ISU Legacy Offers Convocation Speech
Saturday's convocation speaker Lisa Tronchetti was following in her parents' footsteps as she walked across the stage to receive her B.S. in agricultural business. Daniel and Susan Tronchetti each received the same degree more than 30 years ago. Tronchetti is one of about 500 who recieved bachelor's degrees in agriculture and life sciences from Iowa State University this spring.
Lisa's convocation speech:
Thank you Dean Wintersteen for the introduction. I would like to welcome everyone joining us today to the Spring 2011 College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Convocation.
We made it! We made it through economics, agronomy, chemistry, biology, microbiology, organic chemistry and every other course that they threw at us to earn our degree. Some of these we flew through with flying colors and some we barely scraped by thanks to the kindness of our professors, but we made it and I want to give a special welcome to the students here graduating today, today is our day to be proud of our accomplishments and thank those who helped us accomplish them.
When I was asked to give the student speech for convocation I was ecstatic and honored. I immediately began racking my brain for ideas on what to say. I started to think about what these four years have meant to me and how I could relate that to what your four years, well, for some of us more, and for some of us less than four years, but regardless, what this time at Iowa State has meant to you. We have all grown and changed and learned and changed again throughout our time here at Iowa State University and I think we can all agree that we have learned and grown a ton.
In addition to racking my own brain I also reached out to others for ideas, and it was in my reaching out that I realized, for me these four years have meant so much to me because of the people. The people of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences have impacted all of us in so many ways, they have been our teachers, class mates, mentors, friends and in some cases, become almost like family.
During my time in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences one of the things that has impacted me the most is the people who have become my mentors and the people who I have had the opportunity to mentor. Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. In my case, mentorship started for me when three more experienced juniors in Agricultural Business met with me and about fifteen other students on the day before classes to show us around campus. However, it was so much more than just a transfer of knowledge from someone with more experience to me, the person with less experience, it was a transfer of friendship and support that made all the difference when I was a freshman coming into a university where I knew almost nothing.
I'm sure we all experienced a similar mentorship when we came to college whether it was through a formal mentorship program or not, we all found people to offer us their knowledge, experiences, friendship and support both in college and in the work force, and this can't end at college, I challenge you to find a new mentor, in fact, find multiple mentors in your new careers and communities, and become a mentor to those who need your guidance in the future, especially if they are a fellow Iowa Stater.
Now, I would like to start with thanking our faculty, staff and administrators of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to stand and be recognized and thanked for their unwavering support and dedication to being the mentors of the students graduating today.
(Applause)
It is also important for us to take the time to thank our mentors who were with us long before we began our adventure at Iowa State. At this time, would our family members and close friends in attendance please stand and be recognized for their constant love, support and mentorship that has brought us to and through graduation.
(Applause)
I am a huge believer that mentorship is the best way to learn and pass knowledge onto others and I am optimistic that through people in agriculture and life sciences collaborating and mentoring people from our generations and through our collaboration and mentorship to the generations following us we will come up with innovations and solutions that will shape the future.
A few weeks ago, upon the urging of my father, one of my mentors, I went to a lecture by Jim Borel, Executive Vice President, DuPont on "How Agricultural Innovation and Collaboration will Shape the Future of the World." He stated some facts that I'm sure some of you have heard before, but I believe are worth repeating. By the year 2050 there will be 9 billion people in the world that will be in need of food and fiber, by that time, those of us graduating today will be approximately sixty-one years old, which is not much older than the average age of the farmer in the United States today. This huge challenge of sustaining 9 billion people can be overwhelming, but through collaboration and innovation of imaginative leaders in agriculture and life sciences, this challenge can be met and will likely be met thanks to the innovations and collaboration of those of us graduating today.
In addition to being innovative and imaginative leaders I also think that is important for us to be optimistic, I have heard many refer to agriculture as the optimistic science. We have developed the technology in the past to feed, clothe and even fuel the world, and it is important that we remain optimistic about our ability to continue to do this for a growing population.
It was Norman Borlaug in 1982 that said "I'm cautiously optimistic, despite all of today's gloom and doom, we will live a longer and better life than all previous generations. But solutions to problems can be synthesized and implemented only by well-informed, clear-thinking minds, with positive points of view. You can't hope to win the game of life with negativism."
I personally, get excited about feeding the world, working in agriculture and life sciences is more than just a job for me, as I am sure it is for many of you joining us today, it is a calling and a passion and I whole heartedly accept the challenge to feed, clothe and fuel the world. As we graduate today, and all walk across the stage, I urge you all to accept this challenge with me.
Thank you.