‘Doing the impossible’

Nearly as soon as one graduation commencement ceremony at Weber State University ends, the planning for another ceremony begins. From mailings to scheduling, planning, organization, flowers, scripting and many other aspects, a long list of tasks have gone into planning the 134th commencement ceremony for WSU graduates.
Marsha Richter is the assistant to the president for Special Events and Projects and also chairs the commencement committee. Richter oversees every aspect of the preparations, including working with volunteers, the alumni center, the Dee Events Center staff and many other organizations that are involved in the planning of commencement.
“It’s going great,” Richter said. “We’re down to the two weeks so we’re really hustling right now but things seem to go smooth because we have so many wonderful people on campus and I can’t even say enough of the volunteers that help. We have so many good people that will take the ball in certain aspects of commencement and planning beforehand. Facilities management does a bang-up job as well.”
This semester’s commencement will be held for approximately 1,300 students who have applied to graduate. Among those graduates, Joshua Pedersen will be stepping behind the podium as the student speaker. Pedersen, a communication major with an emphasis in public relations and advertising, said he has had many thoughts about his journey throughout his collegiate career and thought speaking would be a good way to share them.
“I always saw it advertised in The Signpost and I thought that would be a cool way to summarize some of my thoughts about going back to school as a non-traditional student and being fully embedded in my career,” Pedersen said.
Pedersen, now 36 and married with three children, started attending WSU 18 years ago for two years before leaving school for approximately 15 years to work and eventually made his way back to campus.
“So this is 18 years in the making,” Pedersen said. “I’m just so emotional about it, it’s kind of ridiculous how emotional I get but I’m just so excited to take this step in my life. I don’t regret taking any time off or regret anything I’ve done in my career. It’s an overwhelming feeling; it has seemed so out of reach for me for so long that with graduation and speaking it’s now this tangible event and it’s something I savor.”
Other than his wife and children, Pedersen said no one in his family knew he was going back to school. Pedersen has worked with this year’s honorary degree recipient, Pamela Atkinson, who is a long-time health practitioner and community advocate. Pedersen invited his family to commencement, making them believe they are coming to see Atkinson give a lecture.
Pedersen’s family, students and their supporters will hear him speak on “doing the impossible” and reaching goals that to some may seem unattainable.
“It’s really about things that seem ridiculous,” Pedersen said. “I like to make them possible. That’s really what school has taught me, is, hey, it seems impossible to do so many things. You’re pulled in so many directions, you’ve got relationship problems and financial problems, time constraints and it sometimes seems impossible to do all that but I’ve learned that it is possible and you need to do all that and enjoy the ambiguity of that and enjoy the journey just as much as you look forward to the destination.”
Richter said she feels it’s the students who make graduation the event that she, the committee and volunteers put together. Of each aspect of planning, Richter said her favorite part is graduation itself.
“The day of graduation, it is so neat and of all the years that I’ve done this, just to listen to the Pomp and Circumstance and have the graduates come out, you think it would get old but it does not,” Richter said. “It’s just great to see them come out and beaming, it’s really cool. Working with all the neat people and the dignitaries we have come and just the neat, neat people.”
Richter said she also likes that they are now providing each graduate with medallions, which have been given out since graduation in fall 2008, to commemorate the event.
“Even though there are always fires that have to be put out, it is just a joy to see everyone and see how it culminates and what happens,” Richter said. “We’re proud of the graduates, we really are, they’re great men and women and it’s just really cool.”
This semester’s commencement ceremony will take place on Friday, Dec. 11 at 1 p.m. in the Dee Events Center and will be broadcasted on Channel 9 on Dec. 19, from 8 to 10 p.m. The ceremony will be preceded by the Putting Students Through (PST) program, which was designed to honor those who helped the students make it to graduation day, in the Shepherd Union Building Ballrooms at 9 a.m.