Throughout the academic year, Melinda Giampietro, Options Founder/President, will share some of her favourite things in her monthly Founder’s Feature. Melinda loves reading, data, research, and following academic and adolescent news around the world.
I love June. It’s simply the best month. Graduation is a representation of all the work we do at Options to get to this moment. June has both a sense of closure and a potential for new beginnings. And it’s the beginning of summer: ushering in ice cream cones (my order is Cookie Butt with Skor pieces), cruiser and e-bikes, beach days, and morning coffee on the deck. These are my very favourite things.
For as long as I can remember, I have been inspired by the universality and timelessness of graduation ceremony speeches. They buoy me with inspiration to make it across the finish line of the school year.
In honour of June and graduation season, I thought I’d share some of my favourite speeches and what I perceive to be their best lines. I hope you, too, find fun, wisdom, and encouragement in these words.
Taylor Swift, New York University, 2022
“The first of which is…life can be heavy, especially if you try to carry it all at once. Part of growing up and moving into new chapters of your life is about catch and release. What I mean by that is, knowing what things to keep and what things to release. You can’t carry all things, all grudges, all updates on your ex, all enviable promotions your school bully got at the hedge fund his uncle started. Decide what is yours to hold and let the rest go. Oftentimes, the good things in your life are lighter anyway, so there’s more room for them.”
Jane Lynch, Smith College, 2012
“Don’t have a plan. Plans are for wusses. If my life went according to my plan, I would never ever have the life I have today.”
Jon Stewart, College of William and Mary, 2004
“The unfortunate yet truly exciting thing about your life is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective.”
Bono, University of Pennsylvania, 2004
“This is the time for bold measures, and this is the country, and you are the generation… That degree of yours is a blunt instrument – go forth and build something with it.”
Tim Cook, Tulane University, 2019
“There’s a saying that if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. At Apple, I learned that’s a total crock. You’ll work harder than you ever thought possible, but the tools will feel light in your hands. As you go out into the world, don’t waste time on problems that have been solved… Look for the rough spots, the problems that seem too big, the complexities that other people are content to work around. It’s in those places that you will find your purpose. It’s there that you can make your greatest contribution.”
Ken Burns, Stanford University, 2016
“Be for something. Be curious, not cool. Feed your soul, too. Every day. Remember, insecurity makes liars of us all. Don’t confuse success with excellence. Educate all of your parts. You will be healthier. Seek out—and have—mentors. Listen to them. Bite off more than you can chew. Do not get stuck in one place. Visit our national parks. Their sheer majesty may remind you of your own ‘atomic insignificance,’ as one observer noted, but in the inscrutable ways of nature, you will feel larger, inspirited, just as the egotist in our midst is diminished by his or her self-regard. Insist on heroes. And be one.”
Margaret Atwood, University of Toronto, 1983
“You may not be able to alter reality, but you can alter your attitude towards it, and this, paradoxically, alters reality. Try it and see.”
Nora Ephron, Wellesley College, 1996
“Whatever you choose, however many roads you travel, I hope that you choose not to be a lady. I hope you will find some way to break the rules and make a little trouble out there. And I also hope that you will choose to make some of that trouble on behalf of women.”
Michelle Obama, Dillard University, 2014
“While it is a wonderful thing that all of you are here today, we have to ask ourselves, what about all those geniuses who never get this chance?”
Stephen Colbert, Wake Forest University, 2015
“Get ready for my generation to tell you everything that can’t be done…we should know…we’re the ones who didn’t do them.”
Amy Poehler, Harvard University, 2011
“Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life. No one is here today because they did it on their own.”
To read more Founder’s Features, check them out under the Options News category.
