CCRI grads told they're `just what RI needs'

By Kelcy Dolan
Posted 5/24/16

Just before more than 1,800 Community of College of Rhode Island graduates took the stage last Friday afternoon, May 20, new president, Dr. Meghan Hughes, asked them to show their pride in CCRI and to show off their talents. Similarly,

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CCRI grads told they're `just what RI needs'

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Just before more than 1,800 Community of College of Rhode Island graduates took the stage last Friday afternoon, May 20, new president, Dr. Meghan Hughes, asked them to show their pride in CCRI and to show off their talents. Similarly, Governor Gina Raimondo told them they are exactly what the state needs right now.

“You better not think of leaving Rhode Island,” Raimondo said at the 51st commencement ceremony. “The grit, determination, wit and discipline that got you here today will get you through the rest of your lives. You are exactly what Rhode Island needs; we need your talent.”

Hughes, in her first commencement ceremony as the school’s new president, said there were three things she knew to be true about CCRI: they are proud to be the state’s only access institution; it has a strong tradition of both liberal arts and workforce training, both of which will continue; and that students are the school’s “greatest asset.”

“Every day I see your display of resilience, grit and strength of purpose. You impress and inspire everyone who works for this college,” she said. “This tenacity is an asset, and it’s one your next college or employer will be incredibly fortunate to have.”

Hughes assured the graduates that their “life stories” are their greatest attribute, to be proud of the obstacles they have overcome to walk the stage. They are what “empower” students to be successful.

One student who shared his life story was graduate Brandon Langdon, the student commencement speaker. Langdon, 26, is a veteran who served six years in the U.S. Coast Guard. After drug-runners ambushed his crew and Langdon’s supervisor died in his arms, he began suffering from PTSD and was discharged.

On Friday he spoke in front of his fellow classmates and family and friends graduating with an associate’s degree in general studies as a member of Phi Theta Kappa and with the highest honors.

Addressing the crowd, he said community college students often do not fit the “traditional mold” of undergraduates; students come from far and wide, but each student has their own story, their own purpose in wanting a degree, and numerous obstacles they had to combat to walk the stage.

“Some of our greatest achievements happen when we overcome our worst failures. I know each and every single one of you have had some form of adversity to overcome but it’s your perseverance, mental toughness and sheer willpower that has brought you to this moment in life,” Langdon said.

He believes that if there is no better gift than giving, then there is “no better satisfaction than earning,” knowing that you have finally achieved your goals through hard work, late nights and far too much coffee, defying all the odds and overcoming all the obstacles.

He said in his own experiences he has been “beaten and broken down,” but it is not what happens to us, rather, how we come back from our mistakes and failures that defines our character. He, like so many of the graduates at CCRI, never gave up, continuing to bounce back despite adversity to finally receive that degree.

Langdon said, “Don’t look at failure as a negative thing. Look at it as an opportunity. An opportunity to reinvent yourself, an opportunity to learn something new, an opportunity to say that no matter what life throws at me, I am ready for the challenge, I will overcome it and I will be a better person for it.”

Hughes said that community colleges across the nation are helping to ensure more Americans are graduating from college, are entering the workforce with a degree, and changing the lives of their families to be the first to walk the stage to receive a degree.

For this to continue, to expand and improve, Hughes encouraged the new alumni to “lift as you climb, to mentor and support our next generation of students as they advance themselves. So come back often.”

In a departure from prior ceremonies, members of the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation, including Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Representative David Cicilline, were in attendance but didn’t speak. Also attending but not addressing the graduates was Mayor Scott Avedisian.

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  • Justanidiot

    What? A bunch of losers with a two year degree who probably get a job flipping burgers because the bigger losers went out and got a PhD and are working the line?

    Wednesday, May 25, 2016 Report this

  • savealife

    those "losers" you're talking about are actually graduate nurses who may very well save your butt one day. I am actually one of those people in that picture you are referring to. I already have a bachelors degree but decided to further my studies and grab a nursing degree along the way. I know plenty who have graduated from CCRI who are working at RI Hospital and Kent Hospital, as well as Butler Hospital, any hospital you can think of in this state. These are all wonderful nurses with a good reputation. Your post reeks of jealousy and "idiocy." I find your name very fitting.

    Wednesday, May 25, 2016 Report this