Some big names will address the throngs at local graduations this year, but perhaps none are more excited than Mark Costello, commencement speaker at La Salle University.

Well, maybe one person is.

"I'm absolutely, absolutely thrilled," gushed Carol Costello, his mother. "I feel so proud . . . I can't believe it. I can believe it. I knew he had it in him."

The 21-year-old English major was among 12 hopefuls who auditioned for the honor, in keeping with La Salle's tradition of picking a student for the main address. His speech stood out for its "clarity of theme" and focus on his experiences at the university, said dean of students Joseph J. Cicala.

Costello, who is from Roxborough, said the message he plans to convey May 11 is that graduates should reach out to their communities to make the world a better place.

The speedy writer knocked out the five- to six-page speech in an afternoon just a few days before the deadline. And luckily for him, the finalists auditioned in the school's theater, where Costello, an aspiring director and playwright, has performed for the last four years.

After he was selected, committee members suggested revisions, and a professor coached him in public speaking to get ready for the big day. With so many people weighing in, some of the advice was confusing - one person wanted him to talk faster while another thought he should slow down - but overall it helped, he said.

And even though seasoned speakers say nothing is as challenging as a commencement talk, Costello said he's not that nervous.

"I'm coping with the stage fright," he said.

It's been a tougher slog for Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Richard Aregood, who is speaking at Rutgers University-Camden on May 22.

"I'm having a brutal time writing this thing," said the former Daily News editorial page editor. "I don't want to bore them."

A commencement speaker newbie, Aregood said he was invited to talk by the interim provost, who was an undergraduate classmate at Rutgers-New Brunswick.

As for his own graduation, memories are dim. He was already working at the Mount Holly Herald and had to file a story that made him late for the ceremony.

"All I remember was rushing from Mount Holly to New Brunswick and sitting in the reject pile and receiving my degree by mystical incantation," he said.

His oration will touch on two themes: the value of state higher education and having fun no matter what students choose to do.

He also plans to tell the graduates what Rutgers was like when he went to the school.

"I got to one of my German classes up the fire escape. The student center was in the basement of an old church. It was kind of a thrifty sort of place," said Aregood, who graduated in 1965.

PBS journalist Gwen Ifill knows that no matter how riveting she is when she speaks at Rutgers-New Brunswick on May 21, students will probably have other things on their minds.

"People aren't coming to hear me; I'm the last thing standing between them and a pretty good party," she said.

Even though she didn't go to the university, she feels connected to the school after getting involved in the flap over radio personality Don Imus' cutting remarks about the women's basketball team last year. Speaking out in a column and on Meet the Press got "such an amazing, unexpected outside response," Ifill said.

And it may make a compelling topic for her speech, which she hasn't written yet.

"They're not going to remember anything, but you strive to say something memorable," she said, though she acknowledges she doesn't remember a word Shirley Chisholm said at her graduation.

Publishing executive Forbes thinks the best tact is to be funny but brief.

"You realize these people want to get their sheepskins. They don't want to hear words from someone three times their age giving them pomposities," said Forbes, whose address at Philadelphia University is on May 18.

With that in mind, the former presidential candidate plans to offer basic advice about students knowing their strengths, the nitty-gritty of life, and the troubled times they live in. Then he will remind them that their parents and grandparents heard the same thing "so they'll have their chance to mess up the world."

In 10 to 12 minutes, it's all wrapped up.

"Any more," he said, "is a hangable offense."

Poet Laureate Charles Simic confessed to feeling pressure to say something "really smart." Though he has written countless essays and lectures, his speech at Bucknell University on May 18 is harder because "you have to tell them something about life," he said.

For inspiration, he will refer to classic writers and poets, such as Emerson and Whitman, to see if their advice "still works," he said.

Simic, who has never given a commencement speech, said he was motivated by the challenge and because Bucknell is giving the Stephen W. Taylor Medal to alumnus Philip Roth, whom he admires.

Karen Saler may have the toughest commencement job - filling in for a friend who was to speak at University of the Arts on May 22 but who died April 17.

Edna Andrade, the famed Philadelphia artist and teacher, was to receive an honorary doctorate with Saler accepting for her and reading prepared remarks.

"Now the predicament is I have to speak on her behalf," said Saler, a drawing teacher at the school.

Saler has paid tribute to her friend before, at Andrade's 90th birthday and a ceremony honoring professors emeriti. But this audience will be bigger and more diverse.

"It's a little more intimidating," she said. "But I teach and am used to standing in front of people who don't know what I'm talking about."