"You Belong" & Other Advice for Graduates

Hello and welcome to a bright, sunny Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac by way of Worcester, Massachusetts. Today is May 11th.

The Oldest graduated from college yesterday! My mind is still spinning with excitement and adventure as we embrace every moment of celebration on this whirlwind weekend before returning to Wannaska on Sunday. Breakfast with the family of one of her roommates (who we’ve gotten to know over the last four years), meeting parents of our graduate’s closest friends on the Quad, taking pictures, chatting, getting to the venue – all on time (the top priority of the day) - followed by the actual ceremony and more celebrating into the night, well, as my aunt would say, presence is truly the gift.

Today the party continues, kicking off with traditional French crepes at Suzette’s Creperie & Cafe with the Arizona parents, one more trek across campus (I’m still looking for that mug with all the different ways Worcester is pronounced incorrectly. “WORchester, WorCHESTER, Wurster, Wister, Wooster…, then an afternoon on the coast of Maine, my first time and a childhood dream ever since my 5th-grade social studies report about Maine.

In lieu of my own observations, below are a few words of wisdom and advice I collected from the graduation.

From WPI President Wang, who “leaves the students with four pieces of advice.”

1. Dream boldly – learning has no limit; imagination has no limit.
2. Persevere.
3. Be a team player.
4. Enjoy the journey – changing the world is an adventure.

From the student speaker, Sam Levitan in his speech titled, “You Belong.”

• “You don’t have to do anything sensational for people to love you.” – Mr. Rogers 
• Love is the prelude of belonging, and belonging is the prelude of doing great things.
• Belonging is an active process.
• Belonging is better when we are together.
• An open heart is just as important as….(Unfortunately, I didn’t write down the other part, but I think he said it was intellect. But, even without the comparison, it’s enough to say, “An open heart is important.” Full stop.
• “I’m walkin’ here!” – Whenever someone suggests you don’t belong, you don’t bring value, your contribution doesn’t matter, just tell yourself (and them) this common New Yorker exclamation, “I’m walkin’ here!”

And, from the commencement speaker, Nancy Pimental, a WPI graduate of chemical engineering who went on to be a writer for South Park: “May you find your own Scuzzlebutt.”