{"id":544,"date":"2013-09-17T15:52:31","date_gmt":"2013-09-17T19:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/speeches\/?p=544"},"modified":"2013-09-18T12:20:42","modified_gmt":"2013-09-18T16:20:42","slug":"convocation-welcome-by-robert-w-hill-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/speeches\/2013\/09\/17\/convocation-welcome-by-robert-w-hill-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"Convocation Welcome by Robert W. Hill III"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Welcome to students, faculty, parents, trustees, and honored guests.\u00a0 It\u2019s not as cold as it was at graduation the last time we were all gathered together here.<\/p>\n

It is great seeing all of Williston here this afternoon and thank you Mrs. Fulcher for bringing the classes of 2018 and 2019 over.<\/p>\n

As Swanee urged us, tonight\u2019s Convocation allows us to consider this time as one of transitions and a time to embrace possibilities and change.\u00a0 For me, as I\u2019ve said during opening assembly, the fall is my favorite time of the year since we are all adjusting to new surroundings, friends, classes, teams, dormitories, and new goals, whether internally or externally motivated. As the poet Ezra Pound said in one of my favorite quotes, \u201cMake it new, day by day.\u201d<\/p>\n

You have already been about this task of transitioning for a week now, and I hope Williston has exceeded your expectations and fallen short of your fears.\u00a0 Today marks our first green week of 2013, and while I am not counting the number of blue and green weeks left in the year, I know Maddie Stern already has time until graduation counting down on an app…<\/p>\n

Since experiencing a wonderful family trip this summer to Panama, the sight of ships \u201ctransiting\u201d through the canal is one that has lodged with me, along with some other memories like spinning out of control on a zip line 100 feet up in a rain forest canopy, or that sinking feeling you have when the open seat next to you on the plane gets taken by somebody who falls asleep slumping into your personal space. \u00a0You know the feeling.<\/p>\n

The indelible image, though, of seeing mammoth container ships squeezing into the locks on the Pacific side of the canal is one that I will not soon forget. It continues to provoke reflection.\u00a0 With only inches to spare on either side, these massive 800 foot long ships slip into what looks like a giant steel tank before 26 million gallons of water from the Chagres river take over and floats these \u201cTitanics\u201d up 28 feet at a time.<\/p>\n

Here are a couple of observations:\u00a0 even though there are railroad engines alongside the canals with cables helping to guide the vessels, they are still operating under their own power as they move through the locks and into the canal; also, we learned that the only time a ship\u2019s captain ever voluntarily gives up command of his\/her vessel is here in the Panama Canal when a special Panamanian pilot takes over.\u00a0 The entire time to cross the Isthmus takes about 10 hours.\u00a0 Since the United States handed over control of the canal to Panama under President Carter\u2019s initiative, our Central American neighbor of 4 million people controls a sizeable proportion of the world\u2019s shipping.<\/p>\n

So I have been thinking about this amazing interplay of human ingenuity and colossal machines and transnational cooperation \u2014and think there\u2019s a metaphor relating to the transit, or passage, that each of you takes this year.\u00a0 You are all under your own power, and your passage, from one ocean of possibilities to another is steadily guided by your teachers, coaches, and advisers.\u00a0 Whole new horizons will appear on your improbable transit if you are thoughtful, purposeful, and willing to enlist the assistance of others\u2014so please be open to the endless possibilities that stretch before you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to students, faculty, parents, trustees, and honored guests.\u00a0 It\u2019s not as cold as it was at graduation the last time we were all gathered together here. It is great seeing all of Williston here this afternoon and thank you Mrs. Fulcher for bringing the classes of 2018 and 2019 over. As Swanee urged us, … Continue reading Convocation Welcome by Robert W. Hill III<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-speaker"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/speeches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/speeches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/speeches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/speeches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/speeches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/speeches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":546,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/speeches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions\/546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/speeches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/speeches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/speeches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/speeches\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}