Time in the Wilderness Shaped the Happy Camper’s College Speech

Kevin Callan

July 1, 2024

I recently had the honour of being the Sault College 2024 commencement keynote graduation speaker.

This was a big deal for me. Let’s just say, I wasn’t the best student while going through the forest technician program at the Sault back in 1982. I was a bit of a dreamer—missing more classes than I would like to admit.

However, the doors were flown wide open for me once I graduated. I excelled in my outdoor career, working in forestry, fish and wildlife, outdoor education, college education, as a writer, and as a best-selling outdoor author.

So, being asked to come back a few decades later to motivate the new grads was a major chapter in my life. I even splurged and bought four shirts and four ties for each of the days I was presenting—spending a total of $36 at the local secondhand store. It was actually a waste of money, though. I forgot that I’d be dressed in a full length rob for the majority of time. The academic regalia means that no one would know if your fly was up or down during the event. By the way, it was down for my second of the four key notes.

Whew!

Initially I was asked to just be the commencement speaker for the outdoor type grads: forestry, fish and wildlife, outdoor education and environmental technicians. These were my peeps and it made sense for me to speak to them. Then the college asked if I could extend my stay in the Sault and speak to all the grads, from nursing to the heavy equipment operators. I agreed, but that meant I would have to change my speech slightly each day to match the programs graduating.

I spent hours prior to the event typing away various motivational conceptualizations to match each group of students. In hindsight I wasted my time tapping away on the computer keys. My well-focused and precise college speech never left the inside of my pocket.

It was Greg, a local First Nations educator, who helped me to keep focused, calm my nerves and be my true self. He was the watcher of the smudge fire that stayed lit near the entrance to the college during the entire ceremony. I visited him every morning to do a smudge, give thanks and chat. Greg and I shared stories about our time in the bush, what we had learned from it and how we had become wiser for it.

Every time I walked up to the podium, I kept the speech in my pocket and just told stories of my time in the wilderness and what I learned about life by doing so.

It seemed to work. The parents thanked me for keeping it real for their kids. The students thanked me for keeping them awake during their post-grad party hangover. The admin types who joined me on stage thanked me for keeping the speeches somewhat family-friendly—even though I made mention of my high school punk band’s name, Santa’s Syphilis. I also told the story about having a T.V. morning host blow on a camp gadget like a whistle—the same device that women use to urinate while standing up to pee in the woods.

The main messages stood true throughout. Always be yourself, no matter what. Always trust your gut, no matter what and never give up, no matter what. And all three motivational encouragements came from spending good quality time in the wilderness.

Check out a few samples of my speech on my KCHappyCamper YouTube channel:

READ MORE: Adventure, Ontario, The Happy Camper