Rasmussen offers advice to Northern graduating class

Montana State University-Northern held its 2024 graduation ceremonies Saturday, with commencement speaker world-renowned entertainer and rodeo clown Flint Rasmussen providing the graduates with some good advice filled with local references and lots of humor.

The graduating class had279 candidates eligible to receive a total of 411 degrees; 115 women and 164 men eligible for 64 certificates, 158 associate degrees, 174 bachelor's degrees and 14 master's degrees.

The ceremony also honored 13 Golden Graduates, members of Northern's class of 1974.

Chancellor Greg Kegel said he was honored to able to congratulate the class.

"This is a great class," he said.

He said the diploma they were about to receive would open doors the graduates don't even know are out there.

He said he wanted to talk about leadership, and told them about Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress and who ran for president in 1972 and received 152 delegates.

He said her campaign manager said the reason such an underdog could have so much success was she was the first person to show up, the first person to stand up and the first person to speak up.

"So, that's my message," Kegel said. "And, please, don't be afraid to be the voice for those who don't have one.

In his commencement address, Rasmussen, who was a Havre High School math and science teacher and an announcer for Northern, the Voice of the Lights, before he became a full-time professional rodeo clown, said he had one point he wanted to stress, he learned from living in Montana and from how he and his wife were raised and how they raised their daughters.

"Most of your accomplishments will come from your ability to cultivate relationships and connections," Rasmussen said. "And those that argue with that, don't have them."

Rasmussen, who was born in Havre while his parents taught in Harlem before they settled in Choteau, talked about his getting into being a rodeo clown, with his family's background in rodeo, his starting as a summer job in college in Dillon - he said he graduated from Western Montana College, not University of Montana Western as it is known now, adding, "I hate the Grizzlies" - and deciding to go back to the job full-time after teaching two years in Havre.

He said one of the things he has noticed in his extensive travel was the interest people have in Montana, which has gotten even more interest in recent years, adding that it's become "really cool right now to be from Montana," and really cool to be a cowboy.

He said Montana has changed, and some people say that parts of Montana aren't really Montana any more. But, he related, an-out-of-state friend of his, a rodeo photographer - there are lots of versions of Montana, he said, "I love every version of Montana."

Rasmussen said Montana is like the people in the room - all are different versions and good qualities and bad qualities, but all are people and all of the versions of Montana are Montana.

He said that, sitting in his hotel room Saturday morning, looking at the list of graduates, he added something to his notes for his speech.

"Watching the news today, what's going on in our country," Rasmussen said, "I want you guys to know, I am more honored to be here in front of a roomful of young people who will truly contribute to this country.

And, he added, as graduates of Northern, from this day forward, somewhere in that closet, they will have something maroon and gold.

He added, "And you are the only people in the country that can say, 'I'm a Northern Light."

Watch for more in Thursday's edition of Havre Weekly Chronicle.