Go Blue."
The student speaker, of course, was freaking amazing.
Yeah, not getting the whole "ugh" thing. I thought Larry did a very good job and while no one will mistake his speaking ability for that of Obama, he gave a pretty good message to us.
I've seen his speech on YouTube (As if HIS speech wouldn't be on YOUTUBE), and I thought it was pretty good.
I'm also a computer science major though...
Very good speaker, I also saw my sister's at winter commencement a couple years ago, it was Francis Collins. He was amazing.
was bo...
for having multiple wives with the same commencement speaker.
He wasn't that bad - didn't mispronouce anything and even crackeda few jokes.
Calvin '05?
It was good to have the President speak at commencement, regardless of political affiliation.
I'm an '08 grad, and I agree completely. No matter what your political affiliation may be, it's pretty awesome for the President of the greatest country in the world to give your commencement address. Go Knights and Go Blue
Henry Juszkiewicz from Gibson. He used his experiences on how he got to where he is today to tell us to never settle for anything and to work hard to do what you want to do. Lot's of people loved his speech. Others thought he just used the time to talk about himself. I think the others kind of missed the point.
Clinton. He was great but our student speaker was even better.
Agreed the student speaker overshadowed Slick Willy (who is in his own right a pretty good public speaker) but his message was pretty weak.
It seemed like that year every speaker was about the environment and bs like that. The engineering speaker was HILARIOUS.
Are you referring the Engineering student speaker or the main address? Because the student speaker at Engineering was awful. Any time you use the "word" redonkulous in a public address... fishing for humor or not...
Our speaker was Bob Woodruff. He was great; both poignant and motivating. Although I was initially disappointed we wouldn't be in the Big House for graduation, the Diag was set up unbelievably and it feels pretty special to be the only class to graduate there.
Gotta agree. I was initially really frustrated, but it was really well done, and Woodruff was quite inspirational.
Another students dad who worked with some company in Chicago was mine. It really sucked! We did have numerous big name speakers for our beginning of the school year speakers. We had James Earl Jones, Coach K & Barbara Bush. My sister had Lloyd Carr as her commencement speaker. I went to Albion so it was a pretty big deal have big names.
We were supposed to have Fareed Zakaria for my graduation at Albion, but he got stuck in Florida and couldn't make a flight in. I don't even know who the replacement was, I think he was a member of the board of trustees.
What year did you graduate? '06 here
'07 Vickers, you knew me all too well. #80 in your old programs. are you f--king kidding me?
But Bo also spoke. Which was awesome.
we're the two best friends that anybody could have yes we're the two best friends that anybody could have...
My wolverine pack grew by one...
the december speakers are always the b-team....
Jennifer Granholm. Not the best speech ("Don't be a loser!").
I seem to remember it not was a warning, but a statement along the lines of "some of you aren't going to value this degree. Some of you are going to be losers." She spoke at State a week or so later; she must have grabbed the wrong speech -- but even then -- harsh.
I've had Granholm speak at my both my Big House graduations; the first was the 2003 Loserfest, and then the 2010 Politics-fest.
Seriously, I can't wait to see her leave office.
We need a t-shirt with her face outlined with "Worst Gov ever" printed on it. Granholm makes moving to Ohio look enticing...
My mom apparently turned to my girlfriend (now my wife) and said "You know, I want to like her, but she just makes it so hard."
The following year, my wife's speaker was the editor of some car magazine, who broke the ice by pointing out that, yes, he wasn't a big deal and that the controversy surrounding his speech (some kids had complained they wanted a bigger name) was completely founded. He then told some awesome story about nearly dying in a car crash, and he had us on his side from that point on.
I agree, that was one of the worst speeches I've ever heard. There I am, graduating from the top public University in the country in a time where getting a job was hard to come by in the economic downturn and backlash since Sept. 11th, and Jennifer Granholm calls me a loser if I don't have a job and use the degree for all its worth. Really Jennifer? I remember turning to my friends and saying, "I doubt half of us here know what job we'll have in a few months, and she's calling us losers because we're in a recession?"
Have not liked her since that day. Every day I pray the federal government will take her to a higher-up job... however, I get that gut-wrenching feeling every time I do b/c I know I'll be eternally grateful she's no longer in MI but then again, do I really want her screwing up the entire country?
His speech was amazing, but it was the only time I was ever in Crisler Arena.
I think it was Sandra Day O'Connor, for undergrad. And Kofi Annan for grad. But maybe it was Ken Burns for one of them.
I honestly can't remember who spoke at mine. BUT, I do remember who spoke at my sister's, Bo Schembechler! It was awesome.
peggy noonan.
not a fan.
WOTS is this kid is giving the 2018 OSU commencement speech.
The class elected student speaker. At least he's for ginger equality...
First year with Casteen, so that is who I got. I think it was TJ's 250th birthday, so that probably got mentioned.
My commencement speaker was pretty unexciting. Apparently, there is a tradition that when we have a new President of the University, that person is the commencement speaker. So my speaker was... James Duderstadt. I have no idea what he said.
from the State of Michigan (Richard H. Austin) was the commencement speaker for my class ('85).
He was actually pretty badass. Started out his speech by calling out a student who wrote a disapproving letter to the editor:
“(Paterno) expressed considerable doubt about my suitability as a public speaker, along with the concern that my distinctly minor-league status would bring down the whole tone of this glorious occasion,” Davis said in his speech.
Some great stories after that, too.
1993 - Don't remember a whole lot - some cheers, some boos.
Mostly what I remember is that she made a joke about 10,000 Maniacs.
i graduated in 05
in 2007 the alumni magazine released this:
yes MGoBoard - i win at teh lyfe
I always knew you were a young, African-American female.
Bob "I was blown up in Iraq" Woodruff. On the Diag in 2008. He pitched his book too...