In remarks today at Mississippi State University's first fall graduation exercise, Eric Clark shared advice he first received as a disguised camping tip.
"Leave the campsite cleaner than you found it," Mississippi's secretary of state said in his commencement address. "My father first told me that when I was 8 years old and I've never been able to improve on it in terms of how I should live life."
Clark, the state's third highest office holder, urged graduates to "be more constructive than you are destructive, contribute more than you take and build up more than you tear down."
He also said that, while "there are many people in the world who are technically proficient at doing their jobs, what we need are more 'good' human beings, people who care about community, about each other and about making their communities and the world better."
Clark, a former state legislator, told future leaders in the audience, particularly those choosing public service careers, that they must "know and be of" the people they serve.
"Over my 17 years of state government service, I have observed many people who aspired to be leaders, but who quietly considered themselves to be superior to the folks they wanted to lead," he said. "It has been my observation that those folks have almost always failed in reaching their goals."
More than 1,100 students were candidates for degrees at the conclusion of the fall semester. The December class of 1996 is the first to have its own graduation ceremony, the university having previously held formal graduation exercises only at the end of the spring semester and summer term.
Three seniors were honored at commencement for completing their studies with perfect 4.0 grade-point averages. They included Erique Escuin of Houston, Jon E. Hail of Crystal Springs and Anthony E. Napolitano of Whitehouse, Texas.
The graduation ceremony was not the first in which Clark was an active participant. In 1989, he walked across the stage to receive a doctorate in history from the Starkville institution after hearing President George Bush deliver the commencement address.