The keynote speaker had simple words for the adult education and institute credit graduates of North West College at their southern graduation ceremony Friday afternoon at Northland Power Curling Centre.
It was the same advice he had received from his father: “just do it,” a phrase later made famous by Nike.
That was from Rick Lewchuk, who went from North Battleford to a 20-year career at CTV and eventually CNN, where he is Senior Vice-President of Creative/Marketing.
He accepted an Emmy for his department’s promotional work last year for their series, The Seventies.
It’s pretty heady stuff, but Lewchuk reminded the grads in the audience that he, too, was also a college graduate – in his case, Lethbridge College.
Lewchuk looked back to his graduation from the North Battleford Comprehensive High School, when he was himself “terrified at what lay ahead.”
“I return to the stage to tell you the road is passable, the future is bright, and the world is not a scary place,” said Lewchuk.
He did say that it would take hard work for students to achieve their goals.
“No, it will not be easy, you will have to work hard, you will need to make sacrifices, and the path is not a straight one. It has surprises, detours and challenges, but, oh, what a ride it would be.”
He came back to the phrase “just do it” many times in his address.
Lewchuk pointed to the time when he started out as a camera operator at a TV station in Lethbridge. When a caretaker at the station went on vacation, he offered to take on the duties of cleaning up the station.
“I wasn’t beneath me to pick up a mop and empty the trash. It was extra money in my pocket and solved a problem for my boss,” said Lewchuk.
“He was surprised, no full-time staff had ever thought to do that. They thought they were too good for that kind of work. But it also showed them that I was willing to work hard,” he said. “Don’t tell your boss how hard you work, show them how hard you work.”
Lewchuk also pointed to the time at CKCK-TV when he went the extra mile to produce a video in time for a groundbreaking celebration a few hours later. That made his boss look very good.
“I just learned a valuable lesson, you never go wrong by making your boss look good.”
A few weeks later he was promoted to manager of the station.
“The simple act of just doing it changed and accelerated my career without me even thinking about it.”
He also pointed to other instances of people going the extra mile. Lewchuk pointed to the example he saw of actor Martin Sheen, who would meet clients and pose for photographs well beyond his allotted time.
“No complaining, he had a job to do and he just did it for another two hours.”
Lewchuk added that “when you meet life with the attitude just do it, people take notice, and that builds something very important: your reputation.”
His final words of encouragement were as follows:
“I invite you to take the path of ‘just do it.’ It will not guarantee you fame or wealth, it will not take you to the destination you expect, but it will take you to a place where you can be proud of the fact that you worked hard, where you can look back without regret, where you can always look ahead to a future where anything is possible, if you ‘just do it.’”
