Couric To Williams Class of 2007: "Give A Damn"

By Susan BushPrint Story | Email Story
Katie Couric was the Williams College 218th commencement ceremony speaker.[Photo by Paul Guillotte]
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Williamstown - The Williams College 218th Commencement was tinged with glamour as celebrity journalist and CBS Evening News Anchorwoman Katie Couric delivered a seven-point commencement address to the school's Class of 2007. There were 525 Bachelors of Art diplomas awarded by college president Morton Owen Schapiro. There were 34 students who were awarded masters degrees. The commencement procession was led by Berkshire County Sheriff Carmen C. Massimiano. Couric noted her college connections: Class of '72 alum James Batchelor, her brother-in-law, and her sister Clara, who Couric said spent her junior of college at Williams. The "Two-H" Club She spoke of her early career at ABC News and the need to wear white gloves while changing carbon ribbon on a teletype machine. Massive changes in media and communications have changed the world and the generation that has evolved alongside electronics advances, she said. "While it's wonderful to have the world literally at our fingertips, the tsunami of information at our beck and call has the potential to drown us and actually make us less informed," she said. The average American will have 10 different jobs between 18 and 40 years old, and "working 9 to 5 is as obsolete as the old Dolly Parton song," said Couric. Couric termed the challenges facing the Class of 2007 as "huge." Couric told students to become members of "the Two-H Club," and defined the dual "h's" as "humility" and "hard work." "One CEO told me that if his company's youngest employees simply did what they're told and did it well, they'd automatically leap in the top twenty percent of their class," she said. Many young people believe that they are entitled to positions of power without having put in the necessary time and effort, she said. "So no matter how much potential you think you have, a little humility will serve you well," she said. Persistance And Passion Couric told the students to be passionate: "Remember, Bill Gates started Microsoft loving computers, not money." She shared an anecdote about wrangling an invitation to ABC News Bureau Chief David Newman's office when she was first out of college to impress her next point, persistence. "But let me just add: there is a fine line between persistence and being straight out annoying." "Give A Damn" She told the graduating class to be prepared to be resilient and shared the story of her husband Jay Monahan's struggle with colon cancer and his death from the disease. She told the story of her on-air colonoscopy, which she tackled during her "Today Show" co-host years to promote colon cancer awareness. "On such a happy occasion, this story may be a real buzz kill," she said. "But I want you to be prepared to reach down deep and find the inner fortitude you need after disappointments big and small, and the painful losses that are an inevitable part of life." Couric told the assembly to be fearless and to "give a damn." "My seventh and final lesson is find the joy," she said. "Life goes by in an instant." "My fervent hope for each of you is that somehow your boundless potential will merge with your own internal promise to stay true to yourself, write your own personal narrative, and strive for your unique definition of success." Can't Win Them All Student speaker Auyon Mukharji spoke about his childhood and the evidence that presented itself early on: sports was not going to get him into any college, anywhere. "With this in mind, my mother told me three things the day before I entered high school," said Mukharji. "She told me 'Auyon, don't drink alcohol. It will rot your brain and we both know that's about all you have going for you.'" "She also told me not to speak to girls," he said. "She described them as a distraction. She was right." "Finally she told me, 'Auyon, these next eight years are going to determine the course of the rest of your career. Life is a competition and if you want to succeed, you are going to have to work harder and smarter than everyone around you. Your nose needs to be down to the grindstone and you cannot afford to let up at any point.' And that's precisely how I viewed high school. I worked hard. My teachers liked me. My Parents liked me. I liked me.' "My little brother hated me. I'm told you can't win them all." Where Nothing Makes Sense His speech was blunt: "We attend a school where the most scandalous parties are thrown in a renovated church,a House of God, in a town where the residents vehemently oppose even the idea of fast food restaurants, while everyone's favorite eatery was, rest in peace, Subway." "[We attend] A school where we students spend the entirety of our 'educations' attempting to hide our drinking habits from security only to arrive at the last week before graduation being force-fed alcohol by the college until we are more drunk than we thought humanly possible," he said. "We go to a school where nothing makes sense." Mukharji said that his Williams education has left him with no marketable skills and "I am clearly unfit to enter the workforce at any point in the near future." "And yet somehow, I feel ready. And I think that enthusiasm to venture off into the unknown is entirely a result of my education at Williams." "Williams has made me comfortable with not only the unfamiliar but with that which I don't understand," he said. "Wonderful But Inescapably Incomplete" Class of 2007 member Alan Rodrigues told graduates that life as he knows it is about to end. "On the drive back to Williamstown from Hilton Head, I realized that it would be my last trip back to Williamstown as a student, the end of my ritual of driving up the Taconic to go back to Williamstown," he said. "In more immediate terms, after we graduate we will no longer be, for instance, art history majors, varsity athletes, or writers for the Record [college newspaper]. Whether I like it or not, graduation will intrude and fracture the everyday continuum of Williams life that I have become accustomed to." "My four years at Williams have been wonderful, but they are inescapably incomplete," he said. "As I leave Williams, I will leave with an inseparable sense of fulfillment and regret. For someone who came to college expecting that he would leave knowing everything that mattered, this is a tough pill to swallow." What Beach? Class valedictorian Priyanka Bangard recalled arriving at the campus four years ago as being struck by the beauty of the region, and stricken by another realization. "There were uninterrupted forests as far as I could see, but, oh, my God, there was absolutely nothing here for me to do. I was terrified that I had made the worst decision ever." Bangard admitted that having relied on catalogues to form the opinion of the college, there was a bit of confusion about a reference to "Chapin beach." "I loved the beach so I decided Williams was a good fit for me," Bangard said. "The whole concept of steps equaling beach was alien to me." After an education in India that relied on memorization and little else, and a United States high school experience that was most unsatisfying, Bangard said the educational and intellectual challenges she craved were found at Williams. Carry The Conversations, Take The Values "It was at Williams, for the first time, that I was truly surrounded in all aspects of my life by respect for intellectual curiosity, engagement and discourse," Bangard said. "As I leave behind this sheltered community, where I have grown and matured so much through all of your contributions,challenges, patience,and spiritedness, I hope to carry with me this respect for pursuit of intellectual curiosity and discourse, to continue these conversations we began here, and to take with me the values of this community," said Bangard. "My fellow classmates, I hope that as we step out of the bubble, we don't simply assimilate and adopt the culture of wherever we go next but that we succeed in integrating the values, lessons, and skills we have learned here with the demands of the varied communities and cultures we will settle into." "I hope you won't stop questioning, challenging, pushing and bettering me." Susan Bush may be reached via e-mail at suebush@iberkshires.com or at 1-413-663-3384 ext. 29.
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Williamstown Board Opts to Negotiate with College on Water St. Lot

