Take That Next Step, LeVar Burton Tells UML Grads. 'The Rest Will Reveal Itself'
UMass Lowell graduates Gertrude Yankey and Chris DelMonte celebrate outside the Tsongas Center after the ceremony Saturday.
05/17/2015
Lowell Sun
By Amelia Pak-Harvey
LOWELL -- After witnessing a notable transformation of their school over the last four years, a record number of UMass Lowell graduates departed the university on Saturday in the school's commencement.
The class of 3,714 is the university's most diverse yet, with students from 42 states and 85 countries.
Commencement speaker LeVar Burton received roars of applause for his role in Reading Rainbow.
The actor, also famous for his starring roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Roots, credited his mother for the reason he reads today.
"My mother not only read to me when I was a child, she read in front of me," he said.
"To give me that all-important example that reading is as much a part of a human experience as breathing."
His mother knew he'd walk into a world that would be hostile toward him because of his skin color, he said -- so she made sure he received a good education.
"You, too, will go out into the world and will oftentimes be met with hostility for one reason or another," he said.
He offered graduates the same advice his mother gave him: "You deserve to be here.
"The only limits upon you are those that you impose upon yourself," he said.
He told the graduates they won't know where their dreams will take them, but advised them not to worry about the future.
"Life, like walking, is a controlled fall," he said.
"It is not necessary, graduates, to know what comes next. Focus on the step that's in front of you -- the rest will reveal itself."
The commencement was the last for Chancellor Marty Meehan, who assumes presidency of the entire UMass system in July.
In all the jobs he's held, he said, he's never been so honored as to lead UMass Lowell.
"Every single day I am motivated by you," he said. "The men and women who've come to this university looking to work hard and get the tools that you need to achieve whatever you want to achieve in your life."
He noted the UMass Lowell metamorphosis that the Class of 2015 has seen over the years -- including the expansion of Riverview Suites and a new student center.
"I know what a UMass Lowell education can do for you," he said. "Not just today, but for the rest of your lives."
Student speaker Qurat Ann praised the school's faculty for teaching beyond the curriculum.
She transferred to UMass Lowell thinking that she knew exactly what she wanted.
"The truth is, I was lost and I just didn't know it," she said. "I didn't know what UMass Lowell had to offer."
The university also asked graduates what else they wanted to be, she said.
"It asked us what we wanted to stand for in life and it taught us to own that once we discovered it," she said.
"UMass Lowell has given us so much more than just our academic education."
At the afternoon ceremony, mechanical engineering graduate Marina Parker encouraged her classmates that the journey won't always be easy -- but quoting the band Journey, she added, "Don't stop believing."
Holding his niece for a photo outside the Tsongas Center, graduate Nick Crockford said it's great that school's over.
"You do all this work for four years and it's finally done," he said.
Crockford founded his own supplement company, Toreforce Technologies, in January. The exercise-physiology major came to UMass Lowell because it offered a good program for that field, he said.
"It was a lot of fun," he said of the past four years.
"It was definitely worth it."