FROM THE NEST | SPRING 2025 | 43 “My speaker was John Irving, and I got the chance to talk to him years later. He said that Lehigh was his first Commencement speech and he spoke way too long, and he cut it way back for future speeches.” —Rob Sell ’88 “ELIE WIESEL IN 2010. ‘THE OPPOSITE OF GOOD IS NOT EVIL, IT IS INDIFFERENCE.’” —Hal Corin ’10 “I AM CLASS OF 1980. MY PARENTS TOOK MORE PICTURES OF HENRY KISSINGER THAN ME.” —Bob Greenbaum ’80 “Kurt Vonnegut. ‘To draw or paint a picture, to make up a story, to sing in the shower or dance to the radio, to write a poem about how sad or happy you are, is a way to become, a way to make your soul grow. So please do that.’” —Steve Giordano ’04 “Maya Angelou was our Commencement speaker and she was wonderful. She emphasized we should ‘take time to be good sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, and good citizens to the world.’ Timeless advice that applies to every generation.” —Marinee Lees ’05 “CARL SAGAN, AND WHAT I TOOK AWAY FROM HIS SPEECH WAS ‘BE KIND TO THE BLUE DOT’ BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT EARTH LOOKS LIKE FROM SPACE.” —Jane Marder Martin ’90 Lehigh’s 2002 Commencement speaker Christine Todd Whitman chats with a graduate on the field in Goodman Stadium.
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