Degrees of success

WEYERS CAVE – Veteran reporter and Virginia public servant Megan Beyer advised Blue Ridge Community College students to consider their motivation in life as they received their diplomas Saturday.
“If you meander through life, dreams don’t happen,” said Beyer, who has worked as an anchor and reporter on PBS and serves on the national board of Reading Is Fundamental and the Virginia State Board of Community Colleges.
Telling the more than 500 graduates that their average age is 25, she said they were in the third inning of the game of life, and needed to chart a course for the rest of their time.
“Imagine yourself as a 78-year-old on your deathbed,” she said. The students were told to ask themselves, “Did I set a course for a satisfying life?”
Beyer brought up the case of Ted Leonsis, the owner of the Washington Capitals hockey team, a movie producer and vice chairman emeritus of America Online. Beyer has interviewed Leonsis.
After surviving a plane crash at age 25, Leonsis wrote down 101 things to do before he died.
“They included buying a professional sports team and making movies,” Beyer said.
A quarter-century later, Leonsis is worth in excess of $1 billion and has achieved 80 of his 101 wishes.
“But what matters most on his list is his marriage, family and helping others,” Beyer said.
She said one of the great benefits of pursuing dreams is the journey, not the accomplishment.
The graduates have attained a dream and a stop on the way to greater dreams, Beyer said.
“Your achievements show incredible character,” she said.
Blue Ridge graduate Derick Arbaugh voiced a similar theme to his classmates.
“Graduation is not the end. Become lifelong learners after you graduate and be persistent in being a lifelong learner,” said Arbaugh, who received an associate arts & sciences degree in transfer, and who will attend The College of William & Mary in the fall.
Saturday’s commencement marked the 40th at Blue Ridge.
Of the more than 500 awards doled out Saturday, 282 were given as associate arts & sciences degrees in the college and university transfer program, and 243 associate of applied science degrees were conferred in eight occupational and technical programs.
Blue Ridge President James Perkins said Saturday was not only a time to honor the community college’s graduates, but to remember the sacrifices of their families in the students’ successes.