Gwen Ifill, moderator and managing editor of “Washington Week” and senior correspondent for the “PBS NewsHour” will deliver Wake Forest’s 2013 commencement address on Monday, May 20.

Ifill has covered six Presidential campaigns and moderated two vice presidential debates – in 2004 between Republican Vice President Dick Cheney and former Democratic Senator John Edwards and in 2008 between Democratic Senator Joe Biden and Republican Gov. Sarah Palin. She is also the best-selling author of The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.

“Her record of achievement as a journalist and author, a significant career of reporting on current events both national and international and commitment to straightforward dialogue mean so much to the Wake Forest community,” President Nathan O. Hatch said. “Ms. Ifill’s career provides an example for young women and men at Wake Forest, and gives her great currency with our graduates, their families, and our faculty and staff.”

Before joining PBS in 1999, Ifill was chief congressional and political correspondent for NBC News, White House correspondent for The New York Times, and a local and national political reporter for The Washington Post. She reports on a wide range of issues from foreign affairs to U.S. politics and policies, interviewing national and international newsmakers. Her journalistic work has been honored by the Radio and Television News Director’s Association, Harvard’s Joan Shorenstein Center, Ebony Magazine and Boston’s Ford Hall Forum.

She currently serves on the boards of the News Literacy Project, the Committee to Protect Journalists and she is a fellow with the American Academy of Sciences. A native of New York City, Ifill graduated from Simmons College in Boston.

“I am certain Ms. Ifill will find a warm and enthusiastic welcome at Wake Forest,” Hatch said.

Also joining Wake Forest for commencement weekend will be Baccalaureate speaker Dr. Carolyn Y. Woo, president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. She came to CRS in January 2012 after a distinguished academic career.

“Dr. Woo has led a life and career characterized by academic achievement at the highest levels, strategic and visionary leadership as well as deep moral and ethical commitments that have inspired and directed both her personal and professional life,” Hatch said. “Integrity and success are not trade-offs in her career.”

Woo speaks often on issues around corporate citizenship, ethical business and individual integrity. She was born and raised in Hong Kong and immigrated to the United States to attend college at Purdue University, where she received her B.S., M.S.I.A. and Ph.D. degrees. She was the first female dean to chair the accreditation body for business schools and directed its initiative for Peace through Commerce.

The Wall Street Journal prominently featured Wake Forest for its national leadership in making personal and career development a mission-critical component of the college experience.

The article, “Colleges Get Career-Minded,” appeared the day after commencement. It highlighted the relevance of Wake Forest’s Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise minor in today’s job market, the importance of engaging faculty in preparing students for life after college, and the demand for an ongoing national conversation as evidenced by the recent “Rethinking Success” conference on campus.

Andy Chan, Vice President for Personal and Career Development, and Lesley Gustafson (’12), a political science-computer science double major, were quoted in the article, which appeared on page A3.

Additionally, President Nathan Hatch was featured in a related WSJ blog post about the relevance of liberal arts to CEOs.

“The transition from college to career has always been difficult for students, and the world of work has been fundamentally transformed,” Hatch said. “I’m honored that The Wall Street Journal publicly recognized Wake Forest as a leader in creating a supportive ‘college-to-career’ community of faculty, parents and advisors. We believe personal and career development are integral in guiding and inspiring our students to lead lives of purpose.”

Few people were more excited to hear Wake Forest’s commencement address than graduate Alison Moy. That’s because keynote speaker Charlie Ergen, the chairman of satellite broadcaster DISH Network Corporation and EchoStar Communications Corporation, soon will be Moy’s new boss.

Everyone at Wake Forest shares a special bond, but seniors Curtis Vann and Emily Roach have more in common than most from the Class of 2012. They were born to be Demon Deacons.

Not only do both come from a long line of Wake Foresters dating back to the old campus, their fathers became best friends and roommates in Taylor Hall more than 30 years ago.

On May 21, the lifelong friends received their diplomas from Wake Forest, just like several generations before them.

Old Gold & Black legacies

Four generations of Vann family alumni: Curtis' great, great uncle Willard, his grandfather; Bob (holding Curtis); and his father, John.

Curtis is a seventh-generation Wake Forest student following in the footsteps first laid by his great, great, great grandfather Alexander Russia Vann, who graduated from the old campus in 1847 – just 13 years after the college was founded. His great grandfather, Herbert Vann (‘15) became a legendary physician and professor at Wake Forest School of Medicine; his grandfather Robert “Bob” Vann (‘BS 42, MD ‘45) remains a highly respected physician, clinical researcher, and entrepreneur.

