Cezary Podkul: Commencement speeches vary in degrees of inspiration

By CEZARY PODKUL - Guest Columnist

I was at the DP office on the night when the news broke that actress Jodie Foster would address the class of 2006 at the 250th commencement. All of a sudden, as I sat in the corner of the office working away on my column for the next day, I heard a cascade of puzzled voices from all directions exclaim, "Jodie Foster?"

And immediately I wanted to scrap the column that I was writing for the next day and write instead about how inappropriate a choice Jodie Foster was for the 250th commencement. This is the big 250, I thought. And Ben Franklin's 300th birthday. Hence, we should have someone big and important speak, like the Pope, or at least the President or Vice-President of the U.S.

But I am glad that I didn't scrap that column.

It's not that Jodie Foster delivered an earth-shattering commencement address that left everyone speechless. But out of the College, Wharton and university commencement ceremonies, she was the speaker who best managed to connect with the audience in a meaningful and memorable way.

It is not hard to figure out what's on the minds of most graduates sitting on Franklin Field. It's a mix of disbelief, joy and fear. Many graduates do not yet have jobs and they feel unsure about what occupations they want to pursue; others who already have employment or graduate school plans often question whether they've chosen the right path or if they're just selling out and giving up their dreams.

All in all, commencement is an emotional powder keg, and it seems that the reason we have graduation and commencement speakers at all is to diffuse the tension.

Jodie Foster did a great job of doing precisely that.

She understood the sense of confusion that many graduates feel upon leaving college. "You will undoubtedly hear... sayings like 'the hope for this country's future'.... And if you are anything like I was, you will spend the next six months in bed watching reruns and feeling like a complete idiot," Foster said.

She recognized the lack of faith that many graduates feel toward U.S. leaders. "No, this country is not better now than it was four years ago, the world is not better now than it was four years ago, and that will be part of your story, graduates of the Class of 2006," Foster said.

She even managed to mix inspiration with our music tastes by leaving graduates with an eerily appropriate quote from Eminem: "You better lose yourself in the music, the moment, you own it, you better never let it go. You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow, this opportunity comes once in a lifetime."

In short, she really connected with the audience and said things that resonated with them - much more so than the speeches I heard at the College ceremony.

At the College ceremony, keynote speaker Gloria Allred delivered a speech that seemed more appropriate for a feminism conference than a graduation ceremony. By the end, her speech was so focused on problems facing women in today's society that when she quoted Benjamin Franklin, College senior Paul Mattus yelled out, "Benjamin Franklin - A MAN!"

Allred's speech was, however, at least more in-touch with the graduating seniors than student speaker Jack Cohen's address. Given the opportunity to speak for his classmates at the College ceremony, Cohen delievered an address about the interconnectedness of knowledge, which he likened to digging tunnels toward truth. "We must build tunnels in between tunnels in between tunnels," Cohen urged. It was a well-delivered speech, but it really didn't build much of a tunnel with the audience.

Meanwhile, the Wharton undergraduate ceremony did offer student and faculty speakers who said things relevant to our common experience and future paths. For instance, student speaker Beth Mlynarczyk did a great job of reminiscing about the undergraduate experience that we all shared.

But, in many ways, the speeches were business as usual: Wharton is a great institution, Wharton is about leadership, Wharton produces leaders and other themes that we commonly hear throughout our undergraduate tenure. Consequently, none of them was particularly stirring or inspiring on this special occasion.

I'm very glad that Jodie Foster did come to speak since her address best captured the moment and resonated with the audience more than any of the other graduation and commencement speeches. True, she wasn't the Pope or the President of the U.S., but in the end, she did what she was supposed to do and she did it very well.

Guest Columnist Cezary Podkul is a College senior from Franklin Park, Ill.

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