Commencement is both an end and a beginning. It is the end of a student’s journey in college, a time to stand with the thousands who shared this journey and to reflect upon it. But it is also the beginning, a time to walk forth into a new life with the thousands who shared the milieu of the University and studenthood. And to motivate graduates for this passage, universities traditionally invite a commencement speaker to speak on graduation day.

Some of the most distinguished members of our society have addressed graduates in universities across the country. Fame isn’t the primary qualification for being a commencement speaker ― it is necessary for the speaker to have affected the world in a significant way, to have proven that through their own actions, they can speak meaningfully about contributing to the world. A commencement speaker should be inspirational ― graduates should feel like doing things not presented as normal choices in the classroom. In this, the speakers should be realistic idealists, both in their words and in what they have done in life. The speakers should also be insightful ― they should say something graduates would otherwise not have thought about or been advised about during college. It definitely shouldn’t be a ten-minute-long truism. 

In other words, they should be all that our commencement speaker last year, former N.C. State and current San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, was not. Rivers told the class of 2012 about the three priorities of his life ― faith, family and football. He sermonized about how “if that [football] doesn’t get you fired up, I don’t know what will,” and talked about his hobbies (“golf, fishing, whatever”) and about playing wiffle ball with his six kids. And for good measure, he threw in a bible verse for the diverse but open-minded graduating class.

This is not what any graduating N.C. State class deserves. Some members of Technician‘s editorial staff graduating this May actually say that they would rather go to Duke’s commencement ceremony and listen to Melinda Gates rather than their own, were the attraction here of Rivers’ caliber. UNC too impresses this year, featuring AOL co-founder Steve Case.

So who is our commencement speaker this year? We don’t know. But UNC and Duke found out about theirs in October and November, respectively. Maybe it’s appropriate why they have speakers that aren’t, well, mediocre … the relevant powers there actually seem to care. It’s not a “big-name-school” thing. The University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 2010 brought in Al Gore, and last year, NC A&T had Michelle Obama. 

A commencement address should be a culmination of one’s time at university, not a review of it, and surely not a floundering formality like last year’s. But there was one thing Rivers said that our student government and administration should take to heart. The quarterback, at the climax of his speech, paused dramatically, building up for a moment of sheer ingenuity. He looked earnestly at his audience, and then spoke his final words: “Class of 2012, go all the way.” To whoever chooses the commencement speaker, go all the way, and make sure that this year’s commencement stands out to be as memorable and special an occasion as such a culmination merits.