Donovan Livingston knew the stakes were high this year when he was asked to deliver a commencement address at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he teaches.
Ten years ago, he was the student speaker at his graduation from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. The speech went viral, inspiring millions of people around the world — and changed his life.
He told the audience a decade ago that he once was the kid who never sat still in class.
“I was in the seventh grade, when Ms. Parker told me, ‘Donovan, we can put all of your excess energy to good use,’” he said.
He delivered that speech as an impassioned spoken word poem about the promise of education as an “equalizer” and how it falls short for many students.
“Injustice is telling them education is the key while you continue to change the locks,” he told his graduating class.
Livingston said the speech was about finding and embracing individual strengths.
“I’ve been the black hole in a classroom for far too long, absorbing everything, without allowing my light escape,” he said in his poem. “But those days are done. I belong among the stars. And so do you.”
The success of that speech led to a book, media coverage and international acclaim.
“I had no idea it would blow up the way it did. But I’m grateful that folks were paying attention,” Livingston told The Washington Post this week.
Like Livingston’s speech, every year, graduation speeches circulate on social media, offering wisdom, advice and inspiration.
We spent a week watching graduation speeches and pulling out some of the best ideas they have to offer. Here are some of our favorite pieces of advice.
Shonda Rhimes: Don’t let your dreams derail you
In a speech at her alma mater Dartmouth College, producer Shonda Rhimes told graduates to ignore the oft-repeated advice to “dream big.”
“I think a lot of people dream, and while they are busy dreaming, the really happy people, the really successful people, the really interesting, engaged, powerful people are busy doing,” Rhimes said to the graduating class of 2014.
The creator of the hit TV shows “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Bridgerton” said hard work, not dreaming, is what makes things happen and creates change.
Rhimes told a story about how as an undergraduate she dreamed of growing up to be like Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison. While she dreamed, she was living in her sister’s basement. (“Dreamers often end up living in the basements of relatives, FYI,” she added as an aside.) Eventually, she went to film school and learned a new way to tell stories.
Rhimes met Morrison and had dinner with her, and she said that all Morrison wanted to talk about was “Grey’s Anatomy.” That never would have happened if Rhimes hadn’t given up on dreaming of becoming Morrison and focused on becoming herself.
“Be a doer, not a dreamer,” Rhimes said.
Arthur Brooks: The question is not what you will do, but why
Social scientist and author Arthur Brooks studies happiness, and in his speech at Vanderbilt University’s graduation this year, he spoke about what he’s found in his research to be the key to a happy life: a sense of meaning.
“In college, you’re largely concerned with a couple of questions. How to do things and what you want to do after you finish college,” Brooks said. “But the truth of the matter is that there’s a more important question lurking behind your education and the way that you want to live, which is the why of your life, the meaning of your life, your mission, your purpose, your calling.”
Brooks talked about his son Carlos, who found himself adrift at 18, thinking maybe he should go to college but with no sense as to why. Brooks told his son to rethink his plans.
His son ended up working on a farm, joining the Marines, getting married and having two children. Now, at 26, he’s ready to get a college degree.
“He found the meaning of his life,” Brooks said. “His path is not your path. His beliefs, his values are not your beliefs and not your values. You have to find your own. And that’s the thrill. That’s where it begins. That’s the fun in life. That’s the journey that awaits.”
Steve Jobs: That calligraphy class could change your life
When Steve Jobs dropped out of Reed College, he stopped taking the required classes that didn’t interest him and started dropping in on the classes that looked fun — including a calligraphy class.
“I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great,” Jobs told Stanford’s graduating class in 2005. “It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.”
None of these things seemed relevant to his life. But a decade later when designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to him.
“It was the first computer with beautiful typography‚” Jobs said.
He didn’t connect the dots at the time, but by following his genuine curiosity and interest, he learned what he would need to know.
Steve Carell: Fight the urge to be cynical. And dance!
Actor Steve Carell spoke about kindness in his speech at Northwestern last year. He encouraged graduates to see the best in others and fight the urge to be cynical.
“Remember the little things like being kind, and that you’re not alone. Take care of one another. Remember to laugh when you have the opportunity,” he said.
Carell’s son and daughter are around the same age as the group he was speaking to, and he told the graduates that this is the advice he gives his own children.
Carell also made time for a dance break, and while visibly perspiring afterward, he reminded the students to make time to just dance sometimes.
“Remember that kindness isn’t a weakness. It is a very potent strength,” Carell said.
Donovan Livingston: Peeling back a veneer of success
As Livingston thought about what he wanted to say to UNC Chapel Hill grads this year, he thought about his own path. He knew when students heard his accomplishments, it might sound as though he never struggled to find his way.
So he built his graduation speech around his failures.
He put his first semester transcript up with the 1.6 GPA he earned, and he talked about his struggles to adapt to college life. He talked about how he accepted a job as a college adviser soon after graduation, only to learn he hadn’t actually graduated. He had failed to complete a necessary class, and the job offer was rescinded. He talked about how all of these speed bumps helped him become the educator and adviser he is today.
“A catastrophe is an opportunity,” Livingston said. “Your purpose doesn’t often reveal itself in a moment of comfort or convenience. Your purpose shows up when the sky is falling down.”
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