2006 IT&E Convocation

2006 IT&E Convocation Address - May 18, 2006 - Patriot Center

The Honorable Delores M. Etter
Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research,
Development and Acquisition

First let me say CONGRATULATIONS to the CLASS of 2006. And what a year it’s been thanks to the accomplishments of the George Mason Patriots basketball team. Anytime I think of your team I just stop and say WOW! The Final Four. What a GREAT JOB! But those victories didn’t come easily. Those tournament wins were the result of people working hard at something they love to do. And when you work hard at what you love, great things happen.

Today you begin a new journey in life. Today I ask each of you to think long and hard about what you love to do. Once you realize what your passion is, apply it in a way that makes our world a better place. Because of your hard work, you now have the opportunity to make a difference in so many ways throughout your professional life. Try to pursue life as role models to those around you - whether at work, at home, or at play. In short, make a difference.

Being passionate about what you do brings a satisfaction that makes you look forward to each day. Finding that passion may take time - be patient, be forgiving. Be willing to take some of the unexpected opportunities that life brings, dare to deviate from your everyday world to experience new challenges.

The path for me that started in the oil fields and prairies of Oklahoma has led me down roads of life that I would never have expected. I never expected to be an engineer. I never expected to land on an aircraft carrier, spend a day on an attack submarine, or ride in an F-15. I never expected to fly to the South Pole and spend a week in Antarctica.

So be ready for the unexpected. In fact, search out the unexpected, be brave enough to embrace it. Volunteer for that assignment in another country. Sign up for classes in flamingo dancing or classes in a new language. Be a big brother or big sister to someone needing a role model. Volunteer at the humane society. Do things that affect people outside your day-to-day life.

I am a teacher at heart. But right now I am the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. It is an exciting and demanding job. And the decision to take it was not an easy one. Often in life the most exciting opportunities will also be the scariest and the ones filled with the most risk. You will have the fears of failure, concerns about whether or not you are up to the task. This must never stop you. In life, there are times in which you will fail. The question is how will you deal with it? Winston Churchill had a great saying for failure – “In Defeat: Defiance.” When things around you seem to be getting worse, you must do your best. I think that is what Churchill meant when he said, “In Defeat, Defiance.”

There will be points in your life when you are simply meant to struggle. My favorite scene from The Lord of the Rings is the one in which Frodo feels like he just can’t go on. He is thinking about how life used to be easier and how he wishes things had gone differently. He looks at the wise wizard Gandolph and says, "I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened." Gandolph looks at him, and in a grandfatherly way, says, "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you." And so that is where you are too - the point where you decide what to do with the time that is given to you. And I think we can all agree, these are challenging times.

One of the things I enjoy most about my current job is the opportunity to visit with people around this country who are in the military, or who work for the Navy or Marine Corps, or who work for companies that help us design and build the systems that protect freedom around the world. As I visit these bases, government offices, shipyards, and industrial facilities, I always ask for time to visit with new employees and interns. The first thing I do is thank them for doing something that is so important to our country. Then I ask them to tell me why they chose the job that they have, and what is it about their job that gives them satisfaction and pride. Then, because I am still a teacher at heart, I also give them a homework assignment. I ask them to write a one-page essay on their job, and to email it to me. Let me share a couple of these stories with you.

Debra L. Chard worked in the grocery industry. After 20 years, she left her familiar surroundings and pursued a career at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. She describes how the first time she stepped onto the shipyard she was amazed by the amount of “knowledge, respect and work that takes place everyday.” She expresses her satisfaction in knowing she is a part of an organization dedicated to protecting America. Before the Shipyard Debra had a job, now she has a career that she loves.

Down at Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, VA, Contract Specialist Julie A. Mysette wrote about how she feels a part of the Marine Corps family. She writes about when she first took the job she didn’t really know what to expect, but she was willing to “take the adventure.” Looking back Julie say’s this was the best decision she could have made. Not only is everyone friendly and welcoming, but she does real work that makes a difference.

Then there is Micah Spiegel. Through college Micah bounced from one major to another. Like many people he was not sure what he wanted to do in life. On September 11 th, 2001 Micah turned 21. Five years later he was a senior in the Naval Acquisition Intern Program. He writes about turning 25: (quote) “Quite a milestone, in my opinion anyways, if for no other reason than to see how things have changed; and when I say change I don’t mean new housing developments….The changes I’m talking about are in how I view the world, and more explicitly, how I view my place in it.” (end quote)

He goes on to say how he plans his life in 3 to 5 year blocks, as if it was his own personal version of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal. This is someone who sat down and truly thought out what he wants to do in life. And he realized how the world changes and how he can either be on the sidelines or have an influence on what changes take place. Micah loves his job and knows where he wants to be in the next five years. He knows that his work makes a difference and is performing a service to the nation.

Loving what you do will make your life better, but you will still work hard. In engineering and information technology, you will find hard work to be a constant. But hard work pays off. As times goes on, you will be rewarded for your work with more responsibility. The decisions you make will have greater consequence, and generate more controversy. In, A Strength to Love, Dr. Martin Luther King wrote, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” (end quote) In these times, search your conscience, and trust your instincts.

Whenever I come to a hard decision, I find it helpful to think about how people I admire might make the decision. How would Jean-Luc Picard deal with this situation? What would Margaret Thatcher do? I also think of the words of Theodore Roosevelt:

"It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood;

who strives valiantly;

who errs and comes short again and again;

who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause.

Who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement. And who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

I hope you all find your passion in life. I hope you have the courage to take the unexpected paths as you continue your journey. And I hope you use your education to give back to this wonderful country that has provided so many opportunities for all of us.

Thank you.