College of Arts and Sciences Student, Lisa Angell, Delivered Inspiring 2019 Commencement Speech
President Nemec, Members of the Board of Trustees, Honored Guests, Members of the Faculty and Administration, Family, Friends, and Members of the Class of 2019. Good morning. I cannot stress enough what an honor it is to be standing here today. Now, just to see what I’m working with here, who here has seen a movie? Very good, great start! As I am going to be receiving a degree in Film and Communication today, I want to share with you a little formula that Hollywood’s screenwriters call “the hero’s journey.” I guarantee you, your favorite movie follows the formula, so I’ll take you through it.
First comes the set-up: four years ago in September the Class of 2019 sat in these same seats and officially joined the herd. We all sat together as strangers, and imagined what our college experiences would be like. The only thing my eighteen-year-old self could think about was my new found freedom, the vast possibilities of new friendships on the horizon, and my plans to attempt to get into a townhouse party later that night.
The important part of the set-up in the hero’s journey is the inciting incident, the call to action that brings our protagonist on an adventure that will result in some sort of growth or change. This call to action occurred at convocation when the speakers explained to us the Jesuit values. They explained that Fairfield, as a Jesuit institution, focuses on educating the whole person. Our education seeks to enrich our body, mind, and spirit, which has become known to us as cura personalis. Fairfield creates opportunities for students to become women and men for others and to strive for excellence.
For our screenplay to really get going our protagonist needs to accept or reject this adventure. So I will take you back again. I remember visiting my sister, a 2016 Fairfield grad, when I was applying to colleges. I remember saying that the core curriculum was way too big, that there would be no way I would want to take classes in a subject like philosophy. After all, my goal was, and still is, to be a filmmaker. My parents, on the other hand, loved Fairfield, as did my sister. So they set up an appointment for me to sit in on a film class. Hidden in the basement of the prep school, as many of you may not know, there is a little world of film-- creativity bouncing off the walls. Often times, for our protagonist to accept the journey, he or she will need some sort of motivation from a mentor, like when Luke Skywalker encounters Obi-Wan Kenobi or when Dorothy meets Glinda the Good Witch. For me, I accepted the adventure when one of the film professors explained to me how a Fairfield education was unique in that you are given the chance to learn it all. He illustrated a vision of a ball, imagine any ball you like, a crystal ball, a basketball, a meatball, whatever you’re into. Now imagine the ball is too big to hold. It is filled with knowledge. He told me that the core allows us to get a better grasp around the ball. You might think the core allows us to grow big enough hands to palm the basketball, but I think it has to do with having people to carry it with you. By learning from each other and being enlightened by other perspectives, we gain empathy. With this we are able to hold the weight of the ball together, the weight of the world.
For the movie to continue the protagonist has to accept the adventure. So on we went. We began to embody Fairfield’s mission. The classes we have taken, the professors who we have made our mentors, the teams and clubs we have joined, the friends we have made. Every opportunity we have grabbed hold of has shaped us into who we are and who we will become when we leave Fairfield. We view the world differently now because of the core curriculum. I, for one, am glad I was able to study across disciplines to enrich my mind and to stretch my intellect far beyond job preparation. The world itself is interdisciplinary and because of our Jesuit education, we are more prepared for what is next. By gaining perspective across every subject, we can connect the arts, literature, history, sociology, communication, business, math, science, religion and yes, even philosophy.
This is the part of the movie where everything is going great for our hero with some peppy upbeat music in the background, but there is no doubt our protagonist will encounter some obstacles. About ¾ of the way through a film the protagonist will hit rock bottom. Without hitting bottom, our protagonist would never grow. I may have just been naive, but the college experience was filled with more growing pains than I ever could have predicted. And coincidentally, Fairfield U had growing pains right along with us, renovating buildings across campus as part of Fairfield Rising. As freshmen, we battled homesickness and ate our feelings away in Barone. At the time, we could either choose to work out in the basement of Alumni Hall while the Rec Plex was being built, or opt to gain the freshman 15; the far easier choice. Our sophomore year, as we felt the pressure of declaring our undergraduate majors and quite possibly altering our life projections, we spent a solid month of our spring semester eating in a tent outside the BCC so Barone could “glow up” and become the Tully. Like Fairfield’s campus, I myself felt under construction. But here we are, at the red ribbon cutting ceremony, just moments away from receiving our college diplomas. And we all live happily ever after, right?
Well, I hate to burst everyone's bubble, yeah “we did it!” BUT this is only the beginning. In a better movie, where the climax of the film doesn’t happen at $2 Tuesday at the Grape, I think we are still in the set-up of the movies of our lives, and the call to action or inciting incident is happening right now. We still have so much growing to do. I came into college relatively closed-minded. Remember when I said I would never want to take a class in philosophy? Well, after I took Intro to Philosophy I declared it as a minor. The many classes I took opened my eyes to think bigger, to question what I thought I knew, and question authority. Just because things are the way they are, doesn’t mean they are the way they should be. Humanity, as it has been across history, is still plagued with wars, corruption, and poverty. And now more than ever, we have increasing environmental concerns. We are in a new age: filled with technology that has shrunk the world and connected humanity at a global level like never before, but also putting an emphasis on self-image, making superficiality the norm. This is the hand that we have been dealt. Now it is time for us to shuffle the deck and deal a new hand. The core at Fairfield has taught us to never take anything for face value and to challenge the institutions that exist in this ever changing world. Now I encourage you all to break away from the herd. Strive to reach new heights. Don’t settle. We have the opportunity to embark on the hero’s journey and make an impact.
Understanding the privilege of being a college graduate comes with the responsibility of accepting the adventure. We cannot take for granted the diplomas we are about to receive, because others may not be as lucky. There is great inequality that exists within this world, within our country, within Fairfield County alone. Are our lives different for a reason? Did God bless us with this opportunity? Or is it just luck of the draw? Is it happenstance or is it fate? Whatever it may be, that does not change the fact that we are blessed to be in the position that we are in.
During a semester abroad, whenever someone asked where we were from, their faces would light up when we would say “I’m from America.” People across the globe look to America as a land where dreams come true. Across the world people try to make it here, in the pursuit of happiness and the American Dream, with a promise for opportunity. But as we know, this promise isn’t kept for everyone. It takes hard work, and a lot of luck. We would like to think that we deserve all the opportunities we’ve been given, because after all, we live our lives like we are the stars of our own movies. In reality, we had no control over where we born, the families we were born into, the circumstances we have been given. What we do have control over is the way we use what we have been given to make an impact and leave a legacy, out of respect for everyone who did not start on an even playing field. After all, the playing field here at Fairfield has the greenest, most well-watered grass I have ever seen!
We don’t know what happens next, but that’s the fun of it. After all, we don’t want to know what happens at the end of a movie when it is only just beginning. Our hero’s journey starts now. As we leave Fairfield, let us seek more than just comfort in our lives. Although money will help us survive, it will not guarantee us to thrive. Of course we want the films of our lives to do well at the box office, (who wouldn't?) but we should also strive to have some substance intended to inspire and relate to one another. To thrive, we must challenge ourselves to never stop learning. Live life in pursuit of gaining a wider perspective on the world. We must always revel in our growing pains. And find incredible co-stars to carry the ball with us along the way. That is how we will experience passion and bliss. AND... never take that green grass for granted. Congratulations, Class of 2019.