The Ripples Guy is this year’s commencement keynote speaker

This year’s 2019 Spring Commencement keynote speaker is no stranger to Cal Poly. Motivational speaker Paul Wesselmann, also known as The Ripples Guy, has been chosen to fill the role.

Since 2006, Wesselmann has helped kick off Week of Welcome (WOW) with a keynote presentation. In the reveal video, Wesselmann said Cal Poly thought it would be special to have the same person who welcomed students at the beginning of their college transition to also be there as they graduate and transition into their next chapter.

Wesselmann is the creator of The Ripples Project, a weekly motivational email newsletter that is sent out every Monday to people around the world. More than 20,000 people are subscribed and even more follow his daily social media posts, according to Wesselmann’s website.

Spring Commencement will take place at Alex G. Spanos Stadium on Saturday, June 15 at 5 p.m. and Sunday, June 16 at 5 p.m.

Cal Poly is looking forward to welcoming Wesselmann back to the stage, according to the reveal post.

 

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The time has come for the grand reveal! We are very excited to announce that Paul Wesselmann (The Ripples Guy) will be the Spring Commencement 2019 keynote speaker! Paul is an educator, writer and creator of The Ripples Project, an experiment in strengthening human connection. Since 2006, he has been the featured speaker to kick off Week of Welcome (WOW), Cal Poly’s legendary orientation program! We are thrilled to welcome Paul back to Spanos Stadium and can’t wait to hear his words of wisdom! #mustangsforever #calpolygrad

A post shared by Cal Poly Commencement (@calpolycommencement) on Apr 16, 2019 at 8:31pm PDT

Last year’s keynote speakers were Andy Jassy, the leader of Amazon Web Services, and Wyatt Oroke, a Cal Poly alumnus who was featured on the “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” for his work as a humanitarian teacher at a public Baltimore school.

In 2017, Cal Poly welcomed to the commencement stage Gary Erickson, founder of CLIF Bar & Company, and Phil Bailey, who is the longest-serving dean in Cal Poly history at 34 years and who coined the “Study 25-35” campus-wide motto.