Ready for the World Students honored at SLS/SEP commencement ceremony by Mick Swiney  This Wednesday afternoon the SEG Student Pavilion featured a gathering of some of the most respected and distinguished SEG members to grace the Pavilion during the entire week of Annual Meeting. And yet despite the high profile of the event, a jocular and celebratory mood dominated, as high-ranking members of SEG and corporate sponsors alike gathered to pay tribute to the hard work of SEG's most rapidly growing membership group: students. This was the first year that participants in the Student Leadership Symposium and Student Education Program were brought together to commemorate their completion of these programs, which at first glance seem very similar in their timing, objectives, and the passionate support and engagement of their corporate sponsors (Chevron and ExxonMobil). And yet these programs serve very different – indeed, highly complementary – purposes.  The Student Education Program provides students with the specialized training designed to give them an accurate taste of what to expect from a career in the geosciences, taking them out of the classroom and into the practice of geophysics in a real-world setting. The Student Leadership Symposium also takes students out of the classroom to impart skills that will aid them in their everyday careers, but focuses on subjects not scientific in nature, yet no less critical to practicing scientists: leadership, strategy, team-building, and other "soft skills" that help students become not merely specialists, but leaders, in the industry.  Invigorated by their transformational weekend experiences, and energized by the excitement of the Annual Meeting itself, the glow in the faces of these young leaders was clearly fueled not by the plaques and certificates presented to each participant, but by the encouraging and inspiring words of some of the most well-known and respected leaders from all branches of geophysics, including SEG President Don Steeples, 2012 SEG Honorary Lecturer Rick Miller, SEG Board Director at Large Dr. Edith Miller, SEG University and Student Programs Manager Elsa Velasco, and corporate sponsors Chevron, represented by Steve Shirley, and ExxonMobil, represented by Reggie Beasley.  To add to the festivities, SEG University and Student Programs also presented awards for the Annual Student Photo Contest, awarded for the second year in a row to the Kansas Geological Survey, and the award for Best Student Chapter, presented to the Freie Universität Berlin Student Chapter, represented by Florian Motz (Florian was honored twice this afternoon, having also been a participant in the SLS).  As each student marched to the front to accept their honors, it became ever clearer that they were being handed not merely a piece of paper, but a piece of the future, just as these pillars of the profession before them did at the various points in recent history as they, too, accepted the reins of the science and the profession from those who came before. And in that moment, each gave something back to these mentors and role models – the recollection of how they, too, have benefited and grown through the helping guidance of senior scientists who wish nothing but success for their younger counterparts. And now all that remains for these young leaders is to turn their minds to their next commencement, whether it looms in the future or lurks around the corner. Hurry home and finish your schooling – this industry needs you! |
