By Chris Fuchs
The more than 200 students who took part in commencement exercises at the College of Aeronautics in Flushing Saturday were told to dream until their dreams seemed impossible to achieve, a message delivered by an alumnus from 1969 who went on to become president of a large engineering firm in California.
“What does really lie ahead?” said Theofanis Gavrilis, president of Lockheed Martin Commercial Space System in California. “Niels Bohr, the great physicist, said it best: ‘Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.’”
In his remarks, Gavrilis repeatedly drew on predictions made by people like the founders of IBM and of Microsoft, who while getting a toehold in their businesses, he said, grossly underestimated the frenetic pace at which technology moves.
“What can we safely predict about the future?” he said. “I offer only one thing: constant change. And, ladies and gentlemen, even change is changing.
“Keep dreaming until your dreams seem impossible to achieve, for only then you’ll know you’re on the right track.”
The 226 students who graduated this year received either associate’s or bachelor’s degrees in six disciplines: airport management, aviation electronics, aviation maintenance, aircraft operations, computerized design and animated graphics, and aeronautical engineering. In addition, during a separate ceremony two weeks ago led by the editor in chief of Aviation Week & Space Technology, some 19 students received service and scholastic awards.
In his introductory remarks, the president of the college, Dr. John Fitzpatrick, said the completion of their education signaled the turning of a corner in their lives as many of them were the first in their families to graduate from college. Founded in 1932, the college in LaGuardia Airport has more than 1,300 full- and part-time students enrolled, with a faculty and staff of nearly 200.
“The ritual in which we are participating testifies that you have completed a rigorous course of study, which supports the purpose of our college,” he said. “You have been challenged and tested — you have prevailed. In this ceremony, you become college graduates.”
Reach reporter Chris Fuchs by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
