© N.C. State Student Media
As the semester winds down and seniors look toward commencement ceremony, one senior has a secret he desperately wants to keep from his parents, but it’s not that he won’t be sitting with his classmates awaiting his degree.
It’s that he’ll be entering with Chancellor James Oblinger and will deliver the final student commencement speech to the 2009 senior class.
The Commencement Advisory Committee selected John Mickey, a senior in business administration, to be the student speaker at this spring’s commencement ceremony May 9. The committee notified Mickey with a phone call and a letter, but his parents will be the last to find out.
“Everyone knows but my mom and dad,” Mickey said. “You come to graduation expecting to see your child sitting down with everybody else, but he walks in with the Chancellor. They’ll be shocked and I’ll get a good kick out of it afterward.”
Mickey said the idea of surprising his parents with his role as commencement speaker the day of graduation came mostly from the joy he gets when he’s pleasantly shocked.
“I love surprises,” Mickey said. “Anytime I can squeeze a surprise out of something, I’ll do it.”
Senior Class President Adam Compton said choosing a speaker from the field was difficult, but ultimately the committee wanted to make sure the student speech was something the graduating class could relate to as it leaves the University.
“We wanted the speech to tie some things together and send students out with a mission,” Compton said. “We wanted it to connect the class one last time and I think his speech did that. From a student perspective, John Mickey offered what we were looking for in a graduation speech.”
Still, Mickey said the honor of speaking to his classmates on their last day as an undergrad was an unfathomable opportunity.
“I’ve had a phenomenal experience at N.C. State,” Mickey said. “And I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of great things. I see [being the commencement speaker] as the capstone.”
Mickey also said delivering a final message from a peer to his classmates would become a great memory.
“Being able to share this moment in time with my entire senior class will be sweet.” Mickey said.
The prospect of speaking to a crowd doesn’t shake Mickey’s focus either, he said, because he’s been doing it his entire life.
“Public speaking has never been a huge fear of mine,” Mickey said. “I remember, when I was 16, I had to give a speech for an event I was leading for scouts in front of 1,200 people.”
In college, Mickey said he got further experience with speaking to crowds through being a resident advisor and involvement in Student Government, but that being the student speaker at his commencement would be on an entirely different level.
“Being the student speaker is almost unrankable,” Mickey said of his final honor as an undergraduate in comparison to his other accomplishments, especially in terms of involving his parents.
“Even though my parents don’t know I’m the speaker, it will be something that really communicates to them what I’ve done at N.C. State,” Mickey said. “I can call them and tell them I’m a co-chair for Service Raleigh or I’m running for student body president, but at the end of the day they can’t experience it. This will be something they can experience.”
John Mickey Quick Facts
John Mickey, a senior in business administration, was chosen to be the student commencement speaker at spring graduation May 9.
A few notes about Mickey’s accomplishments at N.C. State –
-2008 student body president candidate, finished second
-Service Raleigh co-chair, 2009
-2009 commencement student speaker