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Sunday, February 23, 2025

The Lasting Lectures latches onto the hearts of students

On Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2015 at 7:00 p.m., Mortar Board hosted their annual Lasting Lecture Series event in Wygal Auditorium. This year Susan Sullivan, director of the Office of Student Union and Involvement, Program Coordinator and Associate Professor Dr. Cathy Roy and Joshua Blakely, the director of Residence Life, were the main speakers at the event.

The Lasting Lecture Series is based on the book and lecture by Dr. Randy Pausch, which reflected on what he wanted to do and what he wished he had done, right before he passed away from a terminal brain tumor.

Mortar Board Co-Historian and Co-Planner of the event, Shannon Riordan said, “Our lasting lecture series is supposed to be a way that faculty members can give their wisdom to the student body, and for them to reflect on what they learned throughout their lives.”

Sullivan spoke first at the event. She gave her own personal story that reflected on 10 things she learned from 10 people in her life. She included stories for each lesson, and some came from people like her father, mother, husband, her dogs and even her favorite NFL team, the New England Patriots. The 10 lessons included:

- Speak up for what you believe in
- Treat everyone equal and send notes 
Hard work, a good work ethic and manage your money 
Don't sweat the small stuff and choose your battles 
Don't hold a grudge, let it go! 
Do what you enjoy 
Never give up and teamwork 
Put yourself before others and volunteer 
Take time for you and take a vacation 
Don't forget to thank those who helped along the way 

The second speaker at the event was Roy, who focused her speech on leadership. She began with a quote that said, “Leadership is not a position, it is character.”

Roy then began to speak about her father’s death, and the impact that it had on herself and others who knew him. She told the audience that everything he did was through leadership and then gave the audience eight qualities of leadership based on her own experiences, including:

Surround yourself in situations where everyone is valued for themselves and their unique talents
Master conflict resolution skills 
Be accountable and responsible for your own individual undertakings 
Practice self knowledge and self confidence 
Trying is more important than winning 
Be involved in as many things as you are comfortable  
Do not compromise your quality of life for the sake of less important matters 
Be trustworthy, encouraging and supportive 

Then, Blakely finished off the night with a personal, emotional and entertaining presentation about perspective. Blakely said, “Life is all about perspective.”

Throughout, Blakely spoke about how people can change the awful into something awesome. He spoke about his awful year in 2014, and how when he changed his perspective, it became an awesome year.

Telling the audience personal stories about how three of his grandparents died within one year, about his dog running away multiple times and speaking about his son, Blakely reminded everyone in attendance that “when bad things happen in life, shift your perspective.”

He ended by saying, “I think it went very well, I was actually really pleased with the turn out. I thought this one had the most variety from the last two I have been to.”

Kayla Stover, who is also the co-historian of Mortar Board, also helped plan the event along with Riordan. Stover was in charge of handling the reception, food and was an important part in the planning and organization of the event.

The two started planning the event right after Oktoberfest by making a list of individuals at a Mortar Board meeting that they thought would be a good fit to give the lecture. The members then picked the top four who received the most votes and contacted them to ask if they would participate. According to Riordan, all four of those selected (Guss Hemmer was the fourth selected, but could not attend) said yes to speaking within twenty-four hours of asking.

The Lasting Lecture Series continues to be Mortar Board’s spring semester event that started after Pausch gave his original lecture.

“The students of Mortar Board were touched so much [by] his (Pausch) lecture, they decided to bring it here,” said Riordan.