STARKVILLE – Service was the theme of Mississippi State’s Spring commencement exercises as a pair of military leaders with deep Mississippi roots stressed the virtues of “giving back” to more than 2,400 degree candidates during the university’s split ceremonies on Friday and Saturday.
Lt. General Darrell D. Jones, U.S. Air Force deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services addressed graduates during the Friday evening program while Ray Mabus, U.S. Secretary of the Navy and former Mississippi governor, addressed the Saturday morning graduates.
Both men encouraged graduates to make service to others a key to their future endeavors.
Acknowledging Mississippi State’s status as a “great land-grant institution, Jones told students they have a heritage to honor as Mississippi State graduates.
“Service is a part of the fabric of this institution and service should be a part of your fabric. In serving others, that service will help define the person you want to be. When you serve others, you become that person.”
Mabus echoed those sentiments in his Saturday address.
“Do something bigger than yourself,” said Mabus, who as the civilian head of the Navy and Marines has more than 900,000 military personnel under his command. “Fewer than one percent of Americans wear the uniform of the U.S. military. We honor that one percent for their service, and I’m proud to say that Mississippians serve at a rate higher than almost any place in the country.”
“But you don’t have to wear the uniform to serve,” he said. “Service can be a teacher staying after school to help a student who is struggling. It can be a nurse staying after the end of a shift to care for a patient. It can be a farmer in the Delta anonymously paying for a young person’s education. Or it can be something as simple as mowing the grass for an elderly neighbor.
Jones, a 1979 graduate of Mississippi State’s College of Education and Air Force ROTC program, has had a long and distinguished military career, serving as commander of the Air Force District of Washington prior to his current position as a deputy chief of staff. He has commanded a squadron, group, two wings and a direct reporting unit in his military career.
“I sat where you were 33 years ago,” Jones told the graduates. “When I was sitting there, I wore up my gown the uniform of a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. Today under this gown, I still wear the uniform…only it has a little more bling.”
Mabus, meanwhile, felt obliged to defend a part of his record before turning his attention to the main theme of his speech.
“As you may know I went to school a little north of here,” said Mabus, an Ackerman native who graduated summa cum laude from Ole Miss in 1969. “So I want to establish my Mississippi State profile now.”
Mabus said he grew up around the MSU campus and noted that in taking advantage of a special program offered while he was in high school he earned 14 credit hours that “our sister institution was happy to accept.”
Reaching beneath the podium, Mabus retrieved a cowbell, saying “You had better watch this closely; it will be the only time you see me do this.”
With that he rang the cowbell and said, “Go Dawgs” to the roaring approval of his audience.
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