Career Advice 2024

July 19, 2024

At Reser Stadium, Oregon State University, in Corvallis, OR, ex-OSU football player Steve Jackson delivered a commencement speech that was more than just advice. It was a call to action, a call to travel and discover oneself. The stadium was hushed as the students absorbed Jackson’s powerful message, drawn from his own transformative experiences.

 His speech resonated deeply with the audience and earned the roaring applause of the 7,600 graduating students and forty thousand family and friends in the stadium on June 15, 2024. We were in the audience to watch our grandson graduate in engineering.

Jackson started his speech by asking the students: what is your next step? The NFL drafted Jackson before graduation, and he did not have to think about the future until he became disappointed with his team and concerned about his long-term career. His concern led to travel each year when the team was off-season. This narrative structure, which began with a personal anecdote and then transitioned into the central theme of travel, effectively engaged the audience and set the tone for the rest of the speech.

He traveled alone or in small groups to meet local people in foreign countries who did not know he was a well-known football player in the US. He said his travels made him find his strengths and increased his confidence in resolving challenges when he came home. The challenges did not become any easier; they remained the same. However, he discovered that he became better at solving problems based on what he learned traveling.

He recommended travel, including adventures like he had paragliding over Iguazu Falls in Argentina and cage-diving with great white sharks.

Another adventure was to build water wells in Tanzania as part of a team to help that country with its water problems. The tour also included climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, an extremely demanding physical hike. He described that when the group climbing the mountain was a hundred meters from the top, he looked back and saw his friend struggling to walk further, weakened by the thin air at this high altitude. Although he was steps away from the top, he decided to return to help, and both scaled the summit together. Jackson said teamwork is essential in achieving goals, but helping his friend was a moment of self-discovery in understanding your strengths and empathy for others.

Listening to Jackson reminded me of my travels to the Middle East and Southeast Asia with my wife. We backpacked, taking the less traveled paths and taking advantage of learning about local cultures, being observant, and talking to people. I fully agree with Jackson; when traveling, you leave your daily routine and identity behind as much as possible and instead open your mind and eyes.

For instance, we stumbled upon the rat temple in India, where you enter barefoot and are surrounded by over 25,000 rats (Karni Mata in Rajasthan). The full-time staff’s dedication to feeding and supporting these rats is a testament to the temple’s religious significance. It was a sight we could never have imagined before our travels.

We also saw an exquisitely carved Jain temple, where we had to shed all leather goods (materials that come from living things), like my belt, to enter. Other requirements were no shoes, socks, or food, and women could not enter during their menstrual cycle.

In Moslem Jordan, we learned that all room service staff were men; women are prohibited from working in such spaces. Instead, Egyptian immigrant men are doing this work.

In Bangladesh, we encountered a combination of urban poverty, crowding, and working conditions that do not exist in North America; for example, we saw fifteen people sewing shirts in a closed, windowless space of two hundred square feet with one lamp and no AC, working in temperatures of over ninety degrees in Pune, India. We also experienced a hundred-mile, four-hour car trip.

Returning from our trips, we have become more tolerant and understanding of different cultures. We looked at our issues at home from a larger perspective; for example, we did not think our highway congestion was terrible compared to the roads around Pune.

Mind you, we traveled when we were older, unlike what Jackson recommended in his speech to new graduates. And we were not looking for our future careers. However, travel is educational at any stage in life and can help focus people’s lives, so I thought Jackson’s speech was helpful to new graduates.

But remember that young people want to get on with their careers and look for a job before considering traveling. One also needs some funds to travel. So, although I agree with the premise that travel opens your mind and assists with figuring out your career, most young people fall into the job market after graduation, often marry and establish a family before thinking about travel that needs some funds and free time. Considering these practical challenges when evaluating the relevance of Jackson’s advice is essential.

With his newly minted diploma, my grandson, Cedric, had already secured a job in San Francisco before he heard Steve Jackson. Many of his friends had also obtained jobs before graduation. However, the message may linger with them, and between future job changes, they may travel. For those graduating with no immediate plans, by all means, go on a trip and find yourself. That was Steve Jackson’s message.