Allen Community College gave Tomas Hoppough something just as valuable as an education: An opportunity.
“As a young adult, not many places or people took chances on me. Allen did,” Hoppough told the 2024 graduates at Allen’s commencement ceremony Saturday morning.
He played soccer and studied communications at Allen from 2009 to 2011, then transferred to the University of Kansas where he graduated with a journalism degree. Hoppough is now an award-winning national correspondent with E.W Scripps who specializes in long-form documentary on hard-hitting issues such as the southern U.S. border, George Floyd protests, school shootings and, most recently, college campus protests over Palestine.
Hoppough, who addressed graduates as this year’s Distinguished Alumnus, grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska. He struggled to find a college where he could play soccer, so he attended a local college “and failed journalism.”
Allen coach Doug Desmarteau offered Hoppough an opportunity to walk on the soccer team and try for a scholarship. Even though he was successful, “I got into a lot of trouble here.”
He said, “I’m going to report the truth. I had hungover fitness tests. Cops called at the south house parties. Got arrested.
“Thinking back, I couldn’t wait to get the heck out of Allen County.”
He went on to KU, got a job for a news station in Denver, Colo., and then for Scripps. He’s now married and has a young child.
“Boom, I’m covering college protests and all of the sudden I’m back here in Iola. How did I get back here?” he said. “What I’ve been reflecting on today is that after I left Allen, I focused so much on what was going to be the next thing and being successful. I felt like at times, I was missing life.”
Slow down, he told students. Appreciate the memories and the lifelong friendships made at Allen.
He recalled a powerful lesson he learned from history instructor Jon Wells about Roman gladiators. If the audience gave a thumbs down, it meant to spare the gladiator’s life. Thumbs up? “Send them to the heavens.”
“That’s a great metaphor. Do you remember teaching that?” he said to Wells, who was in the audience as a faculty member. “You gotta bring that back in the curriculum, dude.”
Remember to relish the moments “while they’re happening,” he told graduates. “I had some of my best memories here. It’s great to come back.”
IN ADDITION to Hoppough, students heard from fellow graduate Taylor O’Brien.
During his speech, O’Brien reached into his shirt pockets and pulled out two potatoes to use as a metaphor.