Vicki Vargas: Commencement 2008

NBC Newscaster and CSUF Alumna Gives Keynote Address

May 17, 2008

by Vicki Vargas

To my esteemed University President Milton Gordon, Trustee Melinda Guzman, Congratulations to Dr. Stella Ting Toomey…DOCTOR Tracy Caldwell, Associated Student Body President Heather Williams, to the faculty, staff, the class of 2008 and to those who supported you —— whether that’s your mother, your father, your spouse or your boss who gave you overtime when you needed to buy books! You’ve made it!

This is one of those days when we look back, back to the beginning of the school year, back to the beginning of this 50th anniversary year. You should know the planning for this day began more than a year ago…when President Gordon asked me to chair the University’s golden anniversary. I say asked, although I tell him my arm still hurts from all that twisting. Actually I said yes quickly—knowing this would be the highlight of my Cal State Fullerton experience. And today is the icing on the anniversary cake.

I’m sure you’ve seen our year long motto on everything from banners to bus stops. Three simple words: Discover—Innovate—Achieve. It has been the mantra of this year, one I now challenge the class of 2008 to carry with them from this day forward.

So what have we discovered? The American philosopher William James said “The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his LIFE by altering his attitude.”

When I sat in that same uncomfortable chair you’re in today I was 27 years younger and certainly full of a certain attitude. You see I was going to be on TV —— I was going to be Discovered! Actually I had my first job in television news three weeks after graduation.

The way I see it this is the day you discover who YOU are.

In the audience this morning are entrepreneurs from the School of Business. There are other graduates from the College of Humanities who will care for aging baby boomers as experts in gerontology. Perhaps you’re one of those people who are good with numbers and receiving your degree in mathematics. If so we’ll talk later, my check book needs balancing.

In the years after graduation I discovered a lot about what it means to be a TV reporter. It requires psychology, empathy and the ability to learn a subject quickly. It’s still a one way medium. I talk, you listen. Which is true until you’re hit in the face with someone else’s tragedy.

Yes I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain —— but I’ve also seen a bizarre funnel cloud that swooped down on a Huntington Beach trailer park and lifted roofs off homes knocking the coaches on their sides —— all in the middle of the night.

There was one woman who had just lost her home—one of dozens destroyed that day. She recognized me right away —— microphone in hand —— and said “Vikki, I’m so glad you’re here.” Then she hugged me and began to cry. She wouldn’t let go.

We were standing in the middle of this roofless trailer, the rain still coming down. Her world was over and somehow by showing up at this disaster I brought a sense of relief. I couldn’t rebuild her home, but I could tell her story —— and I did, hoping those who saw the story would discover how fortunate they are and how tragedies are truly a matter of place and timing. I will never forget it.

Innovate.

“Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity—not a threat.” I lifted that anonymous quote from the internet. … Which I will remind you didn’t exist as it does now, when I was just starting in this business. Ask your parents about typewriters. Or as my then five year old daughter Chandler asked when she saw a typewriter in an antique store … ”But Mom where’s the mouse?”

Ever read that book “Who moved my cheese?” It’s about the rat race and how when the cheese gets moved in the maze of life it either throws us the ultimate curve or forces us to innovate. It seems today with our rapidly changing technology it’s not the cheese that keeps getting moved, it’s the entire dairy!

We’ve done a lot of innovating in the television news business and there is more to come. HDTV — yes you will see me sweat — but you’ll see Paul and Colleen real close up!

It seems the more we innovate the more jobs are lost. Our control room is now so automated I have to be in front of the camera 15 minutes early and have my story ready even earlier. In the old days a 5pm deadline meant you could be ready at 4:55—give or take a few seconds.

In the real old days we used film. That process was just before my time, but imagine a world where the daily news was shot, the film in its tin case then carried by a courier from Orange County to Burbank. Then it was developed, edited—spliced with a cutter — then finally on the air! If we were lucky a newscast probably had three or four stories a day from reporters working at this incredibly slow pace. But imagine how much news you didn’t see?

Innovation is not a bad thing. We can now bring you live reports from the scene of the fire. We can add another dimension by using YOUR pictures from the same fire—taken with YOUR cell phone camera then shown on our webcast—again live. We can email one another — you can watch our morning planning meeting — it’s on KNBC.com—News raw. And if you missed the 5pm show you can get the headlines sent to your Blackberry. Breaking news — that’s when innovation is an opportunity.

Discover, innovate, achieve: This quote is from Leonard Bernstein but it could have been written by a television reporter. “To achieve great things two things are needed — a plan and not quite time enough.” Remember that automated control room?

I often tell broadcast journalism students the thing I like about my job is that every day I make a widget. I get to write a story that appears on television in front of a few hundred thousand people. Some days I make a Cadillac, other days it’s a Volkswagen. But the best part is no matter what I get to come back 24 hours later and do it again.

How will YOU achieve as you head out into this world? WHAT will you achieve?

I am fortunate to sit on the Advisory Board for the Guardian Scholars program here at Cal State Fullerton. These are students who land in the foster care system because their parents abandoned or abused them. Mom was a drug addict. Dad landed in jail. At the age of 18 these teenagers are officially on their own.

But by the time they come knocking on the door of this Univeristy, they’ve made a decision—NOT to end up like Mom or Dad. They have to academically qualify just like the rest of you.

I am proud to say this weekend nine of the Guardian Scholars will graduate.

In my opinion they achieved more than most when they got their acceptance letter to this college. I congratulate them all.

Discover. Innovate. Achieve, and now I add a challenge. Commit.

You will leave here as one of more than 190,000 people who carry the same sheepskin, who consider themselves Titans. Make a commitment to this university. It could be as simple as joining the alumni association. Come back one day and act as professor for a day.

I made a commitment to KNBC 26 years ago. It started slowly. I signed a three year contract, then another. Then at some point the News Director asked me to work in Orange County. Think about it. I live where the people I work with come to vacation. Who’s the smart one now?

But it has always been a partnership. I believe my News Director Bob Long and our General Manager, Linda Sullivan, value that commitment. So TOGETHER we are now going to make a commitment to this University.

Today I am pleased to announce — we are endowing the Vikki Vargas Broadcast journalism scholarship.

Trust me, back in 1981, when I sat where you are, I never dreamed I’d be standing here one day with a financial promise to another broadcast journalism student.

I will end this morning by giving you a question to ponder. It came from my friend Dr. Robert Schuller, and it is this:

“What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?”

Think about how many DISCOVERIES would be made, how many INNOVATIONS we would see, how many ACHIEVEMENTS we’d record.

This 50th Anniversary year has given me what I wish for all of you: The chance to Discover. Innovate, Achieve and now I challenge you, the Class of 2008. …COMMIT.

Congratulations.