Nelson tells CSC graduates to set goals, take risks
United States Sen. Ben Nelson told the 159 graduates at Chadron State College’s winter commencement Friday night that have earned a ticket to their next destination, and that the more effort they apply to that ticket, the greater their destination will be.
Nelson said each graduate had a goal when he or she entered Chadron State. That goal was to attain new knowledge and graduate. With that goal accomplished, now is the time for them to set a new goal and go to work achieving, he said.
Nelson was the first U.S. senator to speak at the Chadron State commencement since Roman Hruska addressed the graduates 50 years ago this spring.
Also a former two-term Nebraska governor, Nelson noted that the graduates are leaving a comfort zone, one in which the perimeters have been pretty well outlined for them. Now, he said they are leaving the comfort zone, and advised them to take risks and increase their chances for continued success. He recalled that he decided to run for governor of Nebraska when he was just 17 years old. When he told his friends about his goal, he said they cautioned him that he might lose.
“For me, it would have been a bigger loss to have not tried to become governor than it would have been to lose the election,” Nelson said. “I could live with losing more than I could with not trying.”
Nelson noted that a baseball player who never goes to bat won’t strike out, but neither will he hit a home run.
“You have to be willing to take a risk to be successful,” the senator stated. “No one can take it for you.”
Nothing could be worse, Nelson said, than to set a destination that is never attained because no effort was put forth.
The commencement wrapped up the fall semester at Chadron State. The spring semester will begin Monday, Jan. 10.
Category: Campus Announcements, Campus News