Roberts to Graduates: "Find the Right Work for You and Your Soul"

Invited commencement speaker Charlotte Roberts encouraged Guilford graduates to translate Quaker traditions into their future professional and community service work May 9.  

During the ceremony, Guilford conferred degrees on more than 300 students who completed degree requirements in the spring semester. A total of more than 500 students earned degrees during the college’s 172nd year. 

Roberts, a Guilford trustee and president of a management consulting firm, focused on the values she gleaned from her own Quaker upbringing and how she tries to apply them to her work in an uncertain economic period. 

She asked graduates to see “that of God” in everyone, listen deeply to others and keep relationships and other aspects of life simple. 

“Being generous in your relationships by seeing the Divine in others, listening deeply to discover who you are in community and living simply create a formula for weathering the oscillations in any economy,” she said. 

Roberts told graduates to “find the right work for you and your soul.”  She said, “It may take a few years for some of you to know exactly what you’re on this planet to do, but wait with expectation for a profound sense that you are living your purpose.”   

In his charge, President Kent Chabotar challenged graduates to live in the moment.  “… There is no sense always fearing tomorrow or obsessing on yesterday except possibly to learn from it.  But there is great sense in savoring the joys of today and the power of the present,” he said. 

He offered a few suggestions for living in the moment, including: 

• “Ditch the Blackberries and iPhones, watches and atomic clocks, electronic calendars, Lotus Notes and Google mail, and losing focus and conversation in a frenzy of multi-tasking … Pretend you are a Renaissance artist or poet for whom dreams need have no destinations and creativity has no boundaries.”
• “Take a walk … Don’t take for granted the color of azaleas or the scent of roses, the way trees dance with the sun, the thousand points of light in a night sky, and how water lazily meanders in a stream, cascades in a river, or shimmers after a rain shower.”
• “Hang out with your friends who rejoice in each day the Lord has made, hate drama and unhappiness, and radiate positive energy.”
• “Lighten up.  Quit trying to be insulted.  Laugh every chance you get.”    

In their remarks, student speakers Saron Smith-Hardin ’09 and Michael Raper ’09 spoke of the process of applying one’s Guilford experiences to the future.  

“Answering questions, and moreover, questioning answers, something we do well at Guilford, promotes a shift in consciousness, a change,” said Smith-Hardin, a Spanish/Latin American studies double-major from Milford, Conn. Smith-Hardin, who also has a minor in peace and conflict studies, is a four-year Bonner Scholar who coordinated the Glenwood Library ESL service site this year.  

“Change has taken place in you and in me, and as we continue to change, so will the world,” she continued. “The next big change, our departure from Guilford, may seem scary or even sad. But if we approach the challenges ahead with a sense of gratitude for how much we have received, how much we’ve learned and how much strength we have developed in our time at Guilford, that next step is not so scary, nor sad. It becomes a celebration of what we can offer, what our potential is, thanks to our experiences here.” 

Raper, an adult student from Greensboro with a major in psychology and concentration in human resources management, addressed the challenges that many non-traditional college students face while balancing course work with jobs and family obligations.  

“You might wonder if it was worth the time,” he said.  “You might also consider if it was worth the effort.  School is never easy, nor should it be… I think we all know the answer – yes.  When we all decided to go back to school, we didn’t just want the degree.  Like anyone else who’s serious about their education, we wanted to learn.  And what better place to learn than a school that makes teaching its primary mission?” 

Raper will continue to work at Greensboro’s Center for Creative Leadership, where he has been employed for 12 years, while he pursues a graduate degree. He and his wife have a 13-year-old daughter.  

The ceremony also included performances by the Guilford College Choir, directed by Wendy Looker, and the Jazz Quartet. Bagpipers Dave Thomas and Peter Kent ’74 accompanied the processional, and were joined by other bagpipers for the selection “Simple Gifts” in memory of Ruffin Hobbs ’75.  Hobbs played bagpipes at commencement for many years until his death last summer. 

To read all of the speakers’ remarks, as prepared for delivery, click here.  

May 9, 2009