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why did you come to Harvard
we all walked different paths to get here I came to the Kennedy School from my small town in Michigan as a queer again yes let’s go as a queer and non-binary citizen of the notawaseepi Huron band of the Potawatomi
I never felt destined for this place but my application was full of grand visions of justice and I came here on a mission to get land back to indigenous tribes and to fight[Applause] and to fight for queer and trans people[Applause] maybe you you like me imagined the leader you could be or the impact you could have and maybe you like me found that when you got here your biggest problem was more like not knowing how to format your Excel spreadsheet so much for Grand visions of leadership maybe you like me had a quiet voice inside that wondered whether you would make it to the ceremony at all
this became even more real for me five months ago on December 23rd 2022 while I was holiday shopping back home I was shot by two boys in a carjacking gone wrong as I waited for the MTS my leg went numb and I grew really tired and I found myself thinking I am one semester away from graduating I know I know it might be weird but I was thinking that at that moment I heard the laughs but I had doubted whether I would be here to begin with and I was so close and I was thinking well my parents have to attend my funeral instead of my commencement have I spent all this time preparing for a future that I won’t have [Applause] during our time here we’ve experienced a pandemic floods and earthquakes Wars and invasions daily physical and mental health struggles and more when I was in the hospital re-learning how to walk I wasn’t sure how I would return here much less realize the future that I’d envisioned for myself I couldn’t see how my life would get back on track but I started to one step at a time my mom helped me get from the hospital bed to the chair
the next day I made it to the door and back when friends flew in to help I’d ask them to join me for a walk every afternoon they’d look out at the snow and the sleet and our Michigan winter and they’d say something like like outside really
but we went every day limping through a bleak Michigan winter a snail’s pace with my mom on one side and a friend on the other I started to move forward I came to realize that I didn’t need to see the destination all I needed to see was one next step
we are here because we have Big Dreams and it can be scary to even imagine reaching them and your moments of uncertainty just look for that next step if you haven’t solved immigrant Justice but you can keep using Duolingo so you can speak to your clients in their own language you haven’t solved residential segregation but you can show up to the next community meeting on affordable housing and when all else fails you can just get eight hours of sleep or eat something other than pizza
five months ago it seemed impossible that I would make it to the ceremony let alone be here on the stage with my mom’s hero Tom Hanks[Applause] but here I am
and while it’s me she’s standing here today I do not stand alone I haven’t taken a single step alone in the last five months Clara wrestled the insurance companies keituki cooked me biryani Bethany manage my entire calendar countless friends family and strangers have shown up for me in ways that I couldn’t have imagined there will come a moment for each of us where we realize that we cannot do it alone in fact that we have never done it alone and that we shouldn’t do it alone class of 2023 I want you to hear me say this because I really know it to be true we need each other
in your moments of doubt who was there with you maybe it was a friend offering dinner a call home a mentor with sound advice the poet Gwendolyn Brooks wrote we are each other’s Harvest we are each other’s business we are each other’s magnitude and bond I was fortunate to find my Harvest here at Harvard
in the process of chasing your dreams you will need people to comfort you to coach you to tell you that you have spinach in your teeth and when you find yourself in your own cold Michigan winter you will need people to walk alongside you some of those people are here today
so this is it
in a few moments we will take our next step out of these Gates and into the world we don’t know what lies ahead but the next time you find yourself wondering if you can face the challenge today is your proof we made it and we will make it again one step at a time and never alone thank you