MACHIAS, Maine — Students who graduated Saturday from the University of Maine at Machias were advised to take risks, to take advantage of opportunities that come their way, and to occasionally take the road more graveled.
Donning a cowboy hat, UMM President Cynthia Huggins incorporated the titles of country songs into her address to the school’s more than 70 graduates. Among the songs that she said present sound advice about life was “True Love Travels on a Gravel Road” by Elvis Presley.
Huggins, exchanging the word “life” for “love” in the Presley song, cautioned the graduates that they may not always enjoy smooth traveling but that they might find enjoyment, adventure and invaluable experience by “going somewhere that most people don’t go,” as some may have found out by attending UMM to begin with.
After doffing the cowboy hat a few moments later, Huggins offered the graduates a quote they were more likely to be familiar with from their academic studies. Quoting the poem “Ulysses” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, she told them their journey through life was just beginning.
“As you leave this place today, I hope that you, too, will determine to seek a newer world, and that you, too, will be strong in will, to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield,” Huggins said.
The keynote speaker at the graduation ceremony, which lasted about an hour and 45 minutes, was former state Sen. Mary Cathcart. A delegate to the New England Board of Higher Education and recipient of the school’s 2009 Distinguished Achievement Award, Cathcart told the graduates that their degrees will better position them to succeed in life and could pay dividends even if they remain in the Machias area.
Washington County will continue to develop its blueberry and tourism industries, she said, and its geographic location makes it an ideal place for the development of tidal and wind power projects. She noted that students from Machias Memorial High School recently placed second in a statewide high school competition to come up with an efficient design for wind turbine blades.
“You’re in a perfect place to take advantage of that,” Cathcart said. “[Tidal and wind power] could put Washington County on the map.”
Cathcart said that as a girl growing up in the rural South, she never imagined she would one day get into politics but that she learned to take opportunities as they presented themselves.
“Even if you don’t know today what you really want to do, you will find it,” she said. “This is your life and only you can decide what you want to make of it.”
Graduating senior Michelle Buckley, giving the ceremony’s annual Ivy Oration, told her classmates that each of them will take a little piece of UMM with them to wherever they are headed, but also will be leaving a part of themselves behind.
“We’re going to walk away from here with very different and memorable experiences,” Buckley said. “You are deserving of the many blessings that will come your way.”
Also honored at the event was state Rep. Howard McFadden, who attended UMM in the 1960s when it was known as Washington State College. An Army veteran, member of the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame and former teacher and principal who grew up in Washington County, McFadden was given the school’s 2009 Distinguished Service Award.
Meghan Duff, assistant professor of psychology, received the school’s Buswell Academic Enhancement Award.
Susan Palmer, a 1972 UMM graduate who is a development officer at University of Southern Maine in Portland, received the school’s Distinguished Alumni Award at the Friday night senior dinner.
In conjunction with graduation weekend, the college also unveiled a new paperback history written to commemorate its 100th anniversary. Titled “The University of Maine at Machias, A History: 1909-2009,” was written by UMM history professor Randall Kindleberger.
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