Eagles Take Wing Commencements Launch Ewu Grads Into The Future

He crossed the stage in Bermuda shorts and cowboy boots hidden beneath the gown. His thoughts drifted to his dog, not the ceremony. He hardly listened to the speakers.

Ron Sims graduated from college in 1971 without a clue about his future, he said. The Spokane native never imagined he’d someday become a King County executive. He didn’t even know where King County was.

“How quickly my world changed,” he said Saturday during the first of three commencement ceremonies at Eastern Washington University. “It’s been a rapid, unpredictable ride.”

After working as a lay minister and civic activist, Sims became a member of the King County Council for 11 years. In 1997, he was elected King County executive by the highest margin of victory ever recorded for that office.

Like his experience, the future for today’s graduates is wide open, he said.

“One of you will win the presidency, the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize,” he said, looking at the sea of black caps and gowns. “All of us will be role models.”

More than 1,800 Eastern students received baccalaureate degrees Saturday, and another 412 were awarded master’s degrees.

For the first time, the university held three separate commencement ceremonies so that graduates could invite as many friends and relatives as they wanted.

The Pavilion was packed Saturday morning during the 9 a.m. commencement ceremony for the College of Science, Mathematics and Technology, the College of Business and Public Administration and the Intercollegiate Center for Nursing Education.

Proud parents with video cameras filled the stands as graduates waved to them from below. Friends and relatives also came, some with flowers and gifts.

The world is so different now, Sims told them.

When he graduated from Central Washington University 27 years ago, calculators were as big as keyboards and computers were considered “ethereal,” he said. Microsoft didn’t exist and there was only one phone company. No one imagined that women would play professional basketball.

“In the last 10 years, we’ve learned more than we’ve ever learned before,” he said.

This is the kind of society in which today’s graduates can make a difference.

“Someone’s going to look at you and be like you,” Sims said. “I hope they find a person full of adventure and enthusiasm for the challenges the world presents.”

Parts of his message were echoed in a speech by graduate LaShund Lambert, who was student body president this past year.

“We can shape our future or let our future shape us,” said Lambert, who also spoke of the importance of passion and the willingness to make a difference.

As he challenged his fellow graduates to “push ‘til the end,” he asked them to stand up, put their hands over their hearts and say out loud: “I dedicate my life to all of those who refuse to dedicate their lives to their own benefit.”

Graduation day isn’t just for the students, said EWU acting President Niel Zimmerman. It’s also for the parents, friends and teachers who helped them get to where they are.

“This day was a long time coming for all of you,” Zimmerman said. “Today you’ve received something that nobody can take away from you.”