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In the wake of her DePauw experience, Beard shares advice with Class of 2013
Starting with a bit of a joke, commencement speaker Elisa Villanueva Beard caught the DePauw University Class of 2013 a little off-guard Sunday, and then really took them out of their comfort zone.
A1998 graduate of DePauw and co-chief executive officer of Teach for America, Villanueva Beard said despite her Mexican-American heritage, the best advice for the moment at hand came from Irish tradition.
Being a commencement speaker, she said, is a lot "like the body at an Irish wake."
"They need you for the party," she smiled, "but they don't expect you to say too much."
But Villanueva Beard said a lot in a short time.
She told the 571 bachelor's degree candidates awaiting their sheepskins on Holton Memorial Quadrangle a recent study indicates "people in your generation can expect to have 29 jobs in your lifetime."
That brought gasps and groans and general uneasiness from the cap-and-gowned center section of seats.
"I know," she responded to that perceived despair. "You'll be fine."
She advised them that nonetheless plenty of transitions lie ahead.
"Each one of them is an opportunity for self-discovery," Villanueva Beard suggested. "I'm a firm believer that it's only when you find yourself in unfamiliar situations with unfamiliar faces that you can learn who you really are.
"It's when we're surrounded by difference that we see ourselves most clearly," Villanueva Beard added
DePauw became that moment for her, she advised.
"But for you it may be your next job, or your third job, or a moment of profound personal or professional loss," Villanueva Beard said. "Some people can live their entire lives without going through that kind of soul-searching experience. They prefer to never stray out of their comfort zones. That's sad. Because those are the moments when you figure out what you stand for and what you're made of.
"So, as uncomfortable as it is," she advised the graduating class, "lean in to the unfamiliar.
"Take that job in a completely new field you've always wanted to try. Choose to work, worship or live alongside people who have vastly different experiences than your own. And lean on the people who know you."
She concluded, "Whether you're on a clearly paved road to your dream job or you're taking the scenic route, my advice for you is the same. Know yourself. Stretch into the unknown. And when you're on the precipice of change, jump! Jump willingly and jump far. It's going to be an incredible ride."
The speaker urged the new grads to keep their eyes, minds and hearts open.
"As you start your careers, you're going to find yourself in situations where, to put it simply, you have no idea what you're doing," she said. "That describes just about every job I've ever had. And it's not necessarily a bad thing -- it's an indication that you're in a good position to learn a lot."
Villanueva Beard advised that in order to "reach your potential as leaders, you've got to spend time getting to know who you are."
"And to truly know yourself, you're going to have to be in some situations that make you uncomfortable. For it is only by pushing ourselves that we find our real strength, and only by embracing the unfamiliar that we grow.
"If you can do that," Villanueva Beard continued, "you'll uncover values that will ground and guide you the rest of your lives. And you may well discover the differences that set you apart are often your greatest assets."
The class also heard from classmate Mark A Fadel, the 2013 recipient of the Walker Cup, emblematic of the senior who has done the most for the university in his four years.
"I have spent four years making memories with some of the smartest, kindest, most talented people," Fadel said. "How am I supposed to walk out of this arena and leave these memories behind?"
Fadel recalled how his class was greeted in August 2009 by President Brian Casey, who told the incoming students DePauw is like "the best, most interesting book you can imagine."
"No matter what paths we take after today," the biochemistry major said. "We all will have started this great enterprise here, together at DePauw. We will always share this bond. All of our experiences are distinct but equally noteworthy.
"Each of us has this exceptional picture of DePauw and understands it in ways no one else can. Our lives have been changed for the better. We are here today prepared to embrace the next chapter," Fadel concluded.
Villanueva Beard was presented with DePauw's Young Alumni Award while three others -- Margaret G. Hermann, Janet Prindle Seidler and Randall T. Shepard -- received honorary doctoral degrees during Sunday's ceremonies.
Shepard, who served 25 years as chief justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, was given an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Currently executive in residence at the Public Policy Institute of Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Shepard said DePauw "has been a part of my life for as long as I'm able to remember. It is my good fortune that my parents met here."
His mother and father, Richard S. Shepard and Dorothy Donlen Shepard, were classmates in the DePauw Class of 1942.
"One of the things they learned here and that they taught my sister and me," Shepard said, "was the enormous value of education to leading a satisfying, enriching life of service to our fellow human beings. I am grateful to them for that lesson, as they have been grateful to DePauw for passing it along to them."
Janet Prindle Seidler, retired managing director of Neuberger Berman and a 1958 DPU graduate, was presented with an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree. In 2005, she established the Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw.
"I must confess, as a student at DePauw," she said, "I was most concerned with hanging out with my friends and I had no idea where my life and career would lead me. So my first message to you is, do not panic. If you are not sure of your career path, you will find it."
Margaret G. Hermann, a 1960 DPU graduate who received an honorary Doctor of Political Science degree, praised DePauw for launching her "into a very exciting and stimulating career."
As professor of Global Affairs in the department of political science at Syracuse University, Dr. Hermann is director of the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs.
"I have heard you called the incomparable Class of 2013," she said, "and I wish you all the luck in the world. Come join me."