Each year, the recipient of the Dr. Patricia Book Perry Faculty of the Year Award delivers a personal address at summer commencement. This year’s recipient, Assistant Professor of the Health Care Business program Gretchen Jopp, delivered what may be remembered as one of the most heartrending speeches ever given, causing tear shed by the many students and colleagues of the late Clarkson College professor Mary Balken.
Thank you Dr. Witte, and thank you to each of you for being here today. It’s a momentous day for our students, your loved ones, so we thank you for being here today.
The Faculty of the Year award that I am so honored to have received is given in the name of a remarkable woman by the name of Dr. Patricia Book Perry. Dr. Patricia Perry was instrumental in making Clarkson College the institution that it is today. She was a graduate from the school of nursing in 1945, and became the first President of the College in 1987. It is a tremendous honor to receive an award in her name. I never had the privilege to know Dr. Perry, but even since her passing, her name is still mentioned frequently and with love in the halls of Clarkson College. I’ve come to know how deeply she cared for Clarkson College, its students, and its future. I only hope that I am someone she would like and admire, and would be proud to have as part of her beloved Clarkson College.
Part of the honor of being named Faculty of the Year is getting a moment in time to speak to the summer graduates. I know what you’re thinking, “WHOOPY!! Some honor! She has to get up there and give the Commencement Address?” But it is an honor to say things to graduates that one might not ordinarily get to say; and I don’t mind the speaking part. I usually have something to say.
In fact, I had my speech pretty much worked out in my mind soon after I was named Faculty of the Year. To be completely truthful, I was just going to do some tweaking to the commencement speech I did a couple years ago as Faculty Senate President. Then something very important happened, and suddenly I had something very different to say.
About three months ago, the Clarkson College faculty lost one of our own. Mary Balken was her name, and she was a beloved mentor and anatomy professor to many students at Clarkson College. Beyond her academic roles at the College, she loved her students. She loved you so much that for two years, she kept the knowledge that she was dying from you AND from us, and she kept working, preparing you to be the best. She put the fact that she was dying aside, maybe to distract herself, and that’s ok, but she didn’t tell YOU because she didn’t want YOU to be distracted. I can’t say why she didn’t tell the rest of us. She probably just wanted to just keep business as usual. Maybe she just wanted to teach for as long as she possibly could, because she LOVED teaching, and she loved you. And she CARED for you, and she SHOWED it, and she MEANT it.
We were all cut off at the knees when word came that Mary was gone. We had JUST seen her at school the Monday before. Professor Weber saw her at the copy machine and said, “Hi Mary! Are you ready for summer?!” Mary said, “Yes, I think I am!” Knowing, probably, in her heart, that she wouldn’t see summer. But … she was ready for whatever it was summer held instore for her.
Mary finished out Spring finals week on Friday, May 6th, closed her gradebook on Tuesday May 11th, and slipped away peacefully at home on Sunday May 15th.
Mary knew exactly what she was doing. She knew she was leaving, she knew she was dying, and she still chose to keep doing what she loved, and caring for those she loved. Can we love like that? Will we love our profession like that? A lady by the name of Blanch Udey was a 1918 graduate of Clarkson College. She experienced World War I and the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918. She stated “The first principle taught [to us at Clarkson College] was that if we wished to follow the profession, we would have to forget ourselves. The patient and our work came first.” You may not know quite yet how much will you love your profession. I have no doubt you will love what you do. You wouldn’t have stuck it out like you have if you didn’t enjoy what you’re doing already. You might have to move around a little bit to find just the right fit, just the right family, like the family I’ve found at Clarkson College, but what is most important is that you find that family and that fit. Be happy doing what you’re doing, because it is true that if you love what you do, you won’t work a day in your life.
The faculty at Clarkson College is a small group, but we’re mighty, and we love what we do. Our programs are nationally recognized by several organizations as being one of the best. We care about you and your future, and we show it, and we mean it.
There’s no doubt that you’re nervous right now, and may feel unprepared, but trust me, you havebeen prepared - BY the best, to BE the best. The group of faculty seated behind you is some of the best in the business. We’ve prepared you to earn the respect you deserve, because that respect is not handed to you in one of these blue folders; you will earn the respect you deserve.
Graduates, you’ll have extraordinary days, and you’ll have days that leave you empty, defeated and depleted. But what is most important is that you remember that no one day, or even a collection of days, should be so unbearable that it makes tomorrow impossible. Get through those unbearable days with grace. Never let them see you sweat. I learned that from doing things like this, from working with students, from growing up with brothers, and from working with physicians. So let me say that again. Never let them see you sweat. Never forget who you are, and from where you’ve come. Never allow any failure to define you. You don’t have to be Employee of the Year, or Faculty of the Year to be remembered by your patients and clients, and by society as a whole. All you have to do is care – care about yourself, care about your family, care about your environment, and care about your patients. And show it. And MEAN it. Because there’s a difference, isn’t there, between SHOWING it and MEANING it. You would not be here today if we didn’t see those abilities in you.
I’ll finish up with a quick history lesson: In the very early years, I’m talking about the 1800’s, 1900’s, Clarkson nurses wore blue bands on their arms to distinguish themselves from the mothers of their young patients. The blue band evolved into the Maltese Cross, a symbol of Clarkson that as we heard earlier, represented “devotion to duty in God’s work of ministering to the sick.” Clarkson students later wore the Maltese Cross as a symbol of faith, honor and service to others. When you leave here today, wear that Maltese Cross on your heart. Carry the spirit of Mary Balken and Blanche Udey with you by loving what you do every day, and by putting others first.
Everyone gets older. But not everyone gets better. You have each taken advantage of the privilege of time (because time is a privilege, isn’t it), to make yourselves better. May we all follow your example, of growing not only older, but better.
You have been prepared to be the best. Now go love what you do, be kind, care for yourselves and for others, and show it and mean it. Godspeed to you, the Clarkson College summer class of 2016.
Gretchen Jopp
2016-17 Patricia Book Perry Faculty of the Year
Upon her passing from cancer this past May, the Omaha World-Herald released this article about Mrs. Balken’s immense passion for teaching.
Omaha World-Herald Article
