UMM president gives rousing speech to grads

MACHIAS – The 115 members of the University of Maine at Machias’ Class of 2006 heard words of advice Saturday from Robert Goheen, Theodore Roosevelt, Yogi Berra and Ellen Burry.

Presiding over the university’s 95th commencement, President Cynthia Huggins drew from those individuals to provide the most challenging words from the podium inside the Frederic A. Reynolds Center.

First, she harkened to Roosevelt’s famous observation that, “A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.”

She tossed in the oft-quoted words of Goheen, the ex-Princeton University president, “If you feel that you have both feet planted on level ground, then the university has failed you.”

Then came one of Berra’s sayings from baseball, “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

And lastly came words from Ellen Burry, Huggins’ own grandmother from the North Carolina mountains. The woman who never went to college was forever telling Huggins, UMM’s first-year president, that if she just believed in herself, she could do anything.

Huggins mixed all those observations and delivered a message of inspiration in her charge to the new graduates: “Don’t just stand there with your feet comfortably planted on level ground. Believe in yourself and don’t stop. Steal the railroad. Take the fork!”

Huggins’ words were heart-felt as she shared details of her grandmother’s life and her own life, both growing up “dirt poor” in North Carolina.

“She encouraged me to study hard, to read good books, to stand up straight, to make my bed, to eat my vegetables, to practice my clarinet, to apply to college, to go to college, to graduate from college, to make a difference in the world, to believe in myself and give it my best effort.

“That’s the gift that Ellen Burry gave to me, and that’s the gift that I would like to see you give to yourselves,” Huggins recounted. “Trust yourself and keep going.”

A year ago, when she delivered the charge as UMM’s acting president, Huggins spoke about her mother, also named Ellen Burry. Her mother since has moved from North Carolina to Huggins’ home in Machias. She has joined in the Down East community with ease.

Other portions of Saturday’s commencement were also about community, one of UMM’s hallmarks.

Donald Soctomah, the Passamaquoddy Tribe’s historian, was the formal commencement speaker. He spoke about Down East’s links, past and present.

“Not far from here is the place where the Passamaquoddy ancestors wrote their ideas and thoughts on the ledges 6,000 years ago,” Soctomah said. “Today their descendants write their thoughts on papers and computers in the classroom. Places like the university and the ledges, where these thoughts are written, represent what is important for future generations.”

Soctomah received an honorary doctorate of humane letters, and Irvin “Buzz” Caverly, former director of Maine’s Baxter State Park, received an honorary doctorate in science. Those presentations were made by Jean Flahive, a University of Maine System trustee from Eastport.

Caverly, who recently ended a 46-year career, noted the longstanding link between UMM’s recreation management program and Baxter State Park “We have a mutual interest in resource management,” he said.

He asked the audience to recognize Rupert Baxter, who was representing the family of park founder and former Maine Gov. Percival Baxter.

Two Distinguished Service Awards were presented to a pair of Machias women, Jane Hinson and Wilma Ingalls.

Professor Gene Nichols provided musical accompaniment for the soloists – Brandi Alley with “True Colors,” Amy Dumas with “Moment” and Erin O’Callahan with “The River.”

Nichols then asked the newly reformed UMM Ukulele Club – revived by Nichols this spring since its first formation 80 years ago. They played “Happy Trails” – a send-off to the graduates and a nod to UMM’s late president, John Joseph, who died on the day of the university’s 2003 commencement.

Saturday’s commencement opened with Huggins acknowledging the passing last October of Frederic A. Reynolds, UMM’s president emeritus who had a 36-year career on campus.