Rindskopf Parker Urges Graduates to Find Understanding and Embrace Lifelong Learning

As an attorney, Kingswood class of 1961 graduate Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker twice argued successfully before the United States Supreme Court. On Friday, June 8, she won over another esteemed – and robed -- audience: the girls of the Cranbrook Schools class of 2007.

Rindskopf Parker, dean and professor at McGeorge School of Law at Pacific University, talked to the graduates about perception and understanding. “We all perceive life differently,” she said. She told them that at that moment, they were seeing time differently from her, as they looked ahead to the life before them while she reflected on the experiences that already have passed. “My five years at Kingswood mean so much more to me know then they did then,” Rindskopf Parker said. “Things look different at different points in your life.”

Although she would later go on to provide top counsel to the National Security Agency, the U.S. Department of the State and the Central Intelligence Agency and serve as assistant diretor for the Federal Trade Commission, Rindskopf Parker says she graduated from Kingswood at a time when “perceptions were limited.” She began practicing civil rights and poverty law, serving as cooperating attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, leading to her successful appearances before the Supreme Court. As a young female attorney in the 1960s, she noticed that no one “looked or behaved” like her. After her husband died at the age of 29, she took over his cases and worked to help end segregation in the South. These early experiences helped her understand the importance of perspective and of the strategic advantages that come from the ability to see things from multiple angles.

“If we can stand in one another’s shoes, we can gain empathy,” she said. “It’s a blessing and a gift to have empathy and understand the differences in how we each understand our realities.” Harkening back to her experiences working within the federal government, Rindskopf Parker reminded her audience that “to lead the world, we must understand it.”

She urged the graduating class to “take every opportunity to grow and experience life. Let a passion for learning be the legacy from Kingswood that guides you. The world needs people committed to a lifetime of learning.” Ultimately, with understanding and knowledge comes success. “You will make a difference.”

Student speaker Anasa Hicks recalled memories of her time at CK and highlighted the moments her class united in support of causes, events and ideas.  Click here to read her speech.

Visit the Media Gallery to view photos and listen to the speeches delivered on this special day.




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