With more than a dozen ancestors spanning the next 170 years of Wake Forest history – including his father, John Vann (’80) – many prospective college students would feel immense pressure, but not Curtis.

“My family always supported, respected and loved Wake Forest and I always knew I wanted to go,” said the political science major from Bristol, Tenn. “I never felt pressure.”

From left: Gerald, Stephanie, Davis, and Emily Roach, and Curtis, Karen and John Vann

Neither did Emily. Originally from Raleigh, N.C., her impressive Old Gold & Black lineage began with her great grandfather, Joseph “Joe” Roach (‘28), followed by her grandfather, Linville Roach (BA ’53, JD ’55) and great aunt Alease Roach Sherron (‘54). Her parents, Gerald Roach (BS ’80, JD ’82) and Stephanie Decker Roach (’81) met in an English class in the late 1970s. Other family members are also alumni.

In fact, both of Linville and Mary Jon Roach’s children – Gerald and Virginia “Ginny” Roach Lawson (’83) – and all four grandchildren are Demon Deacons, three of them in the Class of 2012. Emily’s brother, Davis (BA ’09, JD ’12), became a Double Deac upon hooding from the law school. Their cousin Michelle Lange received her BA in German this year; their other cousin Allison Lange graduated in 2010.

“I love Wake Forest because it’s something my whole family shares together,” said Emily, an elementary education major. “There was never pressure. It was just something we all loved.”

Rah, rah, Wake Forest, rah

Curtis and Emily grew up visiting the Reynolda campus, attending football tailgates, and watching basketball games. In fact, some of their favorite shared memories involve sporting events.

They were small when legendary center Tim Duncan (’97) played for the basketball team, but both recalled trying to make an impression on the big guy.

“From the time Curtis passed a basketball to Tim Duncan and Tim said, ‘Thanks, buddy,’ Curtis already thought he was part of the team,” said Curtis’ father, John.

Emily said, “I remember I drew a picture for Tim Duncan and really wanted to give it to him. My dad walked me down to the court so I could bring him the picture. Tim’s dad took it for him, and he was so nice. I always thought that showed a little bit about the type of people Wake attracts.”

Though their parents remained close and vacationed together over the years, Emily and Curtis only knew each other as acquaintances until high school. That all changed at the 2007 Orange Bowl, when the juniors in high school traveled with their families to support Wake Forest, their future alma mater.

Becoming friends, so dear

Emily and Curtis’ friendship continued to grow throughout high school thanks to text messages and emails, mostly about campus visits and the college admissions process.

Curtis Vann and Emily Roach

Once they became students at Wake Forest, they hung out, made mutual friends, attended social functions together and even became neighbors.

“Now, senior year, I live on Polo Road and she lives right across the street. I see her all the time,” said Curtis. “It’s funny. My dad and her dad ended up living together and stayed in close contact. Now I’m living right next to her.”

Emily added, “Our parents get a big kick out of it. Before the last basketball game, my parents were in my driveway and his parents were at his. We could wave across Polo Road.”

Pride in parallel paths

Though all parents are proud of their college graduates, the 2012 commencement ceremony was extra special to the Roach and Vann families.

“We’ve tracked the same kind of course. It’s been great for Curtis to have both Emily and Davis on campus,” said John. “It’s been fun for Karen and me to go through their college years with Gerald and Stephanie. It helps us see that Wake has grown in the right ways but the foundation is what it needs to be.”

Gerald added, “Of the folks we met freshmen year, there are still four of us who see each other regularly – including John and me – and we have ever since. That’s a very special bond. Stephanie still sees people from her freshman hall regularly as well. In one sense, our experience is just an example of the experiences that many people have at Wake Forest about making lifelong friends.”

For Curtis and Emily, who are excited to start the next chapters in their lives, they know that they, too, have found lifelong friends in each other.

“I think Wake is truly special, from the accessibility of professors to my relationship with other Deacons like Curtis. I’ve run into WFU people all over the world, and there is such an immediate bond,” said Emily. “For me, that bond is even stronger knowing I’ve shared the experience with my family.”

