SUNY Geneseo: Graduates celebrate; Friendship man, 71, receives degree

Molly Smith Metzler

GENESEO, N.Y. – SUNY Geneseo alumna Molly Smith Metzler made it clear to the graduates in the Class of 2017 Saturday that life likely will not go the way they think it will but encouraged them to treat setbacks as “the stuff that will give you a wonderful and interesting life story, one that you get to write and star in.”
Metzler was the keynote speaker for Geneseo’s 151^st commencement ceremonies during which the college conferred an estimated 1,175 degrees.
“The only thing you can plan on in life is that your life plans won’t work out,” said Metzler, a playwright, screenwriter and TV writer and a 2000 Geneseo graduate. “In the blink of an eye, you will be 17 years from this moment, looking back at the things you think you want right now, realizing how flimsy they were…how your idea of success has morphed into something else entirely.”
Metzler used her own career to illustrate her point about life’s vicissitudes, saying she experienced many writing failures before hitting her mark, which she attributes to the continuing burning desire to write.
“When I became a mother, it cracked me open so profoundly, I had things I wanted to say again,” she said. “So I started working on a play about being trapped in a crappy Long Island duplex, dying of loneliness, trying to sort through questions of career and identity in the face of this incredible love you feel for your child. And after I finished that play, HBO called. And the Hulu called. And then Netflix and Showtime called. And right now, I’m enjoying a moment of things being okay.”
Metzler recently became a writer/producer for the hit Showtime series “Shameless” and also has written for “Codes of Conduct” (HBO), “Casual” (HULU) and “Orange Is the New Black” (Netflix).
She told the graduates that they had earned the next chapter in their lives and they should feel brave and strong and ready for it.
During the ceremonies, SUNY Geneseo President Denise Battles praised the graduates for succeeding during their time at Geneseo.
“I look across the assembled Class of 2017 and see bright and enthusiastic men and women who will lead by example, value inclusivity, continue their dedication to service in their communities, and live the values fostered by one of the finest public liberal arts institutions in this country,” said President Battles.
Battles said the graduates “will be leaders who carry our nation forward into the future through your intelligence, drive and generosity.”
During the afternoon ceremony, the college conferred an honorary doctorate of humane letters upon John Churchill, secretary emeritus of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
The senior orators this year were Hannah Loo, a double major in biology and music from Flishing, N.Y., and Amal Thabateh, a philosophy major from Brooklyn, N.Y.
Receiving the Richard Roark Award was Evan Goldstein, an English major from Brewster, N.Y. The award is presented to a graduating senior whose excellence in scholarship and community service emulates that of Roark, a former Geneseo professor of anthropology who was presumed drowned off the island of Guadeloupe in the French West Indies. Michael Baranowski, a political science major from Albion, N.Y., received the President’s Cup, given annually to a graduating senior who exemplifies superior service and dedication to the Geneseo Student Association.
The college conferred a degree this year upon a 71-year-old graduate, James W. Ratigan, a theater major from Friendship, N.Y. Ratigan is a military veteran who earned a community college degree in 2001 and entered Geneseo in 2013 to seek his bachelor’s degree after developing an interest in theater.