Anna Duke
It is fair to say that everyone wants to be successful after they graduate from The College of Wooster. Nobody pays the steep tuition and works hard just to become a deadbeat once they graduate. During his convocation speech this year, President Grant Cornwell asked the student body to reflect on what our liberal arts degree means to us. He then talked about some of the benefits of getting a liberal arts degree. One of the main benefits he associated with graduating with a liberal arts degree was becoming a more successful person. Cornwell then continued to name a few Wooster alumni who are, or were, CEOs of major corporations as examples of success.
While sitting in the audience, I became upset with Cornwell’s definition of success. I do not think success is defined by how much money you are making. Instead, I think there are many aspects of success. For instance, does a person’s career impact people’s lives in a positive way? Does a person’s career help others? I understand that everyone needs to make some sort of livable salary, but I do not think that anyone needs to be a millionaire CEO in order to be successful.
I realize that Cornwell wanted to name people who were well known to the audience, but I think it would’ve impacted the audience more if he had named some alumni who were in careers that were transforming and helping the lives of others. While some may equate success with money, I don’t think this entire school does. Of the many students here, few will become CEO’s of major corporations. Instead, many of us will go into careers that we hopefully have a passion for. Whether it is teaching, researching or working in an office, we will take part in a job in which success is not defined simply by a salary.
The College of Wooster is not known for its ability to churn out millionaires. I didn’t come here to become one and neither did some of my classmates. Despite this, I think many students who have graduated from the College are more successful than people who have created large companies that exploit their workers and ruin local businesses.
Instead, I have spent three years watching the amazing people I have met here graduate from Wooster and enter the working world. I believe that they are going to impact the world in a different way than the millionaires. Whether they took their education and went to work in the Peace Corps, as a teacher or for a nonprofit organization, I know that they will be successful at making the lives of others better. As author Anna Quindlen said in a commencement speech, “[Everybody] wants to do well. But if you do not do good, too, then doing well will never be enough.”