By Commencement 2020 Team. Published on April 21, 2020

Encouragement from the Past

In 2012, the late journalist Gwen Ifill offered these inspiring words to the graduating seniors:

I’m going to give you some advice, and it’s fairly simple piece of advice, and it is this: Look up. We’re all looking down. We’re all looking down as we walk, as we talk, as we text. How many of you are tweeting about this right now? Look up! Pay attention to what’s going on up here!

If you look up, you will see the chance to speak and to act on behalf of the discouraged and the diminished.

It’s so much simpler to look down. Your feet are down there, our screens are down there. But our fears are down there too. If you look up and away from the fear you will see the destinations you are headed toward, and you will see the opportunities.

Molecular biologist Bonnie Bassler, actor Robert De Niro and PBS “Newshour” senior correspondent Gwen Ifill spoke and received honorary degrees during Bates College’s 2012 Commencement ceremonies on Sunday, May 27.The college’s 146th Commencement activities began at 10 a.m. on its Historic Quad, at Campus Avenue and College Street.
The late PBS Newshour senior correspondent Gwen Ifill spoke and received an honorary degrees during Bates College’s 2012 Commencement ceremonies on Sunday, May 27. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)

If you look up, you will see the chance to speak and to act on behalf of the discouraged and the diminished. If you look up you will see the expectation you set for yourself can only be expectations that we are setting for you today.

If you look up, you will realize you have a responsibility to build a set of steps for those following behind you to climb up. If you look up you will see that a Bates degree is the beginning of your life’s education but not the end.

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