Poet Richard Blanco urged the roughly 1,200 University of Southern Maine graduates at Saturday’s commencement to keep doing what they’ve been doing all along.

“Never stop learning,” said Blanco, a Bethel resident. “That might be an odd thing, if not the last thing, you want to hear at graduation. After all, you’ve spent years studying, fretting over exams, doing nothing but learning.”

They could be content to sit back and rest on their accomplishment, or they could continue to challenge themselves and push forward.

“Your education doesn’t end after you walk up here, get your degree, and turn your tassels,” Blanco said. “It continues tomorrow, and the next day, and in the months and years to come.”

Blanco was the commencement speaker Saturday morning at Portland’s Cross Insurance Arena as students from all three USM campuses graduated.

The 2015 graduating class included 115 from L-A College, including 85 who earned bachelor’s degrees and 28 who got master’s degrees.

Blanco was the featured poet at President Barack Obama’s 2013 inauguration and has won multiple awards for his work.

Saturday, he talked about the realization he had just months after graduating with a degree in engineering. He said he knew he could not stop but had to keep pushing himself.

He returned to school and eventually earned a master’s degree in creative writing.

“But what if I had thought, ‘Well, I am only an engineer, and no other knowledge matters?'” he said. “Well, for one, I wouldn’t be here before you today.”

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