It is now my pleasure to introduce my classmate
and friend, Ashiana Jivraj who will be delivering the Harvard
School of Dental Medicine Class Day speech.
The title of Ashiana's speech is Into The Unknown.
Class of 2021, administration faculty, staff, families,
champions, and anyone else who happens
to find this video, hello and welcome
to the day we truly never expected to arrive, especially
in light of the current climate.
I'm so honored to speak today as a part of the HSDM
class of 2021.
A class I've only been a part of for the last two years,
as I stepped out to pursue my MBA in 2017.
I have thus, had experiences with two different classes
of 2019 and I'd be remiss not to highlight them.
Classes of 2019, shout out to you.
As slow as I was in figuring out how to graduate from Harvard,
I came to this path with intention.
Nine years ago I was traveling in India
and I met a woman who changed my life.
It's remarkable the moments that you often don't know
will make an impact, can change the entire course
of who you become.
I don't even know her name.
She was a woman who came into a dental clinic I
had found myself in.
She was making the decision between dealing
with a massive abscess causing her immense pain,
and putting food on the table.
She didn't know how to navigate the system, how
to pay for her care, how to figure out what to do.
And she was able to soldier through the absolute unknown
and it made her the picture of resiliency.
It is she that I think of when starting the speech.
When we arrived on this campus, we were lucky.
Most of us didn't know how we made it here
and what gift of fate got us to this point.
We too were navigating a system that we didn't know and other
than the few not so rare ones, oral surgery,
we weren't sure what we were going to be
and how we were going to get there,
especially after failing time and time again
in identifying normal versus abnormal cells in histology,
identifying the wrong vessels in anatomy,
or adding absolutely nothing beyond gout
toward differential diagnoses in the flipped classroom.
Coming to the dental school, we struggled
to make convergent preparations, or even know what that means,
identify the salivary bacterial load,
and to meet our first patient and promised
them treatments we were learning at the same time.
Yet, after every setback over the last 4 to 6
or even what, 20 Ryan, our ENT turned dentist.
We've all learned to navigate a school system that pushed
us to thrive in the unknown.
If anything, HSDM has taught us to be flexible, to be agile,
and to get back up when we fall.
It has made us resilient.
Angela Duckworth states, "Nobody wants
to show you the hours and hours of becoming.
They'd rather show the highlight of what they've become."
In many ways, this speech is the summation of four
plus years of becoming.
Becoming practitioners, friends, support system,
significant others, pet parents, and overall adults.
But it is just the start of our journey.
As our class scatters to all parts of this country and some
to others, into specialties general practice, continuing
education, and the wild unknown, I
wanted to take a moment to reflect
on the grit I took to get here while remaining
grateful to those who helped us along the way.
So I look to you parents, faculty, mentors, friends,
loved ones, staff, and supporters.
And I think the whole class would
agree that without you, we would not have made it.
This day is much more yours than it is ours
and without you, we wouldn't have had the strength
to navigate this journey.
It was made even rockier this past year by COVID
and somehow, I see my classmates flourishing
with higher spirits than anyone could
have imagined, despite the high global cost of getting here.
And while we all may be a little deaf and hoarse from shouting
through centimeters of plastic over the excessive vacuuming
clinics, we somehow have all finished our requirements,
shared cases, though it wasn't always that easy,
learned to leave space for one another,
fell in love with soymilk, attended Zoom University,
only mildly causing one another distractions,
and still managed to for the most part, answer
the question of what's next.
As Harvard School of Dental Medicine graduates,
we have an inordinate power to shape policy
and to make a difference in this space.
We will learn to hear our patients, giving names
to those once nameless and empathizing
with those who have problems beyond our scope,
like the woman from India.
We have learned that not only is the mouth
the gateway to the body, but that we
can make immense impact daily on the field of health care.
My idol and magical mentor, Albers Dumbledore once said,
"It is our choices that show what we truly are,
far more than our abilities."
And I have no doubt that the class of 2021
will make some exceptional choices.
I look forward to continue to navigate the unknown with you,
to work through challenges, and to remain family.
Congratulations.
We did it.