From left, Linville and Mary Jon Roach, Michelle and Allison Lange, Davis, Emily, Stephanie and Gerald Roach. (Though not pictured, Michelle and Allison's parents, Ginny Lawson and Steve Lange, are also Wake Forest alumni.)

A tale of two roommates

John Vann and Gerald Roach in 1979

Today, Gerald Roach and John Vann remain active supporters of Wake Forest. Gerald is a Trustee who also serves on the Parents’ Council with his wife, Stephanie. John currently serves on the College Board of Visitors.

They have come a long way since they met freshman year, were suitemates sophomore year, and roomed together junior year. In addition to reflecting upon their children’s upcoming graduation, they reminisced about their own college days at Wake Forest.

Here they are in their own words:

John Vann and Gerald Roach today

John: “Basically, Gerald got me through History and I got him through Spanish!”
Gerald: “I don’t remember getting him through History at all…”
John: “Gerald is a brilliant man, and we just studied together. I was terrible with dates and I even struggled with the date of the War of 1812.” (laughs)
Gerald: “But I remember him getting me through Spanish in great detail.”
John: “I met Gerald in a Spanish class. He lured me into his suite to help him.”
Gerald: “I might have had to bribe him a little bit.”
John: “He likes to tell this story…”
Gerald: “Wake Forest made it to Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight that year (1977). The tournament happened to coincide with Spring Break, so I took a road trip to Oklahoma City, where the Midwest regionals were. At that time, Coors was only distributed in the Western United States, but it had a reputation. So I brought some back and offered him one to help me with my Spanish.”
John: “That was when you couldn’t get Coors beer on the East Coast. But I don’t remember that being the sole motivator! Regardless, we became good friends and still are.”

Years later, their paths crossed professionally. John became CEO of a contract research organization while Gerald was a corporate attorney with a prominent contract research organization as a client.

John: “At that time, we didn’t realize the connection there, but he was very helpful to me professionally.”
Gerald: “One of the things so special about the sale of his family-owned business was to see how his decisions were driven by wanting to take care of his employees and doing what was right by them.”
John: “It was a great gift to come years later to have someone I knew and trusted as much as I did Gerald to help us do the right things at the right time.”

Charlie Ergen, the chairman of satellite broadcaster Dish Network Corporation and EchoStar Communications Corporation, will deliver Wake Forest’s 2012 commencement address on May 21.

The commencement ceremony will begin at 9 a.m. on Wake Forest’s Hearn Plaza. The ceremony is a ticketed event reserved for graduates and their guests and is not open to the general public.

A national leader in the rapidly evolving world of TV technologies and programming, Ergen has decades-long ties to Wake Forest. Ergen, who earned an MBA at the university in 1976, is recognized as one of the most accomplished graduates of Wake Forest’s Schools of Business. He is the parent of five children, one of whom is a member of the Class of 2012.

“What Charlie Ergen has accomplished, and how he has accomplished it, is a great message for today’s students,” said Wake Forest President Nathan O. Hatch.  “He took great risks, defied great odds and did things his own way.”

The roots of his pioneering entrepreneurial ventures date to more than 30 years ago when Ergen, his wife, Candy, and a business associate co-founded EchoStar Communications, a small business selling and installing satellite dishes at homes in Colorado. Under Ergen’s vision and leadership, Dish Network was launched in 1996 and became the fastest growing direct-to-home satellite television company in the United States, currently serving more than 14 million customers.

EchoStar and Dish Network split into two separate, publicly traded companies in 2008. EchoStar focuses on creating hardware and service solutions for cable, telco, IPTV and satellite TV companies worldwide.

In his career, Ergen has been recognized by numerous business publications as one of the nation’s top chief executive officers. He was instrumental in fighting for consumer rights with the passage of the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act and was a co-founder of the Satellite Broadcasting Communications Association.

“Students, who face challenging times, need to hear the story of the Ergens, who were not backed by wealth or position, and began to have great dreams, and found a way to bring them into reality,” Hatch said.

Reckford

Jonathan T.M. Reckford, the chief executive officer of Habitat for Humanity International, will deliver the baccalaureate address during commencement weekend at 11 a.m. on May 20 in Wait Chapel. Habitat is an ecumenical Christian housing ministry that has helped shelter more than 2.5 million people in more than 100 countries.

The baccalaureate service is a ticketed event open to graduates and their guests.