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff

Newly elected board member Nate Budington, far left, participates in his first in-person meeting along with, from left, Matt Neely, Stephanie Boyd, Peter Beck, Shana Dixon and Town Manager Robert Menicocci.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board on Monday decided to enter into negotiations with Williams College on the sale of the vacant town-owned lot at 59 Water St.
 
But the board members made it clear that the college's proposal to acquire the lot is a starting point, not a final deal that the elected officials would accept.
 
"For the sake of continued conversation, I'm in favor of [awarding Williams the site], but if this process wasn't continued with the opportunity for further negotiation, I wouldn't vote to continue this," Peter Beck said. "I think that next step is necessary for us to get to a yes on this."
 
"I think there's wide agreement on that," Matthew Neely said just before the 5-0 vote to enter talks with the college.
 
Williams was the sole respondent to a town-issued request for proposals to develop the former town garage site, currently a dirt lot.
 
The college's stated intent is to build a new Facilities office and create up to 170 parking spaces at 59 Water Street. That use will allow the college to redevelop the current Facilities building site and parking lot as part of a reconception of the school's indoor athletic and recreation facilities.
 
Under the terms of the RFP, the college's proposal was subjected to review by an ad hoc advisory committee to the town manager, who brought the question to the Select Board. That board will have the final say on any purchase and sales agreement.
 
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