HOUGHTON – United States Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet stressed the importance of optimism and service to Michigan Tech graduates Saturday at Spring Commencement.

“Today is the first day of the rest of your life,” Hessler-Radelet said. “Choose optimism … to see the world as it is. We just don’t hear enough good news.”

She said despite wars, the world is a more peaceful place and people’s lives have improved over the years.

“I hope you’ll always find something to believe in,” she said. “Don’t just settle for a paycheck. What fuels your curiosity? Share your passion … for the next generation. Let that be your compass point … your true north. You are problem solvers. You are inevitably on the front line.

“Use your power for good. Change in a community needs champions and leaders. Every single day I meet someone whose life was changed by service. You can make a difference in this world.”

Hessler-Radelet is the 19th director of the Peace Corps and has done the job almost two years. She had been the agency’s acting director and deputy director from 2010 to 2014. She’s a member of a four-generation Peace Corps family, and began as a volunteer in Western Samoa, where she served from 1981 to 1983. She taught secondary school there with her husband Steve Radelet, with whom she has two children. She spent the 20-plus years working in public health focusing on HIV, AIDS, and maternal and child health. She’s worked with First Lady Michelle Obama to expand education for girls around the world. She has an M.S. in health policy and management from the Harvard School of Public Health and a B.A. from Boston University.

She told the graduates to appreciate and love their parents, without whom they wouldn’t be here.

“Tell them that you listened more than they think,” she said. “Thank them for their support.”

Hessler-Radelet, whose brother graduated from Tech, said 223 alumni have served in the Peace Corps since it began in 1961, and seven are currently doing so.

“It’s an extraordinary partnership,” she said.

“Getting things done is really important in our world today,” Michigan Tech President Glenn Mroz said, before tackling his job of handing out nearly 1,000 diplomas, more than 200 of which were to graduate students.

Dallas Bond, who earned a bachelor of science degree in finance with a global business minor, said he’s excited to head to the Czech Republic to begin teaching English soon. He studied in Prague in 2014.

“I’d like to live there long-term,” he said. “I took this offer to get established there and make more connections.”

Bond moved from Traverse City to Calumet when he was 4 years old, but the sky is the limit for him today.