NBC首席记者Tim Ruert 在哈佛大学毕业纪念日上的演讲由刀豆文库小编整理，希望给你工作、学习、生活带来方便”。
Dominique Nong(left), cla marshal, and Caleb Franklin, first marshal, join in the applause for Cla Day speaker Tim Ruert(center).(Staff photo Kris Snibbe/Harvard News Office)
June 09, 2005
Ruert urges graduates to lead, help others 'Meet the Pre' moderator is Cla Day speaker
By Alvin Powell
Harvard News Office
Saying that each generation has a chance to be “the greatest generation,” NBC News Washington bureau chief and “Meet the Pre” moderator Tim Ruert urged members of Harvard's Cla of 2005 Wednesday(June 8)to seize their opportunity to make the world a better place.Ruert, this year's Cla Day speaker, delivered a 15-minute talk that interwove amusing stories drawn from his years as one of the nation's top TV journalists with a more serious meage about the need for talented people at government's highest levels and for everyone to help others.“No exercise is better for the human heart than reaching down to help another human being,” Ruert said.“It is now your turn.Your contributions can be enormous.” Ruert was just one of several speakers during the two-hour long Cla Day ceremony, traditionally held on the day before Commencement.Cla Day honors Harvard College's senior cla' achievements in a more relaxed, le formal manner than is poible during Commencement's more scripted exercises.Ruert and Franklin enjoy a joke at the journalist's expense.(Staff photo Jon Chase/Harvard News Office)
Harvard College Dean Benedict H.Gro took the opportunity to offer the College's graduating seniors congratulations and good luck and praised the students' parents, saying they've waited a long time for Commencement Day's ceremonies.Several speakers, including Ruert, mentioned the difficult start for the Cla of 2005, which was just beginning its college career when the terrorist attacks of Sept.11, 2001, occurred.Caleb Franklin, the cla' first marshal, opened the event by describing Cla Day as a “celebration of the spirit of our cla.” He went on to describe that spirit as one that has had to overcome challenge after challenge, from the 9/11 attacks to studying while the University was dealing with charges of grade inflation.“Rely on the strength of self you found here,” Franklin said.“Thanks to Harvard, we're equipped with the tools to overcome anything.” In addition to the guest speaker, Cla Day features four speeches by graduating seniors: two typically humorous Ivy Orations and two more serious Harvard Orations.Susan McGregor's Harvard Oration, “Reshaping the Rock,” reflected on her Harvard admiions eay and the leons she learned from the sport of rock climbing, particularly how to be flexible in meeting challenges.After four years at Harvard, she said that, instead of accommodating the world, she now thinks graduating seniors should work to change it.“Every action we take will leave its trace,” McGregor said.“What you choose to do each day with your time, your money, your inspiration will frame the contours of the world we leave behind....Finally it is our turn to take on the rock.”
Ames Award winner Susan Mathai(right)approaches the stage to receive her award.(Staff photo Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard News Office)
The Ivy Orations presented an irreverent look back at the past four years at Harvard and the struggles of graduating seniors to take care of themselves for the first time, to socialize, to find love...and to remember the names of those they found love with.Two graduating seniors, Susan Mathai and David Jenkins, were presented with the Ames Awards, annually given to those whose college careers demonstrate a commitment to service.Ruert joins a long list of prominent media figures, entertainers, and leaders who have addreed Harvard's graduating seniors on Cla Day, including former Maachusetts Gov.William Weld, comedian Conan O'Brien, and rock star Bono.Ruert, who joined NBC News in 1984, serves as managing editor of “Meet the Pre,” as a political analyst for “NBC Nightly News” and the “Today” program, as anchor of “The Tim Ruert Show,” a weekly interview show on CNBC, and as senior vice president of NBC News.The recipient of numerous accolades, Ruert was called “America's best interviewer” in 2004 by Reader's Digest and the most influential journalist in Washington, D.C., in 2001 by Washingtonian Magazine.He graduated from John Carroll University and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.In his speech, Ruert reflected on his own upbringing and on how his father, who never graduated high school and who worked two full-time jobs for 30 years, provided an inspiration through “the quiet eloquence of his hard work.” Ruert ruefully cited a recent poll that said more Americans know who the Three Stooges are than can name the three branches of government, and a “Tonight Show” anecdote that illustrated how little average Americans know about the U.S.Constitution.“We need America's best minds in the arena,” Ruert said.“You have been bleed with an extraordinary opportunity, and indeed, from those to whom much is given, much is expected.”
