‘We’ve taken theory and made it practical’
Arminé Nalbandian tells her classmates, ‘Make lemonade.’
Photo by Craig Bailey
See photos of the 106th annual commencement exercises
"The pathways we've embarked upon … are just the beginning of this new and exhilarating phase," Arminé Nalbandian told her fellow graduates on Friday.
"We are the generation that can mend the errors of the past. We care to be the change we want to see around us,” she said during morning ceremonies at the TD Banknorth Garden.
Nalbandian, the Class of 2008 student speaker, presented an object lesson in the real-world application of a Northeastern education. In February, her mother, a psychotherapist, was killed by a patient.
The political science and communications studies major — who goes on a Fulbright Scholarship next year to Armenia — took some time off after the tragedy, but decided, with family and friends, that she should complete her college education.
"If it weren't for the lessons that I have learned during the past five years at Northeastern University," she said, "I wouldn't have known the first thing about how to take a lemon and make it lemonade."
Among those lessons, she said: "how to listen, how to lead … We've taken theory and made it practical. We've learned how to extract power from our knowledge."
Nalbandian urged her classmates to "forgive, even when it seems impossible. Never look at your experience as average. … Love yourself and those around you. Talk less and listen more."
Quoting the poet Vergil, who said, "They can because they think they can,” she told the graduating class, “Your path is yours. Your story is your own. Make lemonade."
Here is the text of remarks made by graduating senior Arminé Nalbandian, the student commencement speaker, at Friday’s graduation ceremony.
American author Dale Carnegie once uttered the famous words "When fate hands you a lemon, make lemonade." I’ve always been a strong proponent of making the best of the worst situations, but when life handed me the biggest lemon of all just three months ago, I was pretty sure Dale Carnegie was full of it.
I received a call late one night and when the voice on the other end told me that my mom, a psychotherapist, had been killed on the job by one of her patients, the world around me literally fell apart. In the chaos of those first couple of weeks, I remember thinking back to Dale Carnegie’s words and wondering just how I was supposed to make lemonade out of this one.
And then something happened; I realized that there was nothing to do but to go on. There was nothing to do but to face this challenge just as I had faced every other challenge before. So I picked up the pieces, relied on the support around me, and made my way back to the real world.
By now perhaps you’re wondering how all of this relates to the reason we are all sitting here today. Why bring up such a depressing story at a time when we should be celebrating our achievement? I’ll give you one reason; because if it weren’t for the lessons I had learned during the past five years at Northeastern University, there is a good chance that I wouldn’t have known the first thing about how to take a lemon and make it into lemonade.
I’ve often wondered about the value of a true education. I have pondered the meaning of Sir Francis Bacon’s claim that “knowledge is power.” And I’ve come to realize that the value of education is not in the rite of passage itself, but more about the possibility for the future. Here at Northeastern, I have learned not just how to calculate a margin of error or analyze Plato’s Republic, but through this process I have learned how to think and the choice of what to think about. Professors, administrators, mentors and staff at this university have taught me over and over how to see the obvious, yet extract the unseen, I have been taught how to see an issue from someone else’s perspective, whether the issue is a disagreement among politicians on a government policy or a disagreement between roommates over who did the dishes last.
An old Latin proverb dictates, “We learn not at school, but in life.” As graduates of Northeastern, we have been lucky enough to learn from both. Not only have we gained maturity through experiencing the daily grind of a 9 to 5 workday, but we have also learned how to listen, how to lead, and how to address an issue with thoughtfulness and insight. Through our experiential education, we have gained not only intellect and maturity, but we have learned how to use it. We have taken theory and made it practical. We have learned the freedom that comes from education. We have learned how to extract power from our knowledge.
Our time at Northeastern has been full of great memories and moments, the friendships we have built are for a lifetime and the pathways we have embarked upon and the challenges we have faced are just the beginning of this new and exhilarating phase. I have learned that we are the generation that can mend the errors of the past. Now more than ever is a time for progress. Our generation is not a lost one as some claim. We are more involved in politics than many who came before us; we care to be the change we want to see around us.
Every generation has its own challenge, but with every new challenge we are given a new set of tools. We have reached today with a fresh set of tools, ones named Google, Youtube and Facebook, ones that have changed the world community and the prospects of our future, and ones that will allow us to forge new paths in politics, medicine, art, engineering, business, science, and in life. We have molded and shifted this campus with our presence and achievements; we have seen Northeastern through the ‘top one hundred’ revolution, to the opening of the first Starbucks on campus. We have done great things for this school and now we must challenge each other to do great things for this world.
Ladies and gentleman of tomorrow, don’t ever forget this moment; don’t ever ignore your thirst for knowledge, your hunger for truth. Never ignore your ability to see both sides of the story, and to forgive, even when it seems impossible. Never forget what your professors and mentors at this great institution have taught you. Never look at your experience as average - don’t think of Northeastern and only remember the times when things just didn’t go your way - think of what you have learned, and what you been taught. Remember the staff member that helped you through the NU shuffle, or the classmate who helped you get through the death of someone who meant the world to you. Recognize the obstacles, but don’t forget about the solutions– remember how to take those lemons and make them into lemonade.
Love what you do, never settle, be passionate and compassionate, love yourself and those around you, talk less and listen more, open your mind, have your own opinion and most of all, inspire others as you have been inspired … pay it forward.
We are the future forgers of peace, curers of cancer, abolishers of genocide, architects of industry, inventors of truth. As the great Roman poet Virgil once said, “They can because they think they can.” Each of you sitting here today has a discoverable gift, and let us challenge each other to settle for nothing less than achieving the promise others see in us and we see in ourselves.
Ladies and gentleman of the Northeastern University class of 2008, your path is yours, your story is your own, make lemonade.