Former senator gives address at daughter’s law school commencement

ADA - Sunday afternoon's commencement was a special day for 102 law students graduating from Ohio Northern University's Pettit College of Law, along with their families.

However, for one student and her father, the day carried an extra meaning.

Former Ohio lieutenant governor, U.S. senator and congressman, Mike DeWine, a 1972 graduate of the Pettit College of Law, gave the commencement address Sunday afternoon for a graduating class that included his daughter, Alice DeWine.

Alice DeWine is the sixth of eight children in the DeWine family and his second child, after his son Patrick DeWine, to finish law school. Despite taking half a year off school recently to help in her father's failed re-election campaign for the Senate, she still finished on time.

"I am very proud of her and delighted she went to ONU," DeWine said after the ceremony. "My wife [Fran] and I have great memories here. ... They have a really good program here; they have a very good success rate the last few years of students passing the bar."

In addition to 94 juris doctor degrees, ONU conferred master of law degrees to eight foreign lawyers who completed a yearlong course of intensive study in the Democratic Governance and Rule of Law Program, in a ceremony over which ONU President Kendall L. Baker presided; those eight lawyers were from transitional and emerging democracies.

DeWine, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 1991, as Ohio's lieutenant governor from 1991 to 1994, and in the U.S. Senate from 1995 to 2007, wished all mothers present a happy Mother's Day before telling the graduating class to value the friendships they've made during the last three years and keep in touch with each other.

He also quoted Barbara Bush and reminded the class that their obligations as human beings are first, before being lawyers and business leaders.

"You will regret making decisions because of what someone else wants you to do or because you think you have to choose the ‘best' job or the ‘best' place to live," DeWine said. "Find what makes you happy. The rest will work itself out."

He also quoted C.S. Lewis and told the class there would be many forks in the road in their lives and in each fork they must make a decision. He said those decisions will shape their lives.

Melissa L. Kidder, of Bowling Green, who ranked academically at the top of the graduating class, delivered the student address, and Dean David C. Crago gave remarks.

After the ceremony, Alice DeWine said she took her father's advice to heart.

"Him being the speaker made the day extra special," she said. "It's important to know you need to do what you want to do and not what pays the most money, not what others want you to do."

She said she would spend the next few weeks studying hard for the bar exam in July but she doesn't have specific plans after that.