This year’s student commencement speaker is Clark Tiemen, a senior double majoring in public relations and music. His full name is Aaron Clark Tieman, but everyone calls him Clark. Tieman talked about the process of being chosen to speak at commencement along with what he has planned after graduation.
All seniors had the opportunity to speak at commencement. Emails were sent, encouraging them to apply. Tieman said this was an opportunity he had been waiting for since he was a freshman.
“I’ve gone to commencement before as an usher and really think it’s cool to be able to say that I spoke on behalf of my class,” Tieman said. “I was really excited when I finally got that email saying ‘we’re inviting everyone to apply.’ I was like, ‘it’s about time!’”
The process to apply required the applicants to write a speech in advance, as well as fill out a questionnaire. The questionnaire asked students why they thought they should be chosen to speak and why they wanted to be chosen. It also required them to list all campus activities in which they were involved.
During spring break, four seniors were chosen as finalists. Of those four seniors, Tieman was selected to be the student commencement speaker at the graduation ceremony on May 18.
It took longer to decide what to talk about than it did to actually write the speech, he said. Once he decided on a subject, he wrote the speech in about an hour.
“I wanted it to be really heartfelt and once I figured out how to do that it was easy,” Tieman said. “It was almost like serendipity, because the essay had to be between 300 and 850 words and the moment I put the period on my last word, I looked at the word count at the bottom of the page and it was 850 words exactly."
After speaking to other graduating seniors for inspiration, Tieman coined a phrase that he liked and then wrote the rest of the speech around that phrase. He said that the theme of his speech is nostalgic enough to bring back memories of the seniors' last four years at Otterbein while also incorporating what he believes the future holds for them.
To prepare for delivering his speech, Tieman was coached by Melissa Lusher, associate professor of the Department of Theatre and Dance. In the past, Lusher has worked with students frequently to prepare them for giving their speeches, but she said the amount of coaching time varies for each student.
“It depends on the student and their level of experience with public speaking,” Lusher said. “In Clark’s case, he is very much a natural and he’s a born performer, so the work I did with Clark was relatively minimal.”
Because of Tieman’s performance experience, he and Lusher only had to meet once for a one-hour session to practice the aspects of speech delivery. Lusher instructed Tieman how to vocally structure his speech and how to focus on the various audiences addressed within his speech.
After graduation, Tieman has an internship lined up in New York with the Dramatists Guild of America. He explained that the organization protects the rights and furthers the artistic integrity of playwrights and composers. Tieman will be working with the Guild’s creative executive as well as working with social media.
Tieman said he owes his internship opportunity to a connection with an Otterbein alumnus. Tieman works at the box office in Cowan Hall and his boss was contacted by an alumnus who works for the Dramatists Guild of America, asking if there was anyone graduating who would be good for the internship. Tieman was suggested and received the internship position.
“I’ve been very lucky this semester with things lining up,” Tieman said.
The Wednesday after graduation, Tieman will leave for New York to begin his internship, which is an indefinite internship. He explained that he will work at the Guild until they think that they have taught him everything they can, until he is offered a full-time job elsewhere, or until the guild offers him a full-time position.
