{"id":11560,"date":"2013-08-23T10:58:11","date_gmt":"2013-08-23T16:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=11560"},"modified":"2018-06-01T10:26:41","modified_gmt":"2018-06-01T16:26:41","slug":"shockley-zalabak-to-freshmen-embrace-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=11560","title":{"rendered":"Shockley-Zalabak to freshmen: \u2018Embrace uncertainty\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"UCCS<\/a>
UCCS Chancellor Shockley-Zalabak addresses the Convocation audience<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak told the members of the Class of 2017 to\u00a0embrace uncertainty\u00a0Wednesday during Freshman Convocation.<\/p>\n

In a departure from recent years, Shockley-Zalabak took the podium to address the record-breaking freshman class and a sprinkling of parents. In a 20-minute address, she cited statistics, shared personal anecdotes, and quotations from both famous and obscure philosophers, all in an effort to combine serious messages with fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my favorite philosophers \u2013 NHL great Wayne Gretzky \u2013 said: \u2018You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take,\u2019\u201d Shockley-Zalabak said. \u201cIn other words, not risking may be safe but also produces less in potential opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shockley-Zalabak encouraged the students to make no small plans and to embrace uncertainty, sharing her own challenges of losing a parent while a teenager, her husband later in life, and drawing more than a few smiles when she explained her selection of a college major.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe line for undecided majors was really, really long,\u201d Shockley-Zalabak said of her undergraduate enrollment experience. \u201cThe line for communication majors was shorter so I picked it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students heard examples of successful UCCS alumni, wrote their dreams on a notecard, and later placed the cards on five-foot-tall UCCS block letters on the pedestrian spine lined with applauding faculty and staff members. Everyone received sunglasses, in part to block the afternoon sun but also to highlight the bright futures ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever give in, never give in, never, never, never \u2013 in nothing great or small, large or petty,\u201d Shockley-Zalabak told the students, quoting Winston Churchill. \u201cNever give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.<\/p>\n

\"CU<\/a>
CU Regent Kyle Hybl sporting a pair of UCCS sunglasses<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Giant<\/a>
Giant U-C-C-S letters lined the Spine. Students were asked to write their goals on a sticker to place on the letters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dr.<\/a>
R. “Dan” Dandapani, dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science, lounging in the second “C”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Students<\/a>
Students were greeted by UCCS faculty and staff as they left Convocation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Students<\/a>
Students used stickers to place their goals on the UCCS letters on their way to Playfair.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

— Photos by Jeff Foster and Tom Kimmell<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak told the members of the Class of 2017 to\u00a0embrace uncertainty\u00a0Wednesday during Freshman Convocation. In a departure from recent years, Shockley-Zalabak took the podium to address the record-breaking freshman class and a sprinkling (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":20114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,13],"tags":[197],"class_list":["post-11560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-photo-features","tag-photo-feature"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/IMG_7222-300x199.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-30s","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11560"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11590,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11560\/revisions\/11590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}