A Communication Major with a Message: Ben Rosehart Delivers Commencement Address to La Salle University’s Class of 2006

Recent commencement speakers at Philadelphia area colleges have ranged from Bono to Alan Greenspan to Reverend Desmond Tutu. These speakers received an honorary degree from the institution – and imparted their wisdom on graduating students. However, this year’s commencement speaker at La Salle University, Benjamin Rosehart, received a different type of degree than most honorees. Rosehart not only spoke to the class of 2006 on May 14, he was one of them.

For more than 35 years, La Salle has had a graduating senior address the gathering.

“The speech isn’t about me, it’s about us, and how La Salle has affected us,” said Rosehart, a communication major who feels his involvement in many activities made him a good representative of the class and prepared him for the challenge of writing a speech.

“I hope the students can listen to my speech and relate it to their lives,” he said. In his speech, he will ask his fellow graduates to reflect on their time at the University, remember those people that meant the most to them, and those persons who challenged them and helped them grow.

He also encouraged the graduating class not to forget their time at La Salle and to remember to give back. “Whether it’s time or money or advice – we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the help from others,” he said. “I want them to always remember La Salle.”

“I think it is very important for a graduating senior to give the address,” he added. Facing his peers, "It is a bit of a challenge,” he said, “but I am confident that I can do this."

While Rosehart might not be best friends with Brad Pitt, or have won the Nobel Peace Prize, he compiled an impressive list of activities and internships:

general manager of WEXP, the school’s student radio station; co-host of two sports shows on Channel 56, La Salle’s TV station; internships with the Philadelphia Eagles (which included a trip to Jacksonville, Fla. for the 2005 Superbowl) and WTFX (Channel 29) in Philadelphia; and this past February he spent three weeks in Torino, Italy as an intern for NBC during the network’s coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics.

He also received a scholarship from the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia.

“Ben is one of those rare students who reminds you why you chose to teach,” said Brooks Aylor, a La Salle Communication professor. “He inspires his instructors at least as much as we inspire him. Whether in an honors debate course or a first-year public speaking course, he leaves his unassuming yet permanent mark by making the experience better for everyone involved. Students and faculty alike are better for having worked with Ben.”

Added Bill Wine, another Communication professor (and KYW Newsradio film critic), “Ben is one of those students who is so dependable and accomplished, a professor would be more than willing to put up with his annoying eccentricities. Trouble, is, he doesn't have any. He's a great choice for this honor.”

La Salle is one of seven colleges in Pennsylvania and the only one in the Philadelphia region in which a student delivers the commencement address. (The University also awarded two honoree degrees at the ceremony: Timothy O’Toole, Managing Director of the London Subway System and a 1977 La Salle graduate, and Buntzie Ellis Churchill, outgoing President of the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia.)

“I think it's fair to say that I had been writing my speech in my head since the beginning of senior year,” said Rosehart. “ I found myself thinking of ways to say things here and there and occasionally would write down a few words from a homily at mass, or an awesome quote from a book. I sat down a few times over the course of the year to write a few quotes I might use, or basic ideas down, but decided I wanted to wait until I returned from Italy to really write the majority of my speech. I wanted to add that point of view of going out of the country and representing La Salle.”

“Also, out of all 11 La Salle interns in Italy, I was the first to return to the U.S., and I feel those few days after I returned worked out perfectly for me to organize my thoughts by the deadline (to hand in our speech). I even went to my parish, Epiphany of Our Lord, and typed some of it on my laptop at a table in the back to write my speech between returning from Torino on a Sunday evening to turning it in that Thursday. I spent most of those days in between sleeping and writing. It worked out perfectly,” he said.

After a review of written submissions, the competition’s judges narrowed down the entries to seven students who delivered their speeches to the panel of seven judges.

About a dozen members of Rosehart’s family were at the commencement exercises, including his 93-year-old grandfather, who travelled from Jamestown, New York to see his grandson address the class of 2006.

-- Sarah Klem