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Emmanuelle Paluch, who received her dual degree in music business and business administration, cheers for her classmates during SUNY Potsdam’s 203rd Commencement Ceremony. Jason Hunter/SUNY Potsdam
Liam Kennedy Fitzgerald, a music education major, celebrates moments before walking across the stage during SUNY Potsdam’s 203rd Commencement Ceremony. Jason Hunter/SUNY Potsdam
Jaylen Kawenninon Francis-Herne led the Ohen:ton Karikwatekhwen (“The words before all else”) to open the commencement ceremony at SUNY Potsdam. She graduated with majors in community health and sociology. Jason Hunter/SUNY Potsdam
Zoe Gliganic walks through the faculty funnel prior to receiving her bachelor of fine arts degree in graphic design and new media at SUNY Potsdam’s 203rd Commencement Ceremony. Jason Hunter/SUNY Potsdam
Colleen Murphy, a music education major at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music, hugs her father Thomas Murphy before SUNY Potsdam’s 203rd Commencement Ceremony. Jason Hunter/SUNY Potsdam
Camryn Douglas, a double major in arts management and dance, walks across the stage during SUNY Potsdam’s 203rd Commencement Ceremony. Jason Hunter/SUNY Potsdam
Graduating with his bachelor’s degree in psychology, Joseph Agori shakes hands with SUNY Potsdam President Suzanne Smith during SUNY Potsdam’s 203rd Commencement Ceremony. Jason Hunter/SUNY Potsdam
Emmanuelle Paluch, who received her dual degree in music business and business administration, cheers for her classmates during SUNY Potsdam’s 203rd Commencement Ceremony. Jason Hunter/SUNY Potsdam
Liam Kennedy Fitzgerald, a music education major, celebrates moments before walking across the stage during SUNY Potsdam’s 203rd Commencement Ceremony. Jason Hunter/SUNY Potsdam
Jaylen Kawenninon Francis-Herne led the Ohen:ton Karikwatekhwen (“The words before all else”) to open the commencement ceremony at SUNY Potsdam. She graduated with majors in community health and sociology. Jason Hunter/SUNY Potsdam
Zoe Gliganic walks through the faculty funnel prior to receiving her bachelor of fine arts degree in graphic design and new media at SUNY Potsdam’s 203rd Commencement Ceremony. Jason Hunter/SUNY Potsdam
Colleen Murphy, a music education major at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music, hugs her father Thomas Murphy before SUNY Potsdam’s 203rd Commencement Ceremony. Jason Hunter/SUNY Potsdam
Camryn Douglas, a double major in arts management and dance, walks across the stage during SUNY Potsdam’s 203rd Commencement Ceremony. Jason Hunter/SUNY Potsdam
Graduating with his bachelor’s degree in psychology, Joseph Agori shakes hands with SUNY Potsdam President Suzanne Smith during SUNY Potsdam’s 203rd Commencement Ceremony. Jason Hunter/SUNY Potsdam
POTSDAM — Under a sea of umbrellas and a threatening sky, families and friends of SUNY Potsdam graduates celebrated their achievement under the stately Satterlee Hall clock tower on Saturday.
“You did it,” College Council Chair June O’Neill said in her remarks to graduates. Like a turtle on a fence post, Ms. O’Neill said, the graduates didn’t get this far without some help.
“Think of all the people that made this possible,” she said.
Student Government Association President Kylie Wilkins, a junior biology major, recalled lying in a field on campus during the COVID pandemic and looking up at the stars.
“I believe each and every one of us has our very own sky full of stars,” Miss Wilkins said. “Each memory or moment of our lives makes up a star.”
She said those memories and moments are happy and sad, bright and dull.
“My question for all of you today is, when you lay out under your stars, are you happy and satisfied?”
Miss Wilkins urged graduates to choose their path.
“Life is too short to choose things that others want for you,” she said. “That motivation will run out quickly.”
Newly installed SUNY Potsdam President Suzanne Smith pointed out the diversity of the Class of 2023.
“Did you know we have students from 18 states other than New York, including someone from as far away as Alaska,” she said.
Two students were graduating at 19, while a 64-year-old was receiving a bachelor’s degree, and a 65-year-old was getting a master’s degree.
President Smith, who just started working at the college in April, said she had something in common with the graduates.
“We both closed one chapter of our lives and are starting on another one,” she said.
SUNY Potsdam President Suzanne Smith gives her first commencement address to the graduates of the Class of 2023 on Saturday. Jason Hunter/SUNY Potsdam
President Smith said she would be focusing on specific behaviors and attitudes to guide her to success and she said graduates should do the same.
Put yourself out there and do things that make you uncomfortable, she said.
“Learn to embrace the uneasiness because it’s what leads to growth,” she said.
She said that the quad, where the graduation was celebrated, was beautiful because people worked at it and the workers who made it so should be thanked. Show people that they matter, President Smith said.
Don’t be afraid to fail.
“Life is hard. We don’t always get it right and we shouldn’t expect to have things be perfect all the time.”
Fail stands for First Attempt in Learning, she said.
President Smith asked graduates to be good friends and to be a support system for others.
“It’s likely you made a significant impact on someone in your life while you were a student here at SUNY Potsdam and you have no idea,” she said. “Treat everyone kindly and be the kind of person others will strive to be.”
President Smith closed with a quote from A.A. Milne’s Christopher Robin speaking to Winnie the Pooh, “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.”
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