One of my favorite Christmas carols has always been “Do You Hear What I Hear?” The beautiful melody and hopeful ending inspire reflection and hope for a better world. Commencement ceremonies inspire much of the same thinking in me.
Yesterday, the University of Hawaii at Hilo held its fall commencement ceremony, and the day before we held our first (and I hope only) alumni commencement ceremony for those who graduated during the pandemic and did not get to experience a traditional ceremony. Both events were rich in tradition and goodwill, from the opening kipaepae to the joyful greetings with family afterward. And they were also full of joy and hope for the future.
“Do you see what I see? A star, a star dancing in the night.” Each of our graduates is a star in my eyes. Some have had an easy journey, some a difficult one, but as they walked across that stage, any challenges they may have faced are absorbed in their successful completion of a university degree. I am sure many of them are anxious about the future, but what I saw were people prepared to take on the world. They have honed their communication and analytical skills, they have had opportunities to apply those skills in real-world settings, and they have had opportunities to learn deeply about the world around us and forge a path for themselves to meet the challenges of the future.
“Do you hear what I hear? A voice as big as the sea.” What many of our students also do not realize is the impact that they have had on us and on our university. Every faculty and staff member has a story about a student or several students that change the way we think about life and our work. Maybe it has been a student in crisis that a staff member has been able to help overcome the challenge. Maybe it was a student who found her passion and future career through something learned in class. Maybe it was a student who saw a subject from a very different perspective than the professor, leading that professor to rethink the design of a course.
The great thing about universities is the sheer variety of voices, ideas and perspectives. We all learn from these encounters with one another, and the combined voices that emerge are indeed as big as the sea. Like the sea, some waves of voices are louder or larger than others, but every one of them has a place in our story.
For me, one of those moments came several years ago when I took a group of students to a conference in Washington, D.C. I had hoped that the students would have enlightening experiences in the meetings with other students from across the country and in visiting national monuments.
But one of the students had a truly transformative experience in the hallway of our hotel when he helped one of the housekeeping staff navigate her heavy cart over a threshold. She was so very grateful and thankful that this student — whose own family had been evicted from their apartment when he was in high school — was stunned. He pondered if the depth of her gratitude came from the fact that most guests ignored the staff unless they needed something and did not take the time to really see these hardworking people struggling in their daily duties. He learned so much from that encounter about privilege and caring, and I, in turn, learned from his experience. That moment of human connection redoubled my commitment to always pay attention to the person in front of me, no matter who they are.
I hope our graduates felt seen and heard on our campus and go out into the world not only to provide for their families, but also to see and hear the strangers that they encounter every day. The song ends with the line, “He will bring us goodness and light,” but truly that goodness and light starts with each one of us, and not just around the holidays.
Bonnie D. Irwin is chancellor of the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Her column appears monthly in the Tribune-Herald.
