Message to FVCC graduates: Embrace life's challenges

Major Jason Curtis stood before a crowd at Flathead Valley Community College on Friday evening and described the time he began to fall from the sky.

It was 2009 in Italy. A captain in the Air Force at the time, the FVCC alumnus was attempting to certify as a flight lead to oversee missions. He was flying an F-16 — a single-engine aircraft that relies on the speed from the thrust it generates.

The engine failed.

“I felt the loss of thrust that day and was flung forward in my harness straps,” Curtis said. “All of my gages dropped to the floor and my jaw quickly followed it.”

As his fighter jet headed toward the ground, his muscle memory from years of sitting in a chair imagining ways he could fail in the sky — and how to respond — kicked in.

He dropped his fuel tanks, maximized the glide ratio and extended his landing gear as he neared the runway.

He didn’t make the certification that day. But he was a step closer.

As FVCC President Jane Karas introduced Curtis Friday night at the college’s 49th graduation, she listed the alumnus’ successes:

He’s flown fighter jets in South Korea, Singapore, Italy, Afghanistan, Romania and Libya. He served as the lead solo-pilot for the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. He’s a political advisor to the U.S. Department of State.

A crowd gathered in a tent on the college’s lawn to watch 379 students graduate at FVCC’s first on-campus graduation.

As seats filled with family members and friends of students, dozens waited in the rain outside while others sought overflow seating in the Arts and Technology building where there was a live stream of the event.

Soon after thanking Karas for the introduction, Curtis gave the graduating class a list of his failures:

He failed the SATs six times. He didn’t become a Thunderbird on his first try. And his astronaut application was rejected.

“Failure, something we may never want to have happen, actually ends up becoming a brilliant teacher,” he said.

At the commencement ceremony, FVCC instructors and students talked about the unexpected paths they took to arrive at the college.

Amy Pearson, an adjunct in the college’s humanities division, said many of the students had taken “a crooked path” to get where they were. She said that would most likely continue.

“Life will rarely go as we planned,” Pearson said.

Alexander Olson, student government vice president, said he was a non-traditional student, “or in other words, a late bloomer.”

Curtis, the commencement speaker, told the graduates it’s OK that life doesn’t go as planned. Challenges, he said, are a part of moving forward.

“As FVCC recognizes, we have a lot of challenges in our world and our country today,” he said. “Meeting these challenges start right here with us in the Flathead Valley.”

He said many feel that the world is becoming more unstable and that the divide between beliefs and political party lines are growing within the nation.

“Amidst this turmoil, we see a virus of divisive rhetoric infecting portions of our world and reaching much closer to home than any of us care to admit,” Curtis said.

He told the FVCC students their training and education should begin to kick in as they observe the growing divide. He said he hoped the students’ time at FVCC gave them the tools to weigh their beliefs alongside new ideas — to seek to understand and find unity among others before arguments.

“You are moments away from becoming positive change agents in this world,” he said. “Trust me, it will be a challenge to make your dreams your reality, and at times you may fail.”

But he said moving beyond those failures are what makes the world better — even if it takes time.

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.