I'd love to take the chance to
thank MIT. These past four years
have been amazing. I've met some
great people, had some chances to
work on some really great work
and it really changed my life.
Thank you to all of my professors.
staff , members, coaches, mentors
classmates, fellow students I'm
really grateful for the amazing
learning community that exists
here at MIT. You know just for
culture, for the freedom for the
space really to do what I wanted
to do and whether that was getting
to work in southeast Asia or
taking my research to another
country. Or interviewing trauma
surgeons after the marathon
bombing. That was something
that I got to do because of the
way MIT is and the encouragement
MIT inherently gives all of us
and so I want to give a huge
thank you to everyone here.
Once I was here I was in a really
creative environment and a
really technically exciting and
technically challenging
environment. And so I feel like
for that I was able to really
explore what I was into and I
was able to really gain access
to a vastly different array of
opportunities that I wouldn't
have had at any other school.
So, thanks MIT! I think one of
the things that truly makes an
MIT experience is learning how
to fail and how to fail well and
intelligently. I think that's
not something we talk about
enough at MIT. I was working on
a project with some friends, a
medical device project, and there
were some wonderful things about
it but it ultimately didn't end
up going where we wanted it to
go. And I think that experience
but also then learning how to
extract what I really wanted from
that and to make myself a stronger
candidate for the future, really
taught me a lot at MIT and truly
made it an MIT experience for me.
A big moment for me as an MIT
student was showing off my
research during Media Lab Sponser
Week. So that's when the Media Lab
invites its sponsors to come
check out the things that we've
been working on. And I think for
me to participate and showcase
my own work was really cool
because I've never really done
something like that before and
I was never able to showcase my
work like that so for me, that
was really cool to see other
people interested in something
that I'd built and something that
I'd worked on for an entire year.
A really proud moment that I've
had at MIT was finishing my last
exam. Just signing everything and
turning my exam in. This is what
my four years has come to, I'm
done; I'm out! Some of my proudest
moments at MIT have been helping
others. For example as a teaching
assistant helping a student
understand a calculus concept
is really rewarding because I
know this will be something that
they carry with them throughout
their other courses at MIT.
Another instance as been the
projects I've worked on in
Nicaragua with a rural community
there to strengthen math and
science teaching. And finally,
my contributions to research
projects at the BEAR Lab here
at MIT and at the Pasteur
Institute in Paris where I am
helping to advance our under-
standing of autism and potential
treatment avenues. I think
probably my proudest moment at
MIT was when I found out I won
the Rhodes Scholarship. And
its not really because of the
prestige or because of the
accomplishment but because of
how it represented a culmination
of all my years at MIT. So many
people from my best friends to
faculty to the administrators in
the fellowships office had really
spent so many months trying to
help me reflect and learn about
myself and think about what all
these years meant to me and
how they made me who I am, in
the best way possible. And thats
really what that accomplishment
meant to me. My advice to
incoming and current students is
to pursue what you're really
passionate about. In the words of
an MIT Professor, "When you're
doing what you love it almost
doesn't feel like work."
An important thing I think that
people here at MIT should see is
that they're all amazing. We get
bogged down in the fact that
we're taking classes and we're
not at the highest part of the
curve or we're somewhere in the
median. Like, the fact that you're
even here and in the class itself
is really the thing that people
forget and I think that's
something I would suggest to
people who come here. Remember
that you're in the top percentage
of the world and you're not what
the standard deviation dictates
you are. Don't compare your track
through MIT with that of others.
There are so many different ways
to get through MIT because MIT
provides so many different
opportunities and neat ways
of getting your degree. So,
there's really no need to compare
what you're doing to other people.
And also because you're going to
have different interests as well.
Its really important to stretch
beyond your academics and join
random students groups. I have
sung all my life but I had never
done acapella. And my acapella
group here that I joined and
later led really became the most
amazing support group and family
away from family that I could
have ever expected and that
wouldn't have happened if I
hadn't taken that chance.
After graduation I'll be pursuing
my goal of becoming a physician
scientist. This fall I'll be
entering the MD/PhD program
at Stanford. Right after grad-
nation I'll be moving to New York
to work at BuzzFeed as a data
engineer, which basically entails
building the info structure for
the tools that help analyze the
site and what content is doing
well and things like that.
So after I graduate I'll be going
to the UK to study at Oxford
through the Rhodes Scholarship.
I'll be studying a duel masters
in global governance and diplomacy
and biomedical engineering.
After I graduate I'm actually off
to work on my own startup. So it
should be pretty fun between
here and and California it will
be really cool.
They say it takes a village
to raise a child and for me
my village has been my family.
Thank you to my parents my
grandparents my aunts my
uncles, cousins; my entire family
for your unwavering support.
Thanks to my mom and dad and my
little brother I couldn't have
gotten through college without
you guys and I hope that
graduation day is everything
that you guys want it to be and
I hope I've made you guys proud.
This is really it, we're done,
we made it! Yes! Finally!
Congratulations Class of 2015,
we did it. I'm done! It's awesome
I feel super great about it. I
can't believe I'm graduating
I really can't. Oh my god I don't
think I'm ready for the real
world! I cannot believe that I'm
graduating it feels like just
yesterday that I got here and
at the same time like I've been
here forever. So congratulations
Class of 2015, we did it!