CCRI grads told to follow passions, build for tomorrow

John Howell
Posted 5/19/15

Bill Flanagan – son of Dr. William Flanagan, the first president of the Community College of Rhode Island – was back on campus Friday as the commencement speaker and to highlight the culmination …

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CCRI grads told to follow passions, build for tomorrow

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Bill Flanagan – son of Dr. William Flanagan, the first president of the Community College of Rhode Island – was back on campus Friday as the commencement speaker and to highlight the culmination of the college’s 50th anniversary celebration.

“I expected some déjà vu, but this is like reincarnation,” he told the graduates, dignities and family and friends who packed the Vincent A. Cullen Field House.

Flanagan, who has made a career out of writing and music, has worked for the last two decades at MTV.

Flanagan recalled planning of the college that was built on the 80-acre Knight Estate and the divided opinions over the design of the structure. Royal Knight, the great grandson of Robert Knight of B. B. & R. Knight Company and owner of the Pontiac Mill, donated the land for the college’s main campus to the state.

Flanagan said some criticized the idea of putting everything under one roof in a large megastructrure – “what looked like a beached aircraft carrier” – and some people called it ugly. “My father said, ‘We’re not building this institution just for today. We’re building it for the students of the 21st century.’ And here you are.”

That mix of recollection and celebration of today’s achievements and tomorrow’s opportunities were echoed throughout the commencement ceremony.

Gov. Gina Raimondo told the graduates how the state needs their talent, and that the state will be better for it.

“Rhode Island will be a better place,” she said. “Are you ready to do that?” Cheers followed.

Sen. Jack Reed called the graduates a special group, as they are setting the pace for the next 50 years. Words of encouragement and congratulations also came from Treasurer Seth Magaziner, Lt. Gov. Daniel McKee and Barbara Cottam, chair of the Rhode Island Board of Education.

Marching with the graduates were members of the college’s first graduating class, the class of 1966.

As different as the college is today from when it opened in 1964, Sondra Pitts said, “in the most important respects they are really the same. CCRI is still the best choice when one’s options are limited for whatever reason. CCRI is still the best choice for making progress while determining how far to go in higher education to achieve in life what one wants to achieve.” Pitts is co-chair of the anniversary committee and a member of that first graduating class.

In conferring degrees, CCRI President Ray Di Pasquale told the more than 1,850 recipients that they are “part of the history of this great institution,” and that they would be joining the ranks of 64,000 alumni.

As Di Pasquale has done at prior commencements, he shared the stories of some of the graduates, placing the spotlight on a young woman, Aia Jean Taguinod, who left her native Philippines to come to this country on her own; Rosa DaLombra of Cape Verde, who came to this country and will return this summer as a recipient of an award to help deliver clothing, food and school supplies; Anna Sherman who was diagnosed with ADHD in middle school and is graduating with a 4.0 GPA; and Elizabeth Husted, who had an unsuccessful start at Rhode Island College and then at CCRI overcame her fears of the classroom. She will go on to Bryant University.

As the commencement student speaker, Husted said she realized she could achieve anything if she worked hard enough. She said Professor Margaret Connell and Laurie Sherman “taught me never to limit myself.”

Flanagan also wove themes of unrestricted opportunity and following one’s passion into his remarks.

“I’ve spent the last 20 years working at MTV,” he said. “My father, our distinguished president emeritus, thought that I was wasting my time when, instead of doing algebra, he’d find me lying on the floor listening to The Who. But it turned out that I was doing career preparation. You see? You never know.”

And to emphasize that one never knows where one’s passion leads and whether, in fact, it could be to a job, Flanagan said, “There are so many jobs now that were unimaginable a generation ago. Blogger. Code writer. Drone pilot. Gene editor. Online music curator. Digital effects engineer. Vine star. Genome mapper. Social media consultant. Hip-hop mogul. Selfie-stick salesman.”

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