Serenaded by the Penn Glee Club and blessed by the words of Sen. Arlen Specter, more than 50 graduates of the Fels Institute of Government marched across the stage Sunday evening with Masters degrees in hand.
Aiming for the Fels theme "Leadership for results," most of the graduates, who ranged in age from their mid-20s to mid-70s, either already have or will go on to have careers in public service.
"The size and complexity of government today requires a good leader," Fels Director Lawrence Sherman said. The students should seek to achieve "the goals of good government" which include clean air, a strong economy, and most importantly, he said, human rights.
The main speakers, Pennsylvania Secretary of Public Welfare Estelle Richman and Specter (R-Pa.), told the graduates to focus on what they want and go for it.
"If there's one thing I've come to know in my years of public service, it's that anything and everything is possible,"Richman, the city's first female managing director, said. "You too may blaze a trail that others can follow."
Specter, who discouraged the budding politicians from running for the U.S. Senate "at least while I'm still running," told the graduates that the most important thing they can do is be true to what they believe in.
"Exercise a very sharp moral compass on your activities," he said. And "be engaged in public affairs."
Many of the graduates were pleased with their hard work, and looked forward to launching their careers.
The work"tested our grit as much as our intellect," said Allison McConomy in her address to the graduates and their families. "Congratulations to all of us for what we have done here and what we are now off to do."
Most of the graduates of the two-year program received a Master in Governmental Administration, but five received a new degree from the school, a Master of Arts/Master of Science inCriminology. The criminology degree, awarded for the first time this year, aims to combine politics with problem solving, according to Sherman.
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