News
Newman Alumnus Bobbie Ragsdale Inspires as Homecoming Speaker
[FULL STORY]
Choosing a career in the armed forces is not a common choice, nor is it an easy one. But that is what Captain Bobbie Ragsdale ’03 chose after graduating from Newman. He returned to the School as Homecoming Speaker, and he delivered a speech to the Upper School during the Homecoming Assembly on Friday, October 5, 2012. He told the students about his life at and after Newman, and offered advice to the seniors, who will begin a new chapter of their lives in the spring.
Ragsdale graduated from Newman in 2003 and enrolled in the United States Military Academy at West Point. After earning a dual bachelor’s in Political Science and American Politics, he became a Cavalry Officer in the U.S. Army. Ragsdale has been sent on combat deployments to Baghdad, Iraq and Wardak, Afghanistan, as well as spending time in Kuwait and Kyrgyzstan. As part of his military career, he has been stationed around the U.S. at a handful of bases, including Fort Knox, Fort Bliss, Fort Benning, Fort Polk, West Point, and Washington, D.C. He is also a frequent visitor to the School, talking with classes about literature, political science, law, and the role of the United States in the world.
A main point of Ragsdale’s speech was that education, whether at Newman or at a university, is preparation for the “real world.” He related the story of his first combat mission, which was just like the countless combat exercises he had completed in training, only this time it was a real life-or-death struggle. “The real world is upon you,” he said, “a world with real consequences, but in which you can have real impact.”
He then talked about his life at Newman. He said “It’s no exaggeration to say that it changed my course in life. It opened doors for me simply by virtue of opening itself to me.” Ragsdale commented also on the generosity that he had seen at the School, where community members made sure that he could reach his full potential. “The community and the school both took me in, allowing me to make the most of the time I spent here, never turning me away from an experience because of my means,” he said.
Even after graduating, Newman still had a big impact on his life, and then said that “Newman comes up again and again,” because of the School’s reputation and community network. A traveling salesman from Texas on a desolate Mississippi highway, a Capitol Hill intern, a U.S. Army instructor from Tennessee at Fort Benning – these disparate people all knew of Newman and its reputation as a great school.
Ragsdale told the audience that he would share with the students two things that no authority figure had ever told them. The first was this “Many times throughout your journey in life, constantly in fact, you will encounter rules. And sometimes, you should break them. And it’ll be OK.” He was careful to caution them not to be immoral or unethical or to hurt others. He also told them that they must safeguard their character, saying “Don’t violate your honor. Trust is a non-renewable resource, and your character is the only thing than no one can take from you. You have to give it away. Nothing that you do, nothing that could happen, is worth sacrificing your honor or your character.”
The second item, and his final point in the talk, was to implore the audience to consider service to their country. This was not a recruitment plug, but a request for the students to put to use their critical thinking ability to consider serving. He went on to say “I’m not even asking you to serve. Rather, I’m asking you to consider it, to think about it, because maybe you never have, and probably no one has ever asked you to. But it’s vital that we all consider it.” He knows that making that choice in his life made him the person that he is. We know that by making that choice he made the Army better.
1903 Jefferson Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70115
Phone: 504.899.5641
Fax: 504.896.8597
Open 7:45 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Monday through Friday
New Orleans, LA 70115
Phone: 504.899.5641
Fax: 504.896.8597
Open 7:45 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Monday through Friday
An independent,
co-educational,
non-denominational day
school in New Orleans for
early childhood through 12th grade
co-educational,
non-denominational day
school in New Orleans for
early childhood through 12th grade
