I Found a Speech I Gave 30 Years Ago. I'm Still Giving It.

Thirty years ago today, I was the last person to stand at a podium on behalf of SAHPERK.

May 22nd, 1996. Dalhousie University. The Convocation Breakfast for the School of Recreation, Physical Health Education and Kinesiology, Faculty of Health Professions. A few weeks after that morning, the school was renamed Health and Human Performance. The Class of 1996 was the last to graduate under the old name. We didn’t know it at the time.

I had been elected to the SAHPERK executive and was delivering the student address. I was 23 years old, three years removed from academic probation, and not entirely sure what I was going to do with a Kinesiology degree.

I found the text of that speech recently, sitting in my Google Drive, scanned and filed sometime around 2006. I read it this week for the first time in a long time.

A few things caught me.

The first was this line, describing what Kinesiology graduates were heading into: “creating safe work environments and providing various assessments to the population.” I wrote that as a one-sentence summary of what the degree was for. I had no idea I was also describing the next 30 years of my career.

The second was the frame I used for the whole address. Four disciplines, different approaches, one common goal. I kept returning to convergence, to the idea that the real work happens at the intersection. I was making that argument at 23 without knowing I would spend three decades making it in very different rooms, about very different problems.

The third was the simple fact that I was standing at a podium at all. The executive role, the student address, the Golden D award I received that year for extracurricular contributions to university community. I had already worked out that my job, wherever I ended up, was going to involve connecting people and translating complexity. I just didn’t have a name for it yet.

I’m sharing the full text below, exactly as written and delivered. The prose is what you’d expect from a 23-year-old Kinesiology student in 1996. But the instincts in it are ones I still recognize.

To the Dalhousie Class of 1996, wherever you are: we were the last SAHPERK class. That’s a small distinction. It’s still ours.

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Convocation Breakfast Address, May 22nd, 1996 | D. Darren MacDonald, BScK

Dr. Maloney, faculty, staff, family, friends and fellow graduates. As a member of the SAHPERK executive it gives me great pleasure in delivering the 1996 Student Address.

Standing here before you I see many familiar faces from all four of our diverse programs. Seeing you here today signifies that we have met and overcome the challenges faced by an undergraduate at Dalhousie University. At some point over our University careers, we probably wondered if we would ever see graduation day. At times when stress levels soared, papers/projects accumulated, deadlines drew near or passed and weekends got shorter, we must have wondered how would we ever survive to see May 22nd, 1996? Although our degrees are all quite different we have all tackled similar obstacles over the years, such as; Frosh Week, cooking for ourselves, Grawood line-ups, SAHPERK Pub Crawls and a few courses along the way. For many of us we have to make some serious life decision over the next couple of months. Do we go back to school, seek full-time employment or move home with Mom and Dad?

I believe that this is an optimal time for most of us to be graduating considering the changes in the Health Care System. The graduates before you will play a major role in Canada’s health care reform. Our Recreation graduates will be concerned with providing leisure services or recreational therapy to members of the community. Our Health Education graduates will be working in schools and the community in a variety of programs aimed at health promotion and injury/disease prevention. Physical Education graduates will be enhancing the mental and physical development of students in our schools. Finally, our Kinesiology graduates will be creating safe work environments and providing various assessments to the population. All of these programs will be working toward the goal of enhanced health and well being for the members of the community.

These four disciplines all have different approaches toward a common goal of health promotion. The School of Recreation, Physical, Health Education and Kinesiology and the Faculty of Health Professions have given us the knowledge and skills to make a difference in the health of Canadians. The school has always been there for all students and faculty have listened to our constructive criticism in order to make appropriate changes to enhance student learning. We have had the opportunity to take classes not directly related to our program that supported our goal of becoming a multidisciplinary health professional. We have been able to tailor our degrees to our special needs and wants.

Over the years there has been a dramatic increase in the popularity of our programs, as seen by the increased number of applications. In a time of cut backs our school has been able to add more staff and courses to our programs. In the Fall of 1997 the school will be introducing a core curriculum for all incoming students, this will give all students the strong base of knowledge needed to be health professionals. This will save resources and allow faculty to focus on other needs and concerns.

Over the past three years the SAHPERK council has made many significant changes to enhanced student life and participation. These accomplishments demonstrate a high degree of commitment and perseverance by all involved. This society and its members have focused on professional development activities as well as the social activities normally associated with student organizations. Just in the past year the society has gained a student lounge, conducted a stress survey for the faculty and won the Dalhousie Student Union’s Society of the Year Recognition. These are just a few points to show the pride and commitment the students in the School of RPHEK take on as non-academic priorities.

In closing, I would like to thank all of the professors that have made our time here at Dalhousie a memorable one, our parents for supporting and standing by us in our many times of need and my fellow graduates for making the last four years a truly unforgettable experience.

As time goes by we will all remember our time at Dalhousie as a very special one. We are only a few of an elite group that can say we belong to DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY Class of 1996. Thank you and I hope our paths cross in the near future.

D. Darren MacDonald, BScK ’96