`Take that first ... step'; Farm Aid director tells Clark grads to `simply act'.

• Position: LOCAL NEWS

Byline: Brian Lee

WORCESTER - Carolyn Mugar told Clark University's 1,096 graduates Sunday to jump in and do what they can when something's wrong.

Ms. Mugar accepted an honorary doctorate of humane letters on behalf of Farm Aid and the Armenia Tree Project.

She is the executive director of Farm Aid, an organization that keeps family farmers on their land.

In 1994, Ms. Mugar and her husband, John T. O'Connor, a Clark graduate of 1978 and a Clark trustee from 1997 to 2001, started the Armenia Tree Project.

When country singer Willie Nelson founded Farm Aid in 1985 with a concert to raise money and awareness to stand up for family farmers who were forced off their land because of bad public policy and corporate power, he probably didn't know exactly what to do at that time, she said.

He surely wouldn't have known that the organization would put down the roots of today's movement for good food from family farms, she said.

To that end, she commended Clark University as a cutting edge leader for signing onto a real food challenge that commits the school to bringing food from family farms into its cafeteria.

It may seem odd, she said, to suggest that graduates jump in without deep consideration to their choice about what path to take.

"Yes it's good to think ahead and to plan. But often the best thing is to simply act. Just take that first uncertain step and then take the next and keep going," Ms. Mugar said.

Ms. Mugar said she and her late husband started the tree project during a time of crisis, when Armenians resorted to burning personal possessions such as furniture, floorboards and books, as well as trees growing around them, to heat their homes and cook meals, Ms. Mugar said.

The Armenia Tree Project has planted more than 2.4 million trees, including many fruit trees to feed future generations, she said.

Abigail E. Petkov, who graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree, gave the senior commencement address.

Ms. Petkov stressed that what she and fellow graduates had experienced and learned thus far was not separate from the real world.

"The experience we have gained and the knowledge we have gained both inside and outside of the Blarney Stone (a local bar) and throughout our four years here at Clark University can propel us forward in manifesting our hopes and dreams," she said.

In what was said to be a Clark first, Ms. Petkov's student speech used original slam poetry.

Based on Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good...