Buchanan: ‘Education is a vital first step’

EWC confers degrees, awards during commencement Friday

Andrew D. Brosig
Posted 5/9/18

Telling soon-to-be graduates the evening marked a beginning, not an end, Edward Buchanan shared life lessons he learned growing up in Goshen County, to the Air Force, a law career and now the office of Wyoming Secretary of State.

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Buchanan: ‘Education is a vital first step’

EWC confers degrees, awards during commencement Friday

Posted

TORRINGTON – Telling soon-to-be graduates the evening marked a beginning, not an end, Edward Buchanan shared life lessons he learned growing up in Goshen County, to the Air Force, a law career and now the office of Wyoming Secretary of State.

“This evening, you should be happy and proud to celebrate the culmination of two years of hard work, fun and friendships,” Buchanan told the Eastern Wyoming College Class of 2018 as keynote speaker for the college’s 69th Commencement on Friday at the Fine Arts Auditorium on campus in Torrington.

Alumni, Service awards

The college presented degrees to 218 students in a variety of disciplines. In addition, EWC Foundation President Todd Peterson presented the 2018 Distinguished Alumnus award to Peter J. Kalivas and the Albert C. Conger Distinguished Service Award to Joe Guth.

Kalivas attended EWC on a basketball scholarship, beginning in 1973, graduating with an associates degree in 1974. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wyoming and went to work with General Chemical in Green River, eventually rising to vice president of manufacturing, overseeing chemical plants and mines across the United States and Canada.

Following his retirement from General Chemical, he started his own consulting company, evaluating operational and manufacturing facilities.

Guth, current president of Platte Valley Bank of Wyoming, received the Distinguished Service Award for service and support of EWC, including his 24 years working with the college foundation. He’s chaired the foundation’s Finance Committee and served as director of the EWC Foundation Golf Tournament, soliciting supporters for the college.

‘Looking forward . . .’

“There’s a great deal of relief, even trepidation and sadness, as you move forward onto the next steps of your life,” Buchanan said. “I want you to take a moment this evening, to rest, to contemplate and to appreciate what you’ve accomplished.

“But no matter which route you chose, the hard work is not over,” he said. “As much as education can give you, it’s only the beginning of the journey.”

Buchanan’s path to his current position was a long and varied one, starting in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Buchanan spent most of his formative years on the family’s Goshen County ranch north of Lingle before attending the University of Wyoming, where he participated in the Air Force ROTC program.

After graduating from UW with an officer’s commission in the Air Force, he worked four years in the space intelligence command in Colorado Springs, Colo. He came home to Goshen County, where he ran a private law practice, moving on to represent Wyoming House District 4 from 2003 to 2013, also serving as Speaker of the House. He was appointed Secretary of State by Gov. Matt Mead in early March of this year.

Buchanan said Friday one of the most important attributes he’s developed in his professional life is competence, the ability to do something well, through his schooling, service in the Air Force and beyond. But he didn’t discount the equal importance of perseverance and being able to recognize – and to grasp – an opportunity when it presents itself.

“The good news is – opportunity will always come,” Buchanan said. “It’s what you do with those opportunities, the decisions you make, that will count the most. The ability to make the right choices, to take full advantage of your opportunities, will bring the
most success.”

Buchanan also didn’t discount the importance of the other side of the coin – failure. Instead of being broken following a failed attempt at almost anything, embracing it and learning from it is a hallmark of the most successful people in any walk of life, he said.

“The success that follows any failure is always sweeter and more rewarding,” he said. “If you never fail, you’re not trying hard enough in life.”

Patience

Buchanan also admonished the students to not expect success right out of the gate. He shared the story of his decision to go to law school after he separated from the Air Force – and what he had to do to get there.

“I needed room-and-board money to attend the University of Wyoming, so I applied for a job with a fiber optic cable company,” he said. “My job was to run a shovel. 

“I mean an actual, simple shovel,” Buchanan said. In the Air Force, “I had handled briefings for the Senior Command. After rising that far in my life, I was running a shovel – because the pay was pretty good.”

While not glamorous, the job was important, he said. Buchanan was charged with locating and excavating buried water, sewer and natural gas lines by hand before the big, powered shovels came in to do the bulk of the digging. Worst case scenario, Buchanan said, if he missed a gas line and it was hit, it could explode and someone could be injured or killed.

“I want you to take away from that, at this point in your life, no job you will have is so insignificant or unimportant that your best effort is not required,” he said. “But don’t expect success to simply happen. 

“It’s incumbent upon you – even required of you – to give your best to everything you do,” Buchanan said. “Opportunity will come, but unless you’re ready to seize it, it will pass you by.”