- I now call upon Carmen Augusto, class of 2016,
(audience cheering and clapping)
to deliver the Student Expression of Gratitude.
(audience cheering and clapping)
(Carmen laughing)
- [Woman] Go on, Carmen.
- (speaking in Portugese)
- [Woman] Yes!
- (speaking in Portuguese)
Good morning!
(cheers)
Smithies, friends and family and class of 2016!
(audience applause and cheering)
I'm Carmen Augusto, and I'm honored to share with you
my story, and to represent the many journey
of the amazing women on this campus.
Coming from Africa, Asia, Asutralia,
Europe, North and South America.
We have all come from around the world to embark
in this remarkable, and sometimes rocky, experience.
(laughter)
I was born and raised in Beira, which is in Mozambique,
and I come from a family of three children.
And my mom is here today, after a thirty
(applauding)
after a thirty-five hour flight journey
just to witness my graduation.
(cheers and applause)
When I was twelve years old, my father
was sentenced to five years in prison,
due to my country's poor judicial system.
He was a victim of a banking scandal
that left thousands of Mozambeicans impoverished.
I remember the day when the two policemen came into my house
and took my father, we were left with nothing.
And from that day on, I knew
that my life would completely change.
As a nurse, my mom didn't make enough to pay for bills
and afford our daily expenses, so she took on night shifts
just to afford at least one meal per day for our family.
With my dad in prison, I had to wake up everyday
at 5:00 AM, clean my house, cook my dads meals,
and then drop them off in prison,
where I'd find a line of about 100 to 300 women
waiting outside for their husbands to finish eating.
After, I would quickly race to school
in order to make it on time for my first class.
When I move up to secondary public education
in Mozambique, it was quite different.
In my classroom were about 90 students per teacher,
and in a day, we were supposed to have seven classes,
only one or two teachers would actually show up.
Everyone around me cheated, everyone paid to pass a class,
and that was normal, that was all I knew,
that was the only form of education that I was aware of.
In 2009, I was selected to attend a school in South Africa
called the African Leadership Academy, also known as ALA.
(light cheers and applause)
which aims to develop the next
generation of African leaders.
That's when I began to understand the power of education.
- [Person] Yes ma'am
(cheers and applause)
- Since Portuguese is my first language,
at ALA I struggled during my first semester
because it was my first time learning in English.
So, when I finished my two years at ALA,
I knew that I still needed to improve on my English skills.
So I took a gap year at Miss Porter's School in Connecticut.
(cheering)
- (laughs) That's when I met my amazing host parents,
Peter and Cindy Pergillo, who knew nothing about me,
but took me in as their daughter and supported me
throughout my years, and at Smith as well.
(laughs)
(applause)
At Miss Porter's, I fell in love
with the single sex environment.
And so when my college council told me
about Smith, I visited and I applied.
At Smith, I really enjoy my economic classes
with my advisor, Roger Kaufman,
(cheers and laughter)
and I appreciate my residential life family
for teaching me the essence of community building.
(cheers)
I love the housing system.
Shout out to Scales House, July House, Duckett House
Tyler, you make me feel at home.
(light laughter and cheers)
I'm very grateful for alumni like you,
who made my journey possible and so many others possible.
For many international students
who come from disadvantaged backgrounds,
asking your parents for $80 to purchase a textbook
is equivalent from taking away a whole month's worth
of groceries from our families.
However, it's because of you
and the Smith Student Aid Society
that many of us, including me, are able to get eyeglasses,
go to the dentist, buy our Ivy Day dresses,
and attend academic conferences.
Thank you for caring about us.
Your kindness makes a difference in our lives.
I'm very thankful for my peers and my teachers
who encouraged me to strive for excellence,
and to Smith for making me the woman I am today.
(cheers and applause)
Alumni and friends, because of your generous donations,
I am no longer the girl waiting outside of prison.
I am the woman had internships with General Electric,
Carnegie-Melon, and Coca Cola.
(cheers and laughter)
I am the woman who spent her junior year abroad in Brazil.
I am the woman who, after Smith, is moving to California
and joining Black Rock, an asset management firm.
(cheers and applause)
(speaking in foreign languages)
Thank you for making my Smith experience possible.
(cheers and applause)
- [Woman] Carmen!
- Thank you Carmen for those inspiring words
and for sharing your enthusiasm,
your gratitude, and your Smith story.