ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL REMARKS AT DICKINSON COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT
[https://www.fema.gov/fact-sheet/administrator-criswell-remarks-dickinson-college-commencement]


Release Date: 
5월 22, 2023 

Thank you, President Jones and Provost Weissman.

I am deeply humbled by the honorary degree you have just bestowed upon
me.

It is a privilege to join my fellow honorees, faculty, Dickinson
trustees, alumni, friends, family, and, most importantly, the Class of
2023.

Graduates, you did it! Today represents such an incredible
accomplishment!

All 371 of you, during what may seem like a lifetime ago, converged
upon Carlisle, Pennsylvania, from across the United States and 26
foreign countries to pursue a world class education.

You left home with unique life experiences, perspectives, cultures,
hopes and dreams, ready to join a community of likeminded peers.

A community of peers who just like you, were ready to commit to a core
set of tenets to be decisive, useful, curious, and unafraid to take
risks.

You walked onto campus and made friends that you now call family.

You learned from professors who you now consider trusted mentors.

You embraced your differences and have emerged with unbreakable bonds.

You came to Dickinson College because you share a passion that cannot
be taught but is rather something that you were born with a passion to
help people.

As the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or
FEMA, I proudly lead over 20,000 emergency managers who share that
passion and have committed to helping people before, during, and after
disasters.

If you have ever met an emergency manager, or have the pleasure of
calling one a friend, you know that for them, there is no problem that
is too big to solve, and there are no barriers that will stand between
them and someone who needs help.

Because wherever and whenever we are needed, we go.

No matter the challenge, no matter the risk, we go.

It is a call that we are ready to answer, and as our threat landscape
continues to grow, it is a call that is only growing louder.

Floods are in our backyards. Fires are in our forests. Drought is in
our fields.

And on my list of “never saw that one coming,” Sargassum Seaweed
is impacting water treatment facilities. You will have to google that
one later.

These events prove that climate change is on our front steps.

Serving as the greatest disruptor of our lifetime, right up there with
COVID-19, climate change has catapulted the world into a race against
time.

We are in a race to save our homes and our neighborhoods.

A race to find cures to climate-driven disease.

A race to stave off the extinction of endangered species and habitats.

And at times, a race to save people’s lives.

The latest report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change warns that without immediate action, these kinds of events will
continue to get worse.

However, hope is not lost. As one of the core writers of the IPCC
report said:

“It is not that we are depending on something that still needs to be
invented. We actually have all the knowledge we need. All the tools we
need. We just need to implement it.”

Now, considering Dickinson College was one of the first 10 schools in
the nation to achieve carbon neutrality; and that the college hosted
an international climate change symposium in partnership with the IPCC
earlier this year; and that your graduating class alone has
collectively taken over 1,500 sustainability courses, perhaps the
solutions to our problems are right here in front of me.

And we need you now more than ever.

We need your energy and your boldness.

We need your tenacity and your resilience.

We need your fresh perspectives to solve really wicked problems.

You may be asking yourself, what exactly is a wicked problem?

Well, I can tell you that the ones we deal with as emergency managers
are not always driven by a bad storm.

I will give you an example, in New York City during the height of the
pandemic, COVID-19 was not the only public health emergency we were
facing.  

Some of you may know that during warmer months in the city, cooling
centers are a lifeline for vulnerable individuals who lack access to
air conditioning.

Especially older adults who are at a higher risk of dying from heat
exposure.

But due to social distancing, the city had to close cooling centers.

And at that time, I served as New York City’s Commissioner of
Emergency Management.

I called together the city’s best emergency management, public
health, energy, environmental, financial, and logistical experts to
come up with a solution.

We had a lot of really smart people working really fast to solve a
really big problem. And through patience, collaboration, and
creativity, the team delivered.

The “Get Cool New York City” program was born.

The team decided that with no safe way to bring people to a cool
space, we brought the cool space to them.

In a few short months, 74,000 air conditioners were delivered to older
adults across the city.

And to help alleviate the financial burden, an energy subsidy was also
provided so people could afford to use the units during the peak heat
months.

This was a solution driven by urgency, rooted in practicality, and
inspired by equity.

For many of the people who worked on the “Get Cool New York City”
program, they consider it the highlight of their careers.

And even as one of the most populated cities in the world was in the
throes of responding to a global pandemic, and it often felt like an
impossible battle to win, they still managed to come together as a
team to deliver a different kind of lifesaving resource to people in
need.

So, when it comes to wicked problems, these are the kinds of solutions
that we need. These are the solutions that the nation is counting on
you to bring forward.

So, when you have the opportunity to speak up and lead, bring the
lessons you learned in the classroom, or studying abroad, or working
and attending school, to the table.

And if someone tells you that it will never work, say, “I believe we
will succeed.”

If someone says it is impossible, say “only if we fail to try.”

And if you find that your light begins to dim because of someone
else’s doubt, remember when I said on this day, “yes you can.”

Because there will be days where the only person who believes in you,
is you.

I had one of those days early on in my career.

So now I charge you to take adversity and turn it into opportunity.

I charge you to take words of doubt and let them fuel your fire to
succeed.

Because you will simply never know until you try.

You just have to believe in yourself, and you will find yourself in
the place you are meant to be. 

Yes you can!

In fact, in a short time from now, you will return to where you
started this journey in the fall of 2019.

As first-years, you ascended the stone steps of Memorial Hall to sign
into college.

And today, as graduates, you will descend those same steps to receive
your diploma.

Those stone steps were put in place by the one person who brought all
of us together today, and who will forever be a part of our lives,
Dickinson College’s founder, Benjamin Rush.

A physician who believed in the power of science and medicine.

A bold and respected voice who spoke out against slavery.

A signer of the Declaration of Independence who believed in the power
of democracy.

And the founder of Dickinson college who believed in the power of
education.

Benjamin Rush was a man who pushed boundaries to propel his beloved
nation toward a path of prosperity and innovation.

And if he were to stand here today and look across this group of
graduates, I believe he would say, “well done.”

I believe he would also say that no matter how big the challenge, how
heavy the burden, it is the Dickinsonian spirit that will help carry
you through.

Dickinson College Class of 2023, you are the stewards of our future.

It will be your minds that inspire us, your voices that rally us, and
your hands that will guide us toward a future that is safe,
sustainable, and equitable for all.

Congratulations!