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King’s College commencement

B. GARRET ROGAN Times Leader Correspondent

WILKES-BARRE TWP. -- Despite a controversy stirred by Bishop Joseph Martino’s objection to King’s College’s decision to honor U.S. Sen. Robert Casey Jr., the focus of the 2009 commencement ceremony was solely on the graduates and their hopes for the future.

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Sen. Bob Casey Jr. addresses King’s College graduates at Sunday’s commencement ceremony at the Wachovia Arena.

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King’s College graduate Dustin Stark, of Larksville, rigged his cap with Christmas lights. Stark earned his degree in criminal justice with a second major in sociology.

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The many challenges facing the nation today were scarcely mentioned; the emphasis instead placed on hope they can be overcome. Casey illustrated that sense of hope by quoting Thomas Jefferson, who once wrote, “I like the dream of the future more than the history of the past.”

The senator, speaking before the graduates and guests at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza, acknowledged the troubled economy and international instability, but he urged the graduates to turn inward when faced with their own struggles. He emphasized the necessity of dependence on family and friends as a means to combat life’s difficulties as well as to find lasting fulfillment.

To illustrate this point, however, he chose a much more contemporary source, making numerous references to the Bruce Springsteen song “Kingdom of Days.” He encouraged the graduates to construct their own kingdoms of memories and values that will sustain each of them through all of their hardships.

“This is my hope today for the graduates and their families,” Casey said. “Take time to build personal relationships.”

He was praised for his many accomplishments, including his drive for children’s health care in the United States, Third World debt relief and a lifelong commitment to Catholic moral teachings throughout his professional life before being presented with an honorary doctorate by the Rev. Thomas O’Hara, King’s College president.

Of the more than 450 graduate and undergraduate degrees handed out on Sunday, the vast majority went to students from Northeastern Pennsylvania. Statistics show that many of them will choose to leave the area after receiving their education here.

Ryan A. Klubeck, of Wilkes-Barre, is happily choosing to buck that trend. He graduated summa cum laude, majoring in both English and Philosophy. The 2009-2010 academic year will find him a few blocks farther south from the college on Franklin Street, when he begins studying for his masters in creative writing at Wilkes University.

His values echoed those praised by Sen. Casey. “My friends and family are here and that is what is most important,” Klubeck said.

Marketing graduate John Bonser of Tannersville also expressed a desire to remain close to home as he enters the professional world, but he knows that he does not have the luxury of choice in today’s economy.

“I’m just sending out a lot of resumes,” Bonser said. “With the way things are I will just go anywhere that I can find the money.”