Many Responsibilities Helped Reshape View of Student Orator

"Grandpa Redwood" will have a few words of advice for UC graduates on Saturday.

He’s not anybody’s grandpa, but Erwin McIntosh III, father of three and a true veteran of the University of Cincinnati scene, has more perspective than most.

He will deliver the student oration in the afternoon ceremony of UC’s Commencement, which begins at 2:30 p.m. in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center.

The nickname comes courtesy of his Delta Tau Delta fraternity brothers, who kiddingly view the 25-year-old McIntosh as their elder statesman following his eight-year career at the university.

He describes himself as a much-changed man since his arrival in college.

"When I showed up at UC, I didn’t know what I was doing. I was clueless," says McIntosh, a Cincinnati native and 1999 graduate of Winton Woods High School. "Now I realize that whether you are married or not, whether you have kids or not, every decision you make has an effect on the people around you, whether you realize it or not."

That new perspective helped McIntosh find the willpower to make the most of himself.

At UC, he has written for the News Record, served as sports director for Bearcast Radio, broadcast numerous UC sporting events, hosted his own radio sports show and provided deejay services for several college, dormitory and fraternity events. He’s been a member of the UC Men's and Women's Chorus, served as an Alumni Relations Officer, interned at Channel 9 in the sports department and is currently interning as a sports and current events reporter for ThePalestra.com.

All that while working 40 hours-per-week until this winter, and while getting married (to Casey L. McIntosh, an accounting graduate in UC’s Class of 2005) and welcoming three young children into his family – sons Hunter (4 years old) and Logan (7 months old), and daughter Alayna (2 years old).

Some days, the kids even had to go to class with dad, but that wasn’t going to stop him from getting his degree."

"I would look at Erwin as being very special, as exemplifying a student who wanted to make a difference and used his college education to learn every facet of a field that he was just destined to be in," says Lisa H. Newman, director of undergraduate studies and internship programs in the Department of Communication.

"Erwin is a student that I’ve grown close to and known much of his personal and family life, having his wife Casey as a student also and welcoming him to appear in my office with stroller in hand. Erwin has depth. He not only writes articles about his main interest, which is sports, but I was touched to no end to read his experience of being there to assist the birth of his child and his expressions as a man of empathy for women and his wife’s experience. He is all heart."

John Owens, the advisor for Bearcast College Radio and an associate professor of electronic media at UC, is another faculty member who has come to appreciate McIntosh’s determination.

"One of his most endearing qualities is perseverance," says Owens. "Erwin always helped to hold us all accountable to get things accomplished or fixed, which we needed. When it came time to add him in as a director for sports, it was just a natural fit."

Owens marvels at the kind of juggling of responsibilities that McIntosh has pulled off in becoming a success in college.

At his oration, though, McIntosh plans to remind his fellow graduates that they also need to find time to slow down and appreciate their lives.

"The graduates should be proud," he says. "You can worry so much about paying back your student loans and worrying about your future, but on this day, you ought to be proud of your accomplishments and spend the day celebrating them."

With his family and friends around him, that’s exactly what McIntosh will do.