MARQUETTE, Mich.—Brenton Fitzpatrick of Boyne City, Mich., will be the student speaker at Northern Michigan University’s spring commencement on Saturday, May 1, in the Superior Dome.

            Fitzpatrick will graduate with a double major in social studies and secondary education. As someone who’s been active in theater productions, Fitzpatrick said auditioning for senior speaker was not a daunting task. He was cast in four shows at NMU’s Forest Roberts Theatre, including The Full Monty in 2008. He also acted in summer shows produced by Lake Superior Theatre.

            “In my speech, I talk a lot about opportunities we’ve had at NMU,” he said. “And speaking at commencement in front of thousands of people and on the World Wide Web was something I just couldn’t pass up.”

            Fitzpatrick said his speech focuses on the risk-taking that is necessary to make the most of opportunities that surface.

            “I thought about what I would want someone to speak about at commencement,” he said. “I didn’t want to hear about how scared people were as freshmen, or that I need to hug my family members and thank them. While both of those are very important topics on graduation day, I felt that I needed to say something different. To me, graduation should be a day of celebration! So my inspiration for my speech was thinking back on everything I’ve done while attending NMU and I invite everyone else to do the same.”

            NMU commencement begins at 10:30 a.m. It will broadcast live on WNMU-TV and streamed in high definition on the Web for free at www.b2TV.com