Commencement speaker draws on experience

PORTALES — As Eastern New Mexico University’s fall commencement draws near, many graduating seniors await the next part of their journey, something that speaker Elliott Stollar plans to address from his own experience.

Stollar, an associate professor of chemistry at ENMU, feels his past seven years at the university will allow him to give students a relatable perspective.

“I’m basically gonna reflect on my journey, since I was in their position, over the last 20 years. I’m gonna focus on relationships and career paths and outside interests,” he said. “I really try to relate my own story to them, and hopefully inspire them to go on and be successful.”

In speaking, Stollar hopes relating his journey will encourage the students to continue on their own paths.

“My main goal is to encourage and be a voice of encouragement to their future plans and their dreams and their passions, so I just hope that, by them hearing my speech, it will give them some food for thought and positivity, and that they’ll benefit from some of the experiences I’ve had,” he said. “There’s only so much you can hope for in a speech, but that’s kind of where I’m at with it. I want it to be like a present for them, but we’ll see how it goes.”

One such student, Haley Madden, cited her experience at ENMU as how she discovered what she wanted to study.

“It made me realize what I actually wanted to do as my major, because when I started out, I was a biology major, but then I realized that I am actually much more passionate about writing,” said Madden, an English major. “It helped me understand that, just because you have an idea of what you’re going to do with your life, doesn’t mean that’s always going to happen, and that’s okay if you change your mind.”

Madden, who is looking for a job that involves writing, said her English professors helped her by encouraging learning and making it accessible.

“They make you excited about learning, which is kind of hard to do, especially whenever you’re reading things that are just the authors trying to get their words out,” she said.

ENMU’s fall commencement will take place 10 a.m. Saturday at Greyhound Arena.