Life after graduation can be a confusing and stressful transition for many college students, but Dr. Karen Longman believes the secret to life can be summarized in one interjection: WAHOO!
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” asked Longman, quoting poet Mary Oliver May 3 at Bluffton University’s 115th annual commencement ceremony.
WAHOO! isn’t just a shout of celebration on graduation day, but also an acronym to guide students as they open a new chapter of their lives, she told Bluffton’s class of 2015.
“Wherever you are, be there until you leave,” the program director and professor of doctoral higher education at Azusa (Calif.) Pacific University said. “Our lives become what we make of the moments we have,” she added, stressing that planning for the future doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be living in the present as well.
The second piece of the acronym challenged graduates to always be attentive to the little things in life. “Little things are big things,” Longman said, “and choosing to act with integrity in the little decisions matters in all kinds of ways.”
For example, people get, or don’t get, jobs based on how they treat the receptionist when walking into an interview, she told the roughly 254 students receiving a bachelor’s or master’s degree at commencement.
Third, she continued, be led by the Holy Spirit at all times. “I believe that there is nothing more important than keeping your conscience clear to be able to hear the whispers (and sometimes shouts) of the Holy Spirit,” she said.
She related the recent story of a CEO in Seattle who cut his million-dollar salary by more than 90 percent—an act she believes stemmed from a whisper by the Holy Spirit, as the CEO once attended a Christian college.
“One student, one graduate of a Christian university similar to Bluffton in many ways, who believes that the gap between the wealthy and those who are struggling is too great, and too unjust. And he’s going to do something about it. Who among you will pick up that same baton?” she asked.
The first “o” in WAHOO! stood for “obedient,” as Longman urged graduates to be obedient to their passions and to use them to do good for the world. “Every one of you has been uniquely ‘wired’ to make a difference for good on planet Earth,” she said. “And when we look at the mess that so much of this world is in, we need every one of you to understand your gifts and your passions, to be ready, motivated and mobilized to make a difference with ‘the one wild and precious life’ you have been given.”
Finally, she suggested that the only way to fully use these gifts is to sometimes “get out of the boat.” “We grow when we are stretched, and we tend to stagnate when we protect ourselves in our comfort zone,” she said. For many students, she added, choosing to attend Bluffton was a daring act of testing greater waters.
Longman said she hoped the five “fingerprints” she outlined in her acronym would stick to the graduates as they begin the next chapter of their lives. “The world needs you to be fully alive to how God has gifted you, fully obedient to the nudges and direction of the Holy Spirit, fully present to the moments you are in, and fully courageous,” she said.
Also at commencement, the university:
· Granted emeritus status to Dr. Michael Edmiston, professor of chemistry and physics and chair of the natural and applied sciences division. A 1972 Bluffton graduate, Edmiston returned as a faculty member in 1978 after completing his doctorate at Michigan State University and a two-year stint at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Many of his students have gone on to become doctors, college professors and industrial and government researchers.
· Recognized Morris Stutzman for his service on the board of trustees. The Wooster, Ohio, attorney is leaving the board next month after 33 years, the last 14 as chair
Photo cutline: Dr. Karen Longman (center) from Azusa (Calif.) Pacific University addresses Bluffton University graduates during commencement exercises May 3.
