Ron 's Central Oregon commencement focuses on the three R’s: resolution, readiness and resiliency

Ron delivered the commencement address last weekend at Central Oregon Community College, praising the graduates for demonstrating the three R’s necessary for success -- “resolution, readiness and resiliency.’’

“With the help of your families, your loved ones, your instructors and of course your own sweat and toil, you have risen to the challenge in vintage Oregon fashion,” Ron said during the ceremony at the school’s Bend campus.

He said the skills displayed by the 700-plus students achieving degrees and certificates matches those displayed in recent years by Bend, Redmond, Madras and Prineville and all of central Oregon.

The senator called those skills the three new R’s needed “in 2019 for success in academics and life – resolution, readiness and resiliency.’’

Ron said the resolution shown by graduates spending long hours studying at the college replicates central Oregon’s resolve to recover from the recession that rocked the region a decade ago.

Similarly, he said, the students’ readiness for careers in wildland fire management, the culinary arts, automotive technology, nursing and more matches central Oregon’s preparedness for the 21st century with its fresh ventures into technology, health care, recreation, brewpubs and even kombucha.

“I’m a believer that good fortune usually favors the well-prepared,” he said. “But if it doesn’t, that leads to the third R, resiliency.

“As I look around at all of you today, I see Oregonians of all ages who have done what this region has likewise done to prepare itself for times both good and bad,” he said. “For Central Oregon, that’s meant broadening the economic base. And for all of you, that’s meant broadening your knowledge base.”

In Central Oregon, Ron also held his annual Crook County town hall in Prineville – his 29th town hall so far in 2019 and his 942nd overall.