Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer returned to her alma mater Friday to speak to graduates as she prepares for a chapter of her own career to end.
Whitmer gave the commencement address at Michigan State University about one-third of the way through her final year as governor.
The Democratic governor, who graduated from MSU with a bachelor’s degree in communications in 1993 and a law degree in 1998, said Friday’s address would be her final commencement speech as the state’s top executive.
“This is where it all started for me, and part of me will always be here,” Whitmer said, adding that she spent the happiest years of her life at MSU and called it “one of her favorite places in the whole wide world.”
From student memories to Spartan traditions
She told students two major world events happened during her first year as a Spartan: the Berlin Wall fell, and the first couch was burned at Cedar Village.
“I may or may not have been at one of those events,” Whitmer said. “Let’s just say I didn’t have a passport.”
Whitmer recalled participating in MSU traditions like the midnight scream during finals week and “downing my fair share of Shark Bowls” at Landshark Bar & Grill.
She called the first few weeks of her time at MSU, when she was studying to become a sports broadcaster and Tom Izzo was an assistant coach, “just magical.”
“When my mom dropped me off at Wonders Hall, we cried, we hugged, and then she didn’t hear from me for two weeks,” Whitmer said. “We didn’t have cell phones. Thank God, or I don’t know if I’d be standing here as your governor today.”
Whitmer said that while some things — like the music playing on the radio — have changed since she was a student, many Spartans likely have similar experiences to hers. But if they don’t, she said that’s okay, too.
“There’s not one right way to spend your time here,” Whitmer said. “If you showed up, got involved, stayed curious and made friends, you did MSU right.”
While Whitmer started her career in state politics serving in the Michigan House of Representatives, she said her first elected office was as president of her sorority at MSU, Kappa Alpha Theta.
“Leading that organization of 150 strong, independent young women remains one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever had,” Whitmer said. “Seriously. And I’ve governed through a pandemic and plots.”
Whitmer shared three lessons she said she learned at MSU that have stuck with her.
The first was that “if you try, you will always get better.”
She said Midwesterners have a tendency to be too humble and underestimate what they’re capable of.
“I learned how fun it was to work at and get better at something I thought I couldn’t do,” Whitmer said. “Graduates will never be permanently bad at anything.”
The second lesson was to keep an open mind and “do things for the plot” rather than only focusing on things that look good on a resume.
“If something excites you, chase it,” Whitmer said. “Even if it doesn’t have an obvious benefit, it’ll probably be a good story someday, and it will come back to help you.”
She said taking unexpected steps can help you find your calling, noting that she wasn’t interested in public policy until her dad convinced her to take an internship in the Michigan Capitol.
“It was a detour, but it ended up being the scenic route that changed my destination,” Whitmer said.
MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz said nearly two-thirds of this year’s graduates earned degrees in different majors than they started in. Graduates ranged in age from 19 to 51 and came from all 50 states and 73 countries.
Whitmer’s final lesson was that time flies – whether you’re having fun or not.
“The best we can do is save the good and remember the bad doesn’t last forever,” Whitmer said. “Every season or phase in your life will be important in its own way. It will give your life shape and meaning.”
Whitmer honors victims of 2023 campus shooting
Most of the graduates in this year’s class would have been freshman during the February 2023 campus shooting. It is the last graduating class made up mostly of students who were on campus at the time.
Whitmer acknowledged the three students – Alexandria Verner, Arielle Anderson and Brian Fraser – who were killed in the shooting.
“Those three should have been out in the world by now, living their lives and chasing their own adventures,” Whitmer said. “It’s not fair that they’re not with us anymore. It’s not fair that some of you will still carry scars, both seen and unseen, from that day. It’s not right that your first year at MSU was traumatic.”
“But nothing, and I mean nothing, has inspired me more than the resilience, courage and community that you and your fellow Spartans showed in the days and weeks after that dark day.”
Whitmer was awarded an honorary doctorate in education, which was presented to her during the ceremony by Guskiewicz and Provost Laura Lee McIntyre.
Whitmer said graduations are about the graduates, but “big accomplishments take teams,” encouraging graduates to wave to their families in the audience.
“Later today, when they are embarrassing you when they want to take what seems like 1,000 pictures, just let them,” Whitmer said. “They’re bursting with joy, they love you so much.”
She also recognized the faculty and staff at MSU, and “our handsome, buff mascot, Sparty.”
“Think about those poor students in Ann Arbor,” Whitmer said. “They have a weasel for a mascot.”
Wolverines, the University of Michigan’s mascot, are the largest land-dwelling member of the weasel family.
“Congratulations. I love you,” Whitmer ended her speech. “Big Gretch out. Go green!”
