‘Seek your path with passion,’ former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tells graduates in SUU’s Class of 2022

Written by Jeff Richards
April 29, 2022

CEDAR CITY — “Seek your path with passion, with vigor and with purpose,” former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged some 2,300 Southern Utah University graduates during the school’s 123rd annual commencement ceremony.

L-R: Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and SUU interim president Mindy Benson greet graduates of Southern Utah University’s Class of 2022 before the commencement ceremony, Cedar City, Utah, April 29, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

“I once heard it said that commencement is a funny thing to call the end,” Rice said during her keynote speech, adding, “Well, it is an end of an important journey. But it is the beginning of the many chapters that you have yet to write.”

“The education you leave with today will allow you to embrace what lies ahead,” Rice said. “And it’s powerfully equipped you to effect change. Don’t be afraid to use it. Believe in what is possible. Advances in human history were built upon the hopes and dreams of people who turned the impossible into the inevitable. It is your turn now.”

The hourlong ceremony was held inside the America First Event Center, after the graduates and faculty had made their traditional procession across campus, starting from the stately carillon bell tower.

The program’s other two speakers were SUU interim President Mindy Benson and student Laurel Buxton, who was graduating with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies. It is believed to be the first time in the school’s history that all of its graduation speakers were women.

During her welcoming remarks, Benson gave a short history lesson about the early settlers’ tireless efforts to gather building materials and construct the school’s first building in 1898.

“The building now known as Old Main was completed in time to preserve the school in our community,” she said. “Now, if you don’t know that story by now, you have not been paying attention but may I suggest you watch ‘Back up the Mountain,’ available to view on our website.”

“There will be a quiz,” Benson joked. “After all, it’s our 125th anniversary.”

Graduates and faculty members make processional across campus before Southern Utah University’s commencement, Cedar City, Utah, April 29, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Benson then touched on the theme of going back up the mountain as she challenged the graduates to have the courage to venture outside their comfort zone.

“Graduates, as you face your personal mountains in the months and years ahead, challenge them head-on,” she said. “Have the courage to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Persevere despite obstacles, and do something uncomfortable every day. Risk making mistakes. Fall down and keep getting back up. Enjoy the journey and the struggle going back up the mountain. That’s where your growth is. And don’t forget to savor the view from the mountaintop. It will make it all worth the struggle.”

Added Benson: “Always remember, there are many people cheering for you and wanting to help you make it to the top, including all of us, your Thunderbird family.” 

Following a stirring musical rendition of “Climb Every Mountain” by combined SUU choirs, Buxton spoke next, recalling her mother telling her in her kitchen four years ago back in her hometown in Arkansas, “This is the kind of school I raised you to attend.”

“My mom’s words echo through the quiet house, stretching into the four years that lay ahead,” Buxton recalled. “Four years that will show me time and time again, she’s right.”

Southern Utah University graduate Laurel Buxton speaks during commencement ceremony, Cedar City, Utah, April 29, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

“When the class of 2022 walked into the bell tower in 2018, we did so amidst a remarkable summer storm, a torrential downpour – hail, thunder, lightning, wind, you name it,” she added. “But the band played on, our parents cheered and we watched the most transformative years of our lives come into view. It was a grand entrance, to say the least.”

“The journey we’ve taken over the last four years is not falling short of that,” Buxton said. “The world has changed dramatically from the time we first walked under the bell tower to now. We are graduating in unprecedented times that have changed our lives on a global and individual scale. Yet here we are persisting. We are living the hero’s journey.”

Buxton also spoke of her own health scare when she was diagnosed with cancer:

When I received the date of my surgery, we went back up the mountain, we drove up the canyon past the ‘C’ until we were overlooking Kolob Terrace. And standing on the summit looking down at Zion National Park in the distance, Cedar City stretched out in the valley behind me, I recalled my mom’s words from that night in the kitchen just a few years ago, ‘This is the kind of school I raised you to attend.’ What my mom said all those years ago is not necessarily about the buildings on campus. It’s about what they contain. Southern Utah University is home to a tight-knit, welcoming and empowering community.

“As this community parts ways today, know that your journey is just barely beginning,” Buxton added, noting that the past four years have contained both worst and best moments.

“Despite the trials and challenges that have been thrown our way, time and time again, we have created a community that is nothing short of exceptional,” she said. “We have stood together with resilience and will continue to do so long after graduation. What we found won’t disappear. We have transformed from a group of strangers who walked under the bell tower in pouring rain to fundamental figures in one another’s lives.”

“Congratulations Class of 2022,” Buxton concluded. “Your journey is just getting started.”

Also during the program, class valedictorian Greyson Chamberlain was recognized. Chamberlain, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in finance from the Dixie L. Leavitt School of Business, plans to pursue a career in corporate banking. He and his wife Lexie are among the 75 married couples graduating together in SUU’s Class of 2022.

According to Benson, the 2,309 diplomas awarded this year included 1,504 bachelor’s degrees, 601 master’s degrees and 204 associate’s degrees. The conferring of diplomas took place in separate convocation ceremonies later in the day at the respective colleges and departments across campus.

Also of note, the graduating class includes students from 42 U.S. states and 39 countries. The age range of graduates is from 16 to 67 years old, with the average being 27.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivers keynote address during Southern Utah University’s commencement, Cedar City, Utah, April 29, 2022 | Photo courtesy of SUU Public Relations, St. George News / Cedar City News

Rice, who received an honorary doctorate in public administration from SUU during the ceremony, also talked about her own family’s love of learning.

Rice said her paternal grandfather, a sharecropper’s son in Alabama, had begun attending school at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa but then had to talk to school officials when he ran out of money after his first year.

“He said, ‘Well, I’m out of cotton.’ And they said, well, then you’re out of luck,’” Rice said. “But thinking quickly, he said, ‘How are those boys going to college?’ They said, ‘Well, they have what’s called a scholarship, and if you wanted to be a Presbyterian minister, you could have a scholarship, too.’”

“My granddad, he did not miss a beat. He said, ‘You know, that’s exactly what I had in mind,’” Rice added. “And my family has been college educated and Presbyterian ever since.”

Rice also told the graduates to “set aside any sense of entitlement.”

“Now, more than ever, we must recognize the importance of education in an ever-changing world,” she added. “It is the only thing that is truly transformative.”

“I want to challenge you to be active in the world around you, drawing on your education to make that world better,” Rice added. ” There is no better antidote to entitlement than to engage with those who have less than you do, who, for whatever reason, are living troubled and difficult lives. When you reach out and try to help those who have less than you do. You will never again ask, ‘Why don’t I have?’ You will ask, ‘Why do I have so much?”

“You do not have to have a grand plan to make this work,” she said. “It begins with little things. But they add up to big differences.”

Also receiving an honorary degree was Eric O. Leavitt, who was recognized with a doctor of public service degree for his contributions to SUU and the Cedar City community.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Richards, a native of Salt Lake City with family roots in Panguitch, lived in Moab for 20 years before joining St. George News in 2017. Jeff is a longtime journalist and secondary school teacher. He and his wife Penny are the parents of five daughters. They also have three young grandsons. Jeff and his family enjoy swimming, camping, sightseeing, reading, and taking pictures.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @stgnews@moabjeff@stgnewssports

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