students addressed by underwater explorer
Monmouth University
students addressed by underwater explorer
BY SHERRY CONOHAN
Staff Writer
CHRIS KELLY staff Monmouth University graduates were able to stay dry during their graduation ceremony thanks to the event moving to the PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel.
Climb the tallest mountain. Don’t bother with the small ones. And have big dreams.
That was the advice underwater explorer Robert D. Ballard imparted to the 1,085 students graduating at Monmouth University’s commencement exercise on May 19. Ballard’s achievements include the discovery of the Titanic.
For the first time, the ceremony was held at the PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, rather than on the Great Lawn of the Monmouth University campus in West Long Branch. The change was made after a pouring rain drenched the graduating students and their guests at last year’s commencement.
It rained again this year, and students had to use umbrellas or get wet as they queued up in the parking lot before taking their seats inside the pavilion. When Ballard stepped up to the podium to deliver the commencement address, the skies opened up and a torrential rain came down, driving those seated on the lawn into the packed pavilion.
Ballard took all the commotion in stride with good humor.
"I apologize for the water, but it follows me everywhere I go," he quipped.
Ballard, who has succeeded in tracking down numerous other significant shipwrecks, including the German battleship Bismarck, John F. Kennedy’s World War II vessel PT-109 and the American aircraft carrier Yorktown, sunk in World War II’s Battle of Midway, told the students that all journeys in life begin with a dream.
"Everyone should dream and then try to make those dreams come true," he said. "For me, my dreams dealt with adventure. My heroes were people like Marco Polo, Capt. James Cook and mythical characters out of Jules Verne’s novels. One of my major heroes came from ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ with its nuclear submarine Nautilus and its great Captain Nemo.
"My biggest dream," he confided, "was to build a submarine myself and sail around the world underwater — to be Captain Nemo and look out of his magical window to see things one had never seen before."
Ballard urged the students to put any fears they have aside as they venture forth, for life is the act of "becoming."
"You never arrive. It’s the journey that counts," he said. "Isn’t it amazing how much time and energy mountain climbers spend planning and executing their ascent of Mount Everest and the meager amount of time they spend once they reach the summit taking in the view. It was the act of climbing that took them to the top, not a desire to get there and stay there."
Ballard said the most important thing about the mountain the students choose to climb is that it should be very high.
"I find that it is just as hard to climb a 1,000-foot mountain as it is to climb one 30,000 feet tall," he said. "People that climb tall mountains get up at the same time in the morning and go to bed at the same time in the evening as those who climb little ones. They have to put up with the same amount of trials and tribulations each day. It is just as easy and just as hard to climb a tall mountain as it is to climb a small mountain, so why not go for it?"
If their dream is a big dream, they’ll need help, he added, so he encouraged students to be part of a team. He also advised against taking shortcuts by climbing over the bodies of others.
"If you take that route, your time at the top will be short-lived," he warned, "and making it to the summit of your next mountain may be blocked by the very people you climbed over last time."
Ballard told the students not to be daunted by failures along life’s journeys.
"Every major adventure I have been on over the years has tested me severely with violent storms and the loss of equipment," he related. "My first voyage to find the Titanic ended in failure. My first expedition to find the Bismarck failed as well. The test you must pass is not whether you fall down along the way, for you surely will. The important test is whether you can get back up after being knocked down and risk failure again."
Ballard was one of three recipients of honorary degrees conferred during the graduation by Paul G. Gaffney II, president of Monmouth University.
Ballard, who is president of the Institute for Exploration and the Immersion Institute at Mystic Aquarium and Institute for Exploration in Mystic, Conn., and director of the Institute for Archaeological Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, was given an honorary doctor of science degree.
The other two recipients of honorary degrees were Janet Emig, a professor emeritus of Rutgers University, where she directed the English education program in the School of Education, and Richard S. Sambol, president of the Sambol Cos. in Toms River, which he founded, and a life trustee of Monmouth University. Emig was awarded an honorary doctor of education, while Sambol was awarded an honorary doctor of public service.
The Alumni Association Academic Achievement Award for the graduating student with the highest grade point average went to Kristin Noel Dutch, of Eatontown, a communications major, who posted a 3.99 grade point in earning a bachelor of arts. She was presented a plaque and cash award of $2,000 by Marti S. Egger, a Monmouth University trustee and president of the alumni association.
The Student Government Association Award, which goes to a student exhibiting outstanding leadership, went to Matt (Matthew Arthur) Soto, of Ocean Township, the president of the Student Government Association. It was presented by Mary Anne Nagy, vice president for student services and a Monmouth University alumna.
The distinguished teacher award for 2004 went to Judith Nye, of Elberon, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, who has taught at Monmouth University since 1987.
Eric David Bonham, the permanent president of the graduating class, delivered a few words on behalf of the students in the form of a letter written to the university. He said that while his graduation was a joyful occasion, he also was sad that he would no longer be a student.
"I’m confident," he added, "that the professors have prepared me for the next level."
Bonham said the class had made a donation to the university’s Guggenheim Library.
He attended the School of Business Administration and received a bachelor of science degree.
When the students went up to the stage to receive their diplomas, as each graduate’s name was read aloud, many raised their scroll over their head in a gesture of triumph and happiness.
There were lots of cheers from friends and families for many of the graduates when their names were called, with a particularly warm round of applause for Hortense Thomas West, 82, of the Elberon section of Long Branch, when she received her associate in arts degree, one of the three associate degrees given.
West, who is majoring in communications, expects to receive her bachelor of arts by August after taking two three-hour courses this summer to complete the final six hours of study necessary to meet the requirements for her bachelor’s degree.
A total of 1,470 students earned degrees in last July and August and this January and May — 891 undergraduates and 579 graduates — in the 2004 academic year.
The degrees awarded to those participating in the graduation ceremony at the arts center included the three associates degrees, 737 bachelor’s degrees and 345 master’s degrees.

