Where I Stand: UNLV graduates on road to success despite challenges

Monday, May 12, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

GRADUATING TO A better tomorrow.

The Thomas & Mack Center was filled this weekend with running, jumping, hustling, howling and happy Rebels as UNLV graduated more than 3,100 students in the Class of 1997. It was also full of parents, grandparents, spouses, children and friends of those who have worked so hard to call themselves college graduates.

As I sat among the academic elite -- an admittedly unfamiliar position -- I considered the many different paths those students in front of me took to their graduation day. UNLV President Carol Harter singled out a few tear-jerking stories of young and somewhat older graduates whose personal triumphs that day were the stuff of which optimism is made. And watching the graduates come to the stage to hear their names called out before their friends and loved ones, it was obvious that there were many more tales of sacrifice, determination and perseverance that could and probably should be shared. No doubt they someday will be.

The first thing that struck me was the necessity for UNLV to break the graduation ceremonies into morning and afternoon sessions. In this age of so many impersonalizations, large school graduations have not been immune. Entire colleges and schools are graduated en masse without so much as a name called out to the excited and equally relieved parent who, in most cases, has labored as long and hard toward a child's graduation as has the student himself. UNLV's answer to that problem has been to hold two ceremonies so those who have done the work and earned the diplomas will not be deprived of that special recognition that singles them out for their moment of satisfaction.

I was also impressed with the diversity of the UNLV student body. Not only was the average age of those graduating among the highest in the nation but, so too, it seemed was the mix. There was no shortage of Hispanics, Asians, African-Americans and other minorities who strode to the stage to be congratulated by President Harter and Provost Douglas Ferraro. The face of higher education in America has changed and UNLV is at the forefront of that change.

After I realized how difficult it would be for me to compete with today's college students, it dawned on me that those who are going to college and obtaining their degrees were, in many respects, far more accomplished than those of us who have gone before. I say that because the challenges our younger generations face in trying to garner the knowledge that will propel them toward success in the coming century seem far greater than those my generation had to overcome.

I know it is unfair and often unwise to compare one age group's problems with those of a prior generation, so I will not attempt that feat. However, it seems to me that the students I saw who have just graduated college have done so in the face of obstacles that might have stumped many of us just a generation ago.

I realize it is appropriate and parentally correct to say these kids have it easier than we did or even our parents did, but the truth may be just the opposite. The fact that UNLV's graduates are older means more people are returning to school after starting families and making their way into the work world. That suggests the pressures on these students are significantly greater than a generation ago when most students went to college out of high school and, usually, with help from their parents.

I am sure parents are still helping to the extent they can but we all know what has happened over the past few decades during which both parents have been forced to work just to make ends meet. That fact alone explains the great relief and exhilaration we witnessed when the parents in the audience gave their collective and raucous cheers when they heard their sons' and daughters' names called out.

I was also struck by the message of Aaron Rosenthal, who addressed his graduating class, not just as the outgoing UNLV student government president, but as a graduate facing the same challenges and uncertainties as those his classmates must face now that they are "out in the world."

It is acceptable behavior on the part of political and lay leaders to focus attention on how ill-prepared for success our young people are today. In some respects that is a valid criticism. However, I suspect, although I can't remember, that my parents' generation said the same thing about my generation as we made our way through the turbulent times of the Vietnam War. Time has proved that, although we have made our share of mistakes, we have taken charge with a certain vigor and creativity that will bode well for those who follow.

There was no time nor any inclination to pay attention to the hand-wringers who dimished our abilities and our determination in those hostile and confusing days when the very fabric of our governmental institutions was threatened with disintegration. Today we have time to listen and I suspect many of our young people are starting to believe what they hear -- that they won't succeed because they can't.

That's why Aaron's words were so heartening. He told his classmates that their common ground as 1997 graduates was that "... no matter what our path has been up to this point, the future will be a challenge."

He mentioned that because "there is much said about the unambitious. Others go further by introducing dismal statistics that say we will be the first generation to not achieve a standard of living above that of our parents. There is much more that they say, but I've stopped listening to the naysayers because I have a different opinion.

"I say we are exceptionally motivated, deeply ambitious and willing and ready to accept any challenge society brings forth. We will go back to our respective communities or on to further our educations, and we will make a difference. We are going to be a generation just as successful as any other. I know this to be true because I have seen from the inside what we are capable of accomplishing.

"We must now take the knowledge that UNLV has given us and put it to good use, for that will be the key to our success. I implore you to join me in disproving the skeptics and reaching for new heights. Whether it be in business, politics, science, athletics, the arts or any other field, we can and we will achieve certain success."

When Aaron finished talking, his classmates applauded their approval. I heard no one say it couldn't or wouldn't be done.

What I did hear, as did everyone else in the Thomas & Mack, was Aaron quote the words of Christa McAuliffe. They are the kind of words that, when followed, have assured the success of each generation of Americans as they prepared to take their place in the world their parents had created for them. They are the words that make us different and keep us proud. And they are words that I am sure every Las Vegan hopes will guide this year's graduates of UNLV.

"May your future be limited only by your dreams."

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