Speechifying

One of the events at the Junior Senior Dinner the voting on the senior who will be the student commencement speaker. You write a speech if you want to be a candidate and email it in to the student government, they do a blind reading of them and choose four that will be read at the Junior Senior dinner, and then the seniors present vote between those four. Mine didn't make it to last night's voting, but I'd still like to share it, if you would like to read it. I'll post it below. (For non-Mills folks, the class of 2013 has the word 'fierce' as our motto of sorts since one can spell it F13RCE, which is kinda cool. Just so you know. ;) )

The first thing I remember is the eucalyptus trees.

I was wedged between two other prospies on the way from the airport, jetlagged, hungry, and hot. We tumbled out of the van and followed our tour guide around, utterly confused and surrounded by the buildings, the sounds and those – those infinitely older and infinitely cooler college kids.

I sat down in the corner of a room in Vera Long and listened to a man with a beard talk about Philosophy and during that one lecture, I fell in love with thinking. After that, back in my home town hundreds of miles away, I thought about becoming a Mills student.

I don’t know anyone whose plans didn’t change after they got here. Some had an idea of what they wanted to study and stuck with it, for the most part. Others, like myself, thought  we knew.

Most of you who know me know that I spend a great deal of time in CPM, our dear, charming, only mildly dilapidated Mathematics and Computer Science building. One late night during my sophomore year, I was alone in the computer lab of that building, two summer research program applications and a study abroad application in front of me in addition to a Real Analysis textbook. It was a Friday night and I was completely in tears. Any movement I made to accomplish one task was ignoring the rest, and the pressure of all the responsibilities pulling me in different directions made me want to run, sleep, eat an entire truck full of fudge and hide in a washing machine all at once.  I think my fellow classmates can relate. And for some reason,  I did something I’d never done before and something I highly recommend. I sent an email to myself with a timer so that it would be delivered to me in a year’s time. I still have it saved in my email.

“Hey, you,” the email says. It writes about the things I was stressed about, and then it said:

“And this email is to tell you that NO MATTER HOW HUGE THOSE THINGS SEEM TO YOU NOW, you obviously got through them.

And you know what, self? I bet you did pretty well. :)

So, like yourself today. Let today be one of those days when you look into the mirror, the mental and the physical one, and like what you see. 'Cause you can DO IT! :)

Love,

Emily”

Mills has taught me to love myself. It has taught me that I am so much more than capable. A Mills degree is nothing to sneeze at. In my math career here, I’ve turned in more than 200 homework assignments and taken 31 exams, and I know that commitment translates to other majors. We have WORKED for this. For four long, grueling and transformative years, we’ve worked and laughed and look at us now!

We are changed – we are older. Grown both more and less mature, gotten A’s and grades we’d rather not share, studied abroad, stayed here, fallen in love, fallen out – we have rallied and studied, lived off of coffee and brunch at Founder’s. We have goals, we have dreams, we have failures from which we have learned, and we are ready. Ready and positively, undeniably FIERCE. Thank you, class of 2013, for letting me be a part of you!