This year’s University graduation will feature three University seniors — Ross Logan, Miriam Lipton and Rachel Cushman — giving speeches to graduates and family.
Ross Logan
Logan found the opportunity to be a graduation speaker intriguing because he felt like he was not alone in his after-college predicament: no job, not going to graduate school and not sure where he was going.
Even though Logan now has a plan for after graduation — he will be interning at the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs and then perhaps going onto graduate school to pursue a master degree in higher education — he still feels that many of his fellow
graduates have feelings of uncertainty.
“Here I was (when I applied to be a graduation speaker), a couple of weeks from graduation: I didn’t have a job, I didn’t even have a place to leave at that point,” Logan said. “There are a lot of people in my position, and they might feel pretty low about themselves. So this speech is not only something to motivate me, but to motivate them as well and help them see the value of their education and of being a University of Oregon graduate.”
Logan wanted his speech to reflect this circumstance.
“I was having a hard lot of trouble seeing how having a college education was setting me apart,” he said. “Basically, my speech is not focusing on the titles you carry, but specifically who you are as an individual and who you are to other people.”
For the past several years, Logan was a resident assistant at the Riley complex in University Housing, and during the past year he was a senior resident assistant in the Walton complex. Logan also participated in the LGBTQA community for two years at the University.
He says that some of his favorite memories at the University stem from his job.
“Being able to directly apply my psychology major and my business minor to building communities within the resident halls was fun,” he said. “(Also,) helping others find their own niche and help them develop their own, personal four year plan to help them find out what they want to do in life.”
Logan said his speech aims to show why a degree at the University is valuable.”College didn’t just prepare you to get a job, but it really helped you develop yourself as an individual and who you are in society,” Logan said. “And job or no job, graduate school or no graduate school, these experiences surmise the real value that you’ll be able to take away from the University of Oregon.”
Miriam Lipton
Lipton was drawn to the opportunity of becoming a University graduation speaker because of her past experiences in public speaking at a young age.
“I ended up winning the district speech contest (in the 8th grade),” Lipton said, who spoke about Duane Syndrome, a birth defect that occurs in the eye. Lipton has it, but she said it’s very slight.
“(The speech) was a great thrill, and really got me invested in public speaking,” she said. “Since then, I have spoken in front of crowds, but I knew that this opportunity would be a great way to share my story the same way I did when I was younger.”
Lipton drew inspiration for her speech from her memories at the University and the feeling of inclusion that she experienced here.
“I begin with telling people that I took a year off after high school because I was scared and didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life,” she said. “But, after working for a year in retail, I realized that not having an education was scarier than not knowing what I wanted to do, so I decided to get an education.”
As a double major in Russian and East European studies and general science, with minors in chemistry and biology, Lipton plans on taking a year off to study for her entrance medical exams and to travel. She studied abroad in St. Petersburg through the University and went to Ecuador with biology professor Peter Wetherwax’s program to study neotropical ecology. After medical school, Lipton plans on practicing medicine outside of the U.S. in either Russia or a Russian-speaking nation.
“I think I would like to do this humanitarian work,” she said. “I feel as though my degree is more like a license for me to go to foreign countries and help others in need.”
Lipton thinks it’s good for future University graduates to keep calm about being asked “What are your plans for after graduation?”
“Instead, just enjoy the moment, and know that, hopefully, if you have worked hard and studied something … you are passionate about, your future path will become increasingly clear,” she said.
Rachel Cushman
Cushman received not only e-mails informing her of how to become a graduation speaker, but she also got encouragement from her mentors.
Cushman, a 23-year-old ethnic studies major, is a member of the Lower Chinook Indian Nation, and she drew inspiration for her graduation speech from her heritage and her experience at the University.
“I come from a community where college is not often attainable or even in the forefront on people’s minds,” Cushman said. “I struggled to get here, to be here, but while I have been here, I have not given up on my dreams.”
Cushman’s time at the University was full of difficult decisions. She lost family members and at one time, experienced homelessness.
“One term during my sophomore year I lost nearly 25 pounds because I had to make a choice: pay my rent and buy my schoolbooks, or eat,” Cushman said, which is an experience she’ll speak about in her speech. “I chose to have a roof over my head.”
She cited family, advisors, professors, community members and fellow students as sources of strength for her to get through difficult patches during her academic career at the University. Cushman fondly remembers pushing for the departmentalization of ethnic studies. She was active in the Native American Student Union, the Multicultural Center, the Women’s Center and the Oregon Students of Color Association, among many other groups.
She also said people shouldn’t give in and keep moving forward, no matter how they feel.
“(Students should) try to set examples for those following in (their) footsteps,” Cushman said.
Cushman said that she will take two years off from school to work after graduation, and then plans to pursue her law degree and ultimately work as a sovereign nations lawyer.
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