Commencement 2024: Speech by Mayor Brett P. Smiley
Thank you, Allison. And good morning, everybody. It has been a great morning already. I have a little change of plan: I was planning on singing a song, but then Ms. Phildor spoke, and I wasn’t able to top that. And I’m grateful to not have to follow the student speakers because you guys did a great job. It is an incredibly talented class that you all represent. And it’s truly an honor to be here with you all today.
It’s graduation season throughout the city of