Virginia First Lady Anne Holton delivered the commencement address for the University of Mary Washington’s class of 2009 on Saturday, May 9. Approximately 5,000 people, including graduates, family members, friends and faculty, gathered in Ball Circle for the 98th annual commencement.
A total of 1,125 degrees were awarded, including 53 master of business administration degrees, 101 master of education degrees, 5 master of science in management information systems, 37 master of science in elementary education degrees, 403 bachelor of arts degrees, 51 bachelor of liberal studies degrees, 60 bachelor of professional studies degrees and 415 bachelor of science degrees.
In her address, Holton urged today’s graduates to seize this time in their young lives to see the world, to volunteer, to immerse themselves in the adventures and opportunities ahead.
“You all still know how to travel on next to nothing. You’re used to living four to a room. You know how to eat Ramen noodles breakfast, lunch and dinner,” Holton said to laughter. “When you’re not yet tied down to your long-term career, you can afford to do a little traveling. You can afford to volunteer.”
Holton said she’s the first person in Virginia history to have lived in the Governor’s mansion as a child and again as adult. She resided there as a teenager when her father, Linwood Holton, served as Virginia’s governor from 1970 to 1974. Now she and her husband Gov. Tim Kaine reside at the Executive Mansion with their three children, Nat, Woody and Annella.
Recalling an indelible memory of her childhood there, Holton described how her father would throw open the door to her and her sister’s bedroom each morning, saying “wake up girls. It’s opportunity time.” As trite as that wake-up call sounded then, she said it summarized her parents’ philosophy toward life. “Every day is opportunity time.”
Many opportunities arose during her Gov. Holton’s history-making gubernatorial tenure. But it may be best remembered for his response to a court-ordered school busing controversy. The Holtons voluntarily enrolled their school-age children in mostly black Richmond public schools. The family saw this as a chance to lead Virginia toward racial reconciliation, and by including the children in this extraordinary act, Anne Holton and her siblings “were able to help contribute to something that moved Virginia forward,” she said.
“The glass half-full way of looking at life is what I’d like to yield up to you today. It’s really served me well throughout my career,” Holton said. She has served for as a legal aid lawyer representing low-income families and as a juvenile and domestic relations district court judge in Richmond. She also has put in a couple turns as a stay-at-home mother, including her current stint as first lady. With her husband’s term ending in early 2010, Tim Kaine will assume full-time duties as chair of the Democratic National Committee.
But since Holton doesn’t know what challenges she’ll tackle beginning in 2010, she said she can identify with today’s graduates who are often getting asked about their future plans. She praised the response that she heard a new graduate give an answer to a question about his future: “I don’t know but I cannot wait to find out.”
An advocate for Virginia’s families and children, she noted that today’s graduates will encounter a tough job market. She said she can sympathize with their uneasiness about their career prospects.
“But I’d like to offer up a suggestion that you see this as an opportunity. You haven’t got that perfect career or other opportunity waiting for you. What’s the silver living here? Well you know, you’re not tied down,” she said. “What can you do now when you’re young, that you might not be able to do later? I’d like to offer up this suggestion: Travel. Volunteer. Combine the two.”
Holton said she was thrilled to hear during the ceremony that two of the top awards went to a professor and a graduating senior who both have been involved in efforts to rebuild a hurricane-ravaged community in Honduras.
Five years ago, Holton and her husband visited the El Progreso area where Gov. Kaine performed mission work years earlier as a new college graduate. Underserved people in the same El Progreso community have been the focus of a nonprofit organization founded at UMW in 2005, Students Helping Honduras (SHH). Holton hailed the recent “CNN Heroes” segment about Shin Fujiyama who founded SHH while a UMW student. Holton cited SHH as a great example of a way to combine travel and volunteerism.
“So think about the things you can do that you might not otherwise have been able to do when you move forward. You’re going to have a great life. This economics thing, it’s going to turn around,” Holton said. “We’ll wait it out, and why not enjoy the freedoms you have.”
In closing, she apologized to parents who had hoped that Holton would urge the graduates to enter the job market and “put their nose to the grindstone right away.”
“You can do that later. Have some fun. Look for opportunities to grow, to give and to share the adventures that are going to open up before you. I join with your parents and the faculty in looking forward to the exciting show that will be your future. And I tell you, wake up. It’s opportunity time.”
An advocate for Virginia’s families and children, Holton has devoted her career to improving foster care and adoption. As first lady, Holton has continued her commitment to improving the welfare of Virginia’s families. Her initiative, “For Keeps: Families for all Virginia Teens,” focuses on finding and strengthening permanent families for older children in foster care as well as refining Virginia’s Youth Advisory Council. For her work with the initiative, Holton received the 2008 Annie E. Casey Foundation Families for Life Award of Distinction, among other awards.
A native of Roanoke, Va., Holton graduated from Princeton University in 1980. She earned her juris doctor in 1983 from Harvard Law School, where she met Kaine.