Daniels offers graduates advice for promising, uncertain times

Mitch Daniels, former governor of the state of Indiana and former president of Purdue University, shared advice with graduates he said were entering a world he described as “the most promising and most uncertain and treacherous” as Trine University held Commencement ceremonies on May 2.

The university celebrated about 2,700 graduates in two ceremonies at the Keith E. Busse Steel Dynamics Inc. Athletic and Recreation Center.

Graduates from the Angola campus, Brooks College of Health Professions and TrineOnline were honored in the morning. Students from the Detroit, Phoenix and Reston, Virginia, education centers were recognized in the afternoon.

Welcoming an overflowing crowd to the morning ceremony, Earl D. Brooks II, Ph.D., Trine University president, encouraged the Class of 2026 to savor the good memories of their campus experiences.

“Thank you for the many contributions you made to Class of 2026 and to this university, and please move forward with the confidence that comes from knowing that even in some challenging times, you built the best possible foundation for a bright future,” he told the graduated.

A time for heroic leadership

Presenting the keynote address, Gov. Daniels said the Class of 2026 will face challenges including the emergence of artificial intelligence, the rise of China as an economic and military power, and historically high federal budget deficits.

“We will call on your generation for some extraordinary, maybe heroic leadership: in the economy, public life and in the homes where a society’s values are taught and its future leaders are shaped,” he said. “That's why I'm uplifted coming to Trine. Like few places anywhere, this place prepares problem solvers.”

Gov. Daniels offered the graduates several pieces of advice as they prepared to launch into the world and its challenges:

• Answer why without saying I. “Your first thought before going after a new goal should be, ‘What value will I add? How will this business, this cause or community be better if I succeed?’ ”
• Play the ball, not the other way around. “Don't wait for issues, but get right up on them and tackle them as soon as you can.”
• Welcome your mistakes. “Treat your bad judgments as teaching moments and then resolve never to repeat them.”
• Don't mistake the edge of the rut for the horizon. “Make sure you're looking at the big possibilities out beyond the range of what's known and familiar.”
• There's no traction without friction. “Change and progress you bring in your future roles will generate friction in rough proportion to the traction and momentum they achieve.”
• Dogs don't bark at parked cars. “I can tell you how to lead a stress-free life. Just don't do anything consequential.”

In closing, Gov. Daniels challenged the Class of 2026 to “go out and pay back the investment your families and this institution have made in you by doing the great things of which we know you are capable.”

Following the address, Dr. Brooks and Tony Kline, Ph.D., president-elect, presented Gov. Daniels an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the university.

What matters most

The graduating seniors then received their degrees.

The university granted a posthumous degree to Ben Kurtzweg, who would have graduated with the Class of 2026 but died in an accident in 2024. His sister Monica accepted the degree, drawing a standing ovation from everyone attending.

After Tim Raftery, president of the Trine University Alumni Association Board of Directors, inducted the new graduates into the association, Stashu Patterson, the Robert B. Stewart Award winner for the Class of 2026, presented the response for the class.

Patterson said he set out to achieve five goals when he came to Trine: complete more than one degree, earn a 4.0 grade point average, become president of a major student organization, start his own club and address the class as the Stewart Award winner. But he said he learned achieving those goals wasn’t the most important part of his college experience.

“What mattered most was that time I got to spend with each and every one of you, the relationships that we built,” he said. “Right now, it's easy to think about those late nights, the exams, the stress, the pressure to succeed; but in a few years, that's not what we're going to remember. What we will carry with us are the moments that we shared together.

“What makes Trine special isn't just the education, it's the community. This is a place that puts students in a position to lead, a place that challenges you to grow, a place that surrounds you with people who want to see you succeed, and that that's going to stay with us long after today.”

Concluding the ceremony, Dr. Brooks encouraged the graduates to make wise choices and listen to the counsel of those whose lives illustrate success and harmony while standing alone when necessary.

“Believe in what you’ve cultivated in yourself: your ideals, your standards and your innate feelings of right and wrong, good and bad,” he concluded. “Take charge of yourself and build on your own success.”