RILEY URGES SEMO GRADS TO FIND VOICE

Amy Krieger of Perryville couldn't attend her college graduation Saturday since she was completing a student teaching program in Wales. But her family came to recognize her hard work.

Krieger graduated cum laude from the College of Education at Southeast Missouri State University. She also was recognized as one of 11 honors scholar at the university.

More than 850 students received degrees Saturday afternoon during commencement exercises at the Show Me Center. Seven of the students were recognized for their 4.0 grade point average. Only 66 people, including the seven who graduated Saturday, have received perfect grades in Southeast's 123-year history.

During the last four years, students have spent much of their time in classrooms and internships preparing for the "Information Era," said U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley, who was invited to speak at commencement by his friend, university President Bill Atchley.

America needs a new group of learners as it faces an unsettling time. People are unsure about the changes in education and are not very optimistic about the outcomes of those changes, Riley said.

Students need to "find your public voice," Riley said. "In this time of some anxiety, we need to respond with positive options to the shrill voices of division, wedge issues and cynicism."

The task for students is to create a common ground in America. If America is not quite a melting pot, it is a rich American stew, full of many flavors, Riley said.

"Finding common ground is the urgent work of America here in 1996, and your work as college graduates."

And as lifelong learners, students will face many choices. "A first choice is to retreat into our own private worlds -- living as successful and skilled individuals but possibly aloof and alone -- disconnected from our fellow citizens and even our own deeper humanity."

"A second choice is to see this time as a new age of possibility -- to recognize it as a time of opportunity -- when you can use what you have learned here at this university to do the original work of defining a new social contract -- to define the American ideals of opportunity, responsibility, and community in new and substantial ways that have meaning for us all," Riley said.

Family and friends spent time creating opportunities for the graduates. And they helped shape character along the way, Riley said.

"They had strong arms that held you when you had to be held," he said. "Your parents stood at your side -- gave you courage -- and more than once, probably did what they had to do, however unpleasant, to shape your character."

Shaping character took time before college but deciding how to spend their time was a lesson students learn at school, Riley said.

"Here, you spent your own time stretching your mind and lifting your horizons. But I am sure you also did something more. Friendships have been formed here that will last a lifetime. And on more than one occasion, you probably lost all sense of time when you stayed up late at night to ask the questions about life that needed answering including your individual quests for spirituality."

And that quest means the class of 1996 will be life-long learners, Riley said.

In keeping with a tradition of learning, Rush H. Limbaugh, Sr. was honored posthumously with the first honorary doctorate degree from Southeast Missouri State University.

His sons, Stephen Limbaugh Sr. and Manly Limbaugh accepted an honorary doctorate degree for their father.

Rush H. Limbaugh, 104, was the oldest living alumnus of the university when he was notified of the award in March. He died April 8.

Eight members of the Limbaugh family attended the graduation ceremony Saturday.