President’s Remarks on the Occasion of the COM-FSM Convocation

September 14, 2012

Dear Members of the College Community,

Students, staff, administrators, regents and especially faculty it is with great pride that the first academic convocation for the College of Micronesia-FSM is convened.

This gathering serves to remind us as a learning community the extraordinary responsibility that rests with us to educate the men and women who have placed themselves in our care.

Each of us, regardless of our position and regardless of our geographic location has an important role in fulfilling the promise we make to our students in the college’s mission statement, yet none is as central to our mission as our faculty.

The faculty of this institution is at its core, and fundamental to its purpose.

So, on this day, at this time, in this place, on behalf of the Board of Regents, Administration, Staff and most importantly our students, I offer my gratitude and thanks in recognition of your significant contribution to the education of the students of COM-FSM and to the future of the FSM.

For these reasons and countless others, we honor and recognize the special place you hold here, and the unique talents and gifts that you individually and collectively possess and share with future generations of political and business leaders, educators, doctors, lawyers, health and nursing professionals,  technical and vocational experts.

The commencement of a new academic year is a special and wonderful time.  As lyrics to “All Things Bright and Beautiful”, the “Prelude” to our convocation suggests; “All Things Bright and Beautiful. All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Wise and Wonderful…

Our convocation celebrates not only a symbolic “beginning” but the good will, and the great joy that accompanies the possibilities and the promise of the future.

It embraces the intellectual and scholarly circle of life that is an institution of higher learning. At convocation we welcome our entering and returning students, as surely as we wish graduates well and bid them farewell at commencement.

To you, our entering and returning students…want something, WANT something.  Once again, as I first did seven months ago when I joined you in service as president,  I quote Dr. Steven Ender, President of Grand Rapids Community College, “Dream more, learn more, do more become more.” Now I’d like to add… “Give more.” Give more in service to your fellow students. Give more in service to your college. Give more in service to your community. Give more in service to your country.

Find balance in your life, set goals, and achieve!

This is your life. Make every moment count. Make every person count. Leave a legacy. Leave this place better than you found it.

Achieve this and you will truly be “All Things Bright and Beautiful… Great and Wise and Wonderful.”

Best wishes for a successful and memorable academic year.

Together, let us fulfill the promise that the future holds.

It is a privilege for me to serve you as president.

Warm regards,

Joseph M. Daisy, Ed.D.

President