Graduation Speech for the Information Age
by Frank Odasz

[Note from Dave Hughes: Below was the brief "Commencement Address" by Frank Odasz, Assistant Professor of Computer Education of Western Montana College at the one-room Wisdom Montana K-8 School, Friday night, May 27th, 1988.

There were exactly 2 graduating 8th graders in this tiny town of less than 75 in the middle of remote ranching and farming country in extreme southwest Montana. Over 100 parents, grandparents, school board members (of the 5 Kindergarteners also 'graduating' to 1st grade) showed up. The faces in the audience were right out of Norman Rockwell.

Frank was invited to speak by three teachers, and one assistant teacher (she played the piano), of the school who had all logged onto Big Sky Telegraph from their one Apple Computer and taken the teacher recertification course entirely online from Western Montana College February to April, 1988.

Knowing these facts, the name of the town and school - Wisdom - is more than ironic.]

GRADUATION SPEECH

Good evening, I'm Frank Odasz, director of Big Sky Telegraph at
Western Montana College.

It is an honor to share in the celebration of the achievement of
Wisdom's student pioneers of the future.

The pioneer spirit has always been focused on positive change.

Most of us can accept that change is necessary if the quality of
our lives is to get better. This year we've seen our students
change in new and exciting ways.

In our rapidly changing world it is becoming increasingly
important to keep up with the changes that are occurring around
us, if for no other reason than to protect ourselves from
potential dangers of those changes.

We seek the wisdom to know what should change and what
shouldn't. We do need better economic conditions but there are
many aspects of the rural lifestyle that we want to preserve and
not change. Education itself can be described as the process of
acquiring the knowledge and skills for creative adaptation to
change. If change results in better opportunities for our kids'
success, then it is generally welcomed.

Change can be a threat to our independence. A hundred years ago,
there was a self-sufficient rancher who laughed at the
suggestion that he might benefit from a new technology called
the telephone.

With a successful ranching operation underway, in an
understandable common sense sort of way he reasoned; why would
he possibly need to talk to someone a hundred miles away? What
effect could that have on his ranching and, why change if the
ranch is successful?

Eventually, the rancher's first benefit from use of the
telephone might have been checking auction prices in Billings.
This eventually came to be viewed not as a dependency, but as an
economy enhancing additional freedom, literally another tool in
the rancher's toolbox. Today we use the telephone without giving
it a second thought, and without worrying if we understand the
details of how the phone company makes it work. The same is true
for the microcomputers. We need to know only how to put these
tools to work for our benefit.

This (hold up laptop) has introduced change in my life. As a
former roughneck, carpenter, and duderancher who never touched a
computer before the age of 30, this notebook-sized microcomputer
has given me access to worldwide information. This "laptop" is a
new way to gather economic and educational information from any
location, at any time I might find convenient.

Telecommunications technologies hold great promise for allowing
rural communities to enhance their economic options while
preserving the cherished rural lifestyle. Big Sky Telegraph at
Western Montana College, is a rural education project funded by
the M.J. Murdoch Charitable Trust and the Mountain Bell
Foundation of Montana.

Using modems, microcomputers and common phonelines, select rural
educators are able to access educators statewide and exchange
written information at a rate of four pages per minute, ten
times the information possible via a voice call. This is the
most efficient and cost effective means of resource and
information sharing available in Montana.

Four teachers from right here in Wisdom, more than in any other
single community in the Montana, have volunteered to pioneer a
new trail toward Montana's educational frontier using this new
form of communication. They have established a link from Wisdom
to WMC to provide Wisdom students with access to over $10,000
worth of quality educational software. In addition, they have
established fingertip access to the librarians and resources of
the WMC library, all for as little as $5.00/week.

Just last week pen pal messages between Wisdom students and
students from Deep Creek School near Glendive,(600 miles away)
on the other side of the state, were exchanged electronically
via the Big Sky Telegraph system. We have only scratched the
surface of the potential benefits to Wisdom residents using
telecommunications. These teachers and students saw the
benefits to the community of beneficial change.

Montana is faced with the realities of an increasingly global
economy. The independence of Montanans, with new communications
tools can bring benefits from far away to those here at home.
Global marketing information and contacts have the potential to
breath new life into Montana's ranching businesses. Talented
business and resource persons across Montana now have the
potential to better share ideas and strategies despite distance
or schedules.

Your kids will soon be the ones to use these tools to create a
brighter future for residents of the Big Hole Valley.

This short speech will be sent electronically to networks on
both coasts this evening to share the word that the trail to the
future of education in this country is being blazed by the
teachers and students here in Wisdom, Montana, as much as
anywhere else.

In a world that is changing more all the time, our students bear
the promise that what we all value most, the opportunity for a
quality education, will not change.

Thank you.

----------------------------------
The four teachers were Wanda Valeska, Patti Monaco, Cathy
Nickish, and Gloria Reed. Pioneer women of the New West! I guess
Frank's comments to a graduation of two 8th Graders is as useful
a graduation speech to read as any of the tens of thousands
being delivered across the nation this spring! - Dave Hughes