For Jacob Sherman, the past 12 years have been about huge life changes.
After firebombing the logging trucks and other equipment of two Oregon companies in 2001, Sherman’s otherwise normal life as an undergrad at Portland State came to an abrupt halt.
For Jacob Sherman, the past 12 years have been about huge life changes.
After firebombing the logging trucks and other equipment of two Oregon companies in 2001, Sherman’s otherwise normal life as an undergrad at Portland State came to an abrupt halt.
He was arrested and indicted for his crimes, spending nearly three years in federal prison.
Sherman returned to school and earned his bachelor’s degree in English in 2010. While attending PSU he spearheaded the Take Back the Tap Campaign, which installed the many Hydration Stations found around campus. Sherman recently completed a Master of Science in Educational Leadership and Policy, specializing in leadership for sustainability education.
Sherman was one of three commencement speakers addressing PSU’s 2012 graduating class and more than 20,000 others who packed the Rose Garden Sunday, June 17. Sherman and fellow student commencement speaker Emily Coleman gave brief speeches preceding renowned author Jean Auel at the ceremony.
In the week after graduation, the Vanguard spoke with Sherman about the speech, his own mantras and life as a former eco-terrorist.
Vanguard: For those who weren’t there, could you set the scene at the commencement? What was it like?
JS: I heard there were more than 20,000 people in attendance, and by the look of it, it seemed full. I was part of the platform party, so we sat on stage the whole time, which was one of the most exciting places to be. You could just look out on it all, a whole sea of faces.
One of the things I’ve talked about with people is about after my speech, after we got through all the speeches and into the actual calling out names and people walking forward and receiving their diploma covers.
I was sitting in this spot where I had a sort of head-on view of all the students as their names got called and they stepped forward to get a handshake and a diploma cover.
It was kind of, in a very poetic sense, one of the most magical parts about the whole ceremony. I watched people over and over again, and there’s this moment where people get up to the front of the line, they would get their name called, step forward and they would just get the biggest smile on their face.
It turned into this moment where dreams come true, all that accomplishment kind of culminates in that moment for all of these people. It was a very magical moment to be able to watch that and not really know any of these people but to know that right there, all their hard work culminated.
VG: In your speech, you talked a lot about this “dare to fail” idea, that we have to stick our necks out there and take chances if we hope to accomplish anything. Can you speak more on that and what it’s meant for you? Do you have any advice for finding one’s own guiding phrase?
JS: While “daring to fail” was one of the central themes, I think one of the central messages was more along the lines of this idea that you can make a difference, you can make change, and so I think there were a lot of people who started thinking about that.
I’m not entirely sure when the idea crystallized for me. I think it goes into a larger personal philosophy that I’ve developed, this recognition that I can change things. This idea of daring to fail is kind of hopeful optimism: I’m going to give it my best shot, and then if it doesn’t work then, well, maybe it wasn’t meant to work.
But you at least have to give it your best, and I think that it’s one of those things that I probably picked up as a student at PSU. How can others discover that? I don’t know. It’s kind of a personal process; it’s a very kind of motivational thing as well.
VG: Can you talk a bit about your experience in prison? How has it been a formative force in your life?
JS: You can look at things in a variety of ways, and I think this goes back to that philosophy of how you look at the world: I could’ve looked at it as the worst thing in my life, and in many ways it was.
But I decided that that wasn’t a very productive way of looking at it. I thought, how can I turn this into as good of a thing as it can be? I think that looking at it as an opportunity to reflect and grow and use it as a monastic experience (that I was forced into), is what allowed me to come to some of these later realizations, such as “dare to fail.”