Reckford is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar. He received his MBA degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.  As a recipient of the Henry Luce Scholarship, Reckford was given the opportunity to live and work in Asia for a year.  During that time, he worked in marketing for the Olympic Organizing Committee, preparing for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. He also coached the Korean national rowing team, having been a competitive rower previously.

Early in his career, he worked in the for-profit sector, including executive and managerial positions at Goldman Sachs, Marriott, Disney and Best Buy. Always active in his local faith community, Reckford found an avocation helping to coach pastors in dealing with the management side of church life. In 2003, he turned his volunteer service into full-time ministry as executive pastor of a 4,300-member church in Minnesota.

In 2005, Reckford joined Habitat as CEO.  He is the author of “Creating a Habitat for Humanity: No Hands but Yours.” He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the boards of Interaction and the Urban Land Institute Terwilliger Center on Workforce Housing.

Monday was the start of a big week for Anna Walker and Joe Hester. Five days after graduating from Wake Forest, they’re getting married in Winston-Salem.

They were among about 945 undergraduates and 700 graduate and professional students to receive diplomas during Wake Forest’s commencement ceremony on Hearn Plaza Monday morning.

Anna Walker and Joe Hester

“The last four years have been the time of my life when I’ve experienced the most growth as a whole person,” said Hester, a biology major and philosophy minor from Dublin, Va. “I’ve gotten plugged into a great group of friends and learned from them. It’s been a real blessing that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”

Hester and Walker met their first week at Wake Forest — during the Pre-School campus ministry conference — and began dating their sophomore year. Walker, a music major and mathematics minor, is originally from Orlando, Fla, They became engaged during the Concert Choir’s tour of Rome, Italy, during spring break in 2010. Both will begin the Master Teacher Fellows program at Wake Forest in June.

The commencement ceremony returned to Hearn Plaza after being forced indoors to Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum last year because of rain. About 12,000 family members and friends of the graduates watched the two-and-a-half hour ceremony that began under partly cloudy skies and ended under partly sunny skies, with comfortable temperatures throughout the program.

For the second year in a row, graduates wore eco-friendly caps and gowns, made from recycled plastic bottles. Kara Peruccio and Elizabeth Bost were sporting pink shoes — a nod to their sorority, Phi Mu — along with their black gowns. Bost comes from a long line of Wake Foresters: “My grandfather, two uncles, and my mother all went to Wake Forest, so it a means lot to me to be a part of the Wake Forest family.”

Bost, a psychology and German double major from Apex, N.C., will be working in information systems at Wake Forest this summer before pursuing a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy at East Carolina University. Peruccio, a history major from Manchester, Conn., is spending the summer as a research assistant with history professors Monique O’Connell and Nathan Plageman; she hopes to eventually pursue a Ph.D. in history

“I can’t believe I’m graduating today, it’s flown by. I came to visit Wake as a junior in high school, and I fell in love with it the second I stepped on campus,” Peruccio said. “It’s hard to believe I’m leaving. It’s been a wonderful four years, academically and socially.”

In her commencement address, “For Humanity,” Indra K. Nooyi, the chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, encouraged graduates to remain open to every opportunity that comes their way. “Never stop growing intellectually; don’t lose your curiosity, your quest for learning,” she said. “To be the best you can be, you have to be a lifelong student.”

Nooyi paid tribute to two of her predecessors at PepsiCo — Steve Reinemund, dean of the Schools of Business, and the late Wayne Calloway (’59), who served as chairman of Wake Forest’s board of trustees in the 1990s. Using examples from her own career in business, she warned graduates not to become too narrowly focused on a certain career plan because they could miss opportunities that will could lead to greater things.

“Keep your childlike curiosity and never stop learning. Grasp every opportunity that comes your way and give 110 percent to generate these opportunities. Stay positive about yourself (and) assume positive intent about other people. It creates a virtuous circle of common humanity where you get what you give. If you do all these things, I have no doubt that you will make a different and help change the world.”

President Nathan O. Hatch, in his remarks to the Class of 2011, said he hoped their Wake Forest education had whetted their appetite for a life of learning. “The very reason a University exists—its heart and soul—is to inspire passion to learn, explore, discover, understand.

“The best dividends of learning do not come to the shallow explorer, but to the one who devotes focused attention,” Hatch said. “Do everything in your power to fan the flame of curiosity for yourself and for others.”

Retiring Professor of Art Margaret Smith

Provost Jill Tiefenthaler recognized several retiring faculty members. Honorary degrees were awarded to Nooyi; William K. Suter, clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court; Rebecca S. Chopp, president of Swarthmore College; and Andrew C. von Eschenbach, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and former director of the National Cancer Institute. Suter spoke at the School of Law’s Hooding Ceremony. Chopp gave the Baccalaureate address. Von Eschenbach spoke at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Honors and Awards Ceremony.

As parents and friends streamed onto Hearn Plaza early Monday morning, Sue Wild of St. Louis, Mo., reflected on her daughter’s experience at Wake Forest. Emily Wild, a biology and art history major, is going to medical school at Tulane University.

“I got a little teary eyed at the baccalaureate service yesterday, so I’m sure there will be more tears today,” Sue Wild said. “This place has been wonderful for my daughter.”

Nearby, Alison Sielbeck posed for photographs with her family before lining up with other graduates. Sielbeck, a business enterprise management major, already has a job lined up in investment banking back home in Nashville, Tenn. “It’s the end of a long and wonderful journey, full of friendships and so many good times,” she said.

More than 1,600 graduates and their families gathered on Hearn Plaza under cloudy skies for the 2011 Commencement Ceremony. In her speech, “For Humanity,” PepsiCo CEO Indra K. Nooyi urged graduates to keep their curiosity and stay positive. See photo galleries, videos and more.

Thank you, President Hatch. Members of the Board of Trustees, distinguished faculty, guests, friends and family, and most of all, graduates of the class of 2011: I’m honored to be with you on this very special day.

It’s such a pleasure to look out at all the faces in the audience full of excitement, hope and relief. And those are just the faces of the parents.

I’m thrilled to be invited back here because I have a special place in my heart for this great university. In several ways, I am CEO of PepsiCo today in part due to Wake Forest. The first reason is Wayne Calloway, who not only earned a degree here but also served as Chairman of the Board. And the Calloway School of Business and Accountancy was named after him. Wayne hired me into PepsiCo and gave me much needed support and guidance in my early years at the company.

The second is Steve Reinemund, your Dean of Business. Steve nudged and egged me on to great performance and pushed me over the finish line. I succeeded Steve as CEO of PepsiCo. If it wasn’t for the guidance and support Wayne and Steve gave me, I wouldn’t be standing up here today. I have a lot to thank them for. I have a lot to thank this university for. The other reason why I am so fond of Wake is because this is one of the warmest and most welcoming universities I have had the privilege of visiting. And I know this is thanks to Wake Forest’s approach to valuing and nurturing its students as individuals. The approach here is to build both your intellect and your character. It’s hardly surprising that students from Wake go on to do great things, to make a real difference in the world.

Your motto here: “Pro Humanitate” — for humanity — says it all. Wake nurtures your humanity. To attend not just to your intellect, but to your character and compassion. It teaches you to care for all humanity by encouraging you to give back to your communities and help those in need all around the world. It’s no accident that an astonishing 50 percent of Wake students spend a semester abroad.

So as you leave the safe, warm and nurturing environment of this university, I am certain you are all set on a course to make a difference to humanity. And I urge you all to step into the world with the firm belief that you can make the world a better place.

That may seem difficult. The challenges we face today are wide-ranging and complicated: globalization, climate change, political unrest and a global financial crisis. And we have witnessed them all just in the years you have been at college.

But at the same time, think of the progress humanity has made. Since you have been at school, we have seen greater global cooperation on the environment; we have seen economic growth and recovery. And despite some predictions of doom, the downturn brought us closer together, rather than tore us apart.

We have seen a rapid increase in social networking, real-time communications and digital technologies. These advancements are already generating bottom-up, community solutions to economic and social challenges, and greater civic engagement than we have seen for many years.

So while you may be inheriting old problems, you will not be bound by old solutions. Yours will not be a generation that carries the baton for your predecessors. Yours will not be a generation that does things in the way they have always been done. Yours will be a generation that breaks old molds, that forges new paths and that tears up the rule book. And that, believe me, is a cause for celebration. You have more opportunities, more possibilities, than any generation that has come before you.

But of course, there will be times where you feel like the explorers who first charted unknown terrain centuries ago—setting out on virgin territory with no map, so to speak. You have to create wholly new solutions to global problems and chart your own course. But you will need more than your optimism and can-do attitudes to guide you.

So I want to give you some meaningful advice that will help you navigate your way. That will help you be the best you can be and meet the global challenges facing humanity, but at the same time, help you stay true to yourselves and your own humanity.

The first piece of advice I have for you is to never stop growing intellectually. I’m sure now that you are graduating you are all desperate for a break from the books. I can understand that. But please don’t lose your curiosity—your quest for learning. One of the greatest gifts of childhood is something that too many people lose as they grow older — that curiosity to know how the world works, to find out the answer to the question: why?

Yes, today is the end to your formal education. But your real learning never ends. The education you can gain out in the world is a source of wonder if you choose to embrace it.

In 1986, I was hired from the Boston Consulting Group to be the head of strategy for the automotive electronics division of Motorola. It was the smallest division of the company, but run by a visionary leader. I was one of a handful of women in a senior position. I got to Motorola and attended my first senior executive staff meeting. And, I was lost. Everyone in the room spoke electronics and cars — two subjects that I was relatively clueless about. They all wore pocket protectors, walked around with scientific calculators — the ultimate techies of 1986!

As an ex-consultant, I could have asked a few pointed questions, drawn some framework and survived, but I wanted to do more. I wanted to meaningfully contribute to the company, shape its future, and in the process I wanted to be respected and mentored by the people there; all engineers, I should add.

So, I decided to go back to school. I hired two professors — one to teach me electronics, another – cars. Three days a week, from 7 to 9 a.m., the electronics professor gave me lessons using a reasonably daunting textbook. As a chemistry/physics/math undergraduate, I could grasp the concepts, but believe me, it was hard work! And once a week, someone from the local automotive technology training school came by and taught me the inner-workings of a car.

It was a full year of extremely hard work. But something incredible happened along the way… I began to contribute more meaningfully to my job and my peers began to respect me — not for my position, but my curiosity and tenacity. I was now surrounded by helping hands — all wanting to give me that little push, a little nudge.

So, never give up your passion for learning. And zoom out of your field before you zoom in. Some of my very best business insights have come from reading around subjects. They have come from approaching questions at a strange angle, from thinking about them from a different point of view. A lot of the knowledge that has really given me an edge in business has come from history, psychology, even chemistry. Connecting seemingly unconnected dots is what has served me well.

We live in an era that prizes the ability to adapt. You simply can’t afford to rely on what you know today when, tomorrow, what you know now will seem like yesterday’s wisdom. You can’t rely on knowing one thing, one narrow field, when increasingly, different experts from different fields are working together to solve complex problems. To be the best that you can be you need to stay in front. And that means you must be a lifelong student.

The second piece of advice I have for you is to see everything — a failure, a boring task, a horizontal career move — as an opportunity. Every single experience you have is a terrific opportunity to learn and expand your experience. And, when you grasp the opportunities, do it to the best of your ability and give it 110 percent.

However, in order to grasp every opportunity, you cannot — you must not — decide your “career path” in advance. Don’t have a job fixed in your sights and work backwards — it can be the road to disappointment because you risk passing up opportunities that might take you “off-course.”

Steve Reinemund, my mentor and former boss, walked into my office at PepsiCo one day in the late ‘90s. I was head of corporate strategy and development at PepsiCo then. He said, “I want you to go to Frito-Lay and lead a project to transform the whole route distribution system.” Now, this was a full time job. And I already had one of those in New York.

But I sat back and said to myself, “I know Steve is a big supporter of mine. If he’s asking me to do this job, there’s got to be a reason.” And, in a way, what Steve was saying to me was, “You need Direct Store Delivery experience, which only Frito-Lay has. You need to go get that experience to move ahead in the company. So kid, you’ve got a choice: you can invest your time, take on this challenge and learn. Or you can turn it down. It’s your choice.”

So I decided I was going to invest my time. I spent Monday through Thursday at Frito-Lay, commuting from New York to Texas. Then Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I did my regular job in New York. It was an incredible commitment of time but it was an amazing developmental experience. It was challenging, broadening, and helped me reach the position I have today.

But it is not just about grabbing opportunities that come your way. It is also about doing the absolute best you can in whatever you set out to do. Only then will you inspire confidence in others and generate your own tailwind. Let me tell you a story about one of my mentors, Henry Kissinger, that illustrates what I mean.

Henry is a very distinguished man, a former United States National Security Advisor and Secretary of State. One day, Henry called in his speech writer and asked him to write a fairly important speech. A day later, the speech writer knocked on Henry’s door and gave him the speech. Henry told him to come back in a few hours, for feedback on the speech. A few hours later, the speechwriter went back to get Henry’s feedback. Henry held the speech out and asked the speech writer, “Is this the best you can do?” A bit nervously, the speech writer said, “Let me go take another crack at it,” and went away to make it better.

Now, he really sweated blood on this speech and when he took it back to Henry he was convinced that it did the trick this time. Henry took it and told the speech writer to come back in a few hours. He did that and, when he knocked on the door, Henry thrust the text into his hands again with the same words: “Is that the best you can do?”

By now the speech writer was getting very anxious indeed. He really thought the speech was good and wasn’t sure he could improve it much further. But he decided to give it one last go. He worked at it, squeezing every ounce of meaning out of every line, polishing every sentence until it glowed. When he thought there was nothing more he could do, he took the speech back to Henry and he was told, again, to come back in a few hours.

When the speech writer turned up on Henry’s doorstep he was shaking with nerves. Henry answered the door with the speech in his hand and said the same thing: “Is this the best you can do?” This time the speech writer had had enough. “Well, yes it is, actually. It is the best I can do.” “OK,” said Henry, “Good. I think I’ll read it then.”

So my point is to strive for that final draft, straight away, in whatever you do. You will inspire others to have confidence in you. You will generate your own tailwind. Whether it is your first job, your dream job, whether you are running a business or running a photocopier your effort always has to be 110 percent. Be the best you can be at the task at hand, grab every opportunity that comes along. Don’t let your future ambitions or career plans lead you to close doors too early.

My third piece of advice is assume positive intent. Be positive in everything you do. In your working lives you will encounter people of all ethnicities and backgrounds, in other countries, across linguistic and cultural boundaries. Seeing the best in everyone will mean you look for the similarities, not the differences. When you think the best of people they will very rarely let you down and most of the time they will think the best of you in return.

And in your working lives you will always encounter criticism and detractors. But it’s to be expected. Believing in yourself will help you see criticism, and set backs, and even spectacular failures for what they are: opportunities to learn and do things differently the next time.

When you have a positive outlook, and you are positive about other people, people will warm to you. They will offer advice and assistance. They will want to work for you. The most successful people I know understand the value of other people and, in a virtuous circle, are valued by others. Positivity attracts positivity. Warmth attracts warmth.

If you want a great guide to the positive attitude I’m describing, take a look at Neil Pasricha’s blog, 1000awesomethings.com. Read his book, The Book of Awesome. Listen to the speech he gave at TED. Neil describes the three As that you need to feel awesome: attitude, awareness and authenticity. I want to quote his closing lines from TED because I think they summarize what I am trying to convey:

“You will never be as young as you are right now. And that’s why I believe that if you live your life with a great attitude, choosing to move forward and move on whenever life deals you a blow, living with a sense of awareness of the world around you, embracing your inner three year-old and seeing the tiny joys that make life so sweet and being authentic to yourself, being you and being cool with that, letting your heart lead you and putting yourself in experiences that satisfy you, then I think you’ll live a life that is rich and is satisfying, and I think you live a life that is truly awesome.”

So remember, with a positive attitude, every success you enjoy, every breakthrough you have, every difficulty you encounter — you will do this with others. You will never walk your path alone.

As you take your first steps beyond Wake Forest, I urge you to be optimistic about the challenges ahead. To nurture that can-do attitude Wake has already instilled in you, and to make a difference to the world. And, if you find the possibilities too overwhelming, remember these three pieces of advice.

Keep your childlike curiosity and never stop learning. Grasp every opportunity that comes your way. Give 110 percent to the task at hand in order to generate those opportunities. And, finally, stay positive. Stay positive about yourself, and stay positive about other people. It creates a virtuous circle of common humanity where you get what you give.

If you do all these things, I have no doubt — not for one second — that you, the class of 2011, will make a difference and help change the world. You will live up to the spirit of Wake Forest’s “Pro Humanitate.”

But you can start on that tomorrow. Today, enjoy your family, your friends and your loved ones. Congratulations Class of 2011!

Rebecca Chopp, the president of Swarthmore College, gave the sermon at the 2011 Baccalaureate Service on Sunday. View an audio slideshow and a photo gallery of the celebration.

Nine professors — in art, counseling, divinity, economics, history, religion, journalism, classical languages and East Asian languages — are retiring this year, after leaving an indelible mark on generations of students dating back to the 1970s.