Lees McRae College - Ontaroga Yearbook (Banner Elk, NC)

Page 188 text:

DYKEMAN SPEAKS AT GRADUATION . . . Drawing on her travels to Germany, Greece and China, novelist Wilma Dy- keman told the Lees-McRae College Graduating Class to share the educa- tion they received with their commu- nities and the world. Dykeman also encouraged her au- dience to appreciate the word 'work,' a much rnaligned term todayf' Call- ing it what binds a person to himself and a community or civilization to- gether, she quoted Sir Laurence Oli- vier on 'work,' that blessed yoke without which we cannot live. She told graduates to approach their life's work with discipline and imagination. Discipline is associated in most minds with prisons, parents and professors, she said. But it is discipline that leads people to choose whether to spend their time shoddily or well. Imagination, often associated with the poet's flights of fancy, re- leases us from the prison of ourselves and is not an escape but a plunge into the reality around usf' While visiting the amphitheaters in Greece, Dykeman realized that three centuries before Christ people had been pushing and rushing and hurry- ing to go to the theater to attend there a reflection of the human experience in some of the greatest tragedies that have ever been written and some of the most lancing comedies as wellf' They shared part of the human experi- ence that is still part of our western heritage today, a common experi- ence of learning, enriching the human psychology and the human spirit. While visiting the city of Peking, the 75 acres of temples and palaces and libraries and gardens with some of the greatest artistic creations known to the oldest continuous civil- ization in the world today and realized these treasures had been contained strictly for the royal family in the For- bidden City. It became kind of a symbol for our learning and our challenge and par- ticularly your learning today because you are a part of America in the sense that you are educated. You have a vi- sion of how much more education you need, how much we all need. But it is not just learning for your own little 'forbidden city,' for your own self. It is that of the theater of the Greeks to share, to go out and reach out to oth- ers and make their experience part of the great human experience in your own relationship, not just to your own tiny community, although it must be- gin there, but also to the great broad community of people wherever they may live? sw W 5, ' L , ,E 1-, Za ,, N . ,, Dykeman related she walked through

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DYKEMA ADDRESSES 56th GRADU TIO CLASS Dr. Bradford L. Crain, President, and James A. Stone- sifer, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, conferred 92 associate in science and associate in arts degrees at the commencement exercises. Dr. Wilma Dykeman, noted author and novelist, delivered the com- mencement address at the graduation exercises. VJ i i .A , . S... Picon? Principals in the Fifty-Sixth Lees- McRae College Graduation Exercises IL-Rl: Dr. Bradford L, Crain. Presi- dent: Wilma Dykeman. Graduation Speaker: James Stonesifer. Vice Presi- dent for Academic Affairs. Dr. Crain congratulates ualedictorian Maria Braswell. Graduation 183

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Dr. Brad Crain presents Dr. Dykeman the Lees-McRae coat of arms and a congratulatory certificate recognizing her as Graduation Speaker for 1986. ou have a vision of how much more edu- cation you need . . . , 'There is no job you will undertake that someone has not undertaken before and others will not be undertak- ing but you make that job yours because you are a unique individual and you are addressing that chal- lenge. I suggest to you that a poorly plowed field can fore- tell the downfall of a region. l suggest to you that a corruptly conceived business or industry can suggest the dryrot of a nation and a slovenly cared for home can reveal the downfall of a whole civilization, because our work lives long after we are gone. No matter how small we think our job may be, somewhere fallout occurs not just in our time and place but later on down the road. ipqffwf gig ,I Graduation 185