On December 11, the MIIS community celebrated the Winter Commencement Ceremony in the Golden State Theater in downtown Monterey. The 1,000-seat theater was nearly full, as the Winter Class of 2010 walked to receive their degrees. This ceremony was quite similar to most others, including bagpipe procession, a wide array of brightly colored gowns representing nations near and far, and a warm address from President Ramaswamy. What made this ceremony unique and memorable was the student and faculty speeches.
Professor Moyara Ruehsen, recent recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award, delivered the first of the two speeches, leaving the graduating class and audience with three key points. These guidelines were to keep a steady moral compass, make time for love and family, and strive for improvement while having no regrets. The most riveting, if not eye opening, was Ruehsen’s encouragement for the graduating class to copulate. As instructor for the public speaking workshop I spoke about in a previous blog, Ruehsen delivered a well-organized speech with personal stories and meaningful messages while keeping a light hearted tone throughout.
Miriam Rayward, fellow classmate from Ruehsen’s public speaking workshop, delivered the Student Speech. She told the remarkable story about how her father overcame extreme adversity as a Palestinian refugee only to become a doctor in Spain. Through her father’s story, Miriam expressed that life is not easy, but with hard work, anything is possible. Her take-home was that “you are identified by how you manage the obstacles and challenges in your life.”
Having gone through the public speaking workshop with both speakers, I thought they were both well prepared and executed their respective speeches with brilliant delivery. Having been to many commencement ceremonies, I found these speeches especially engaging.
Best of luck to the Winter Class of 2010 MIIS Graduates!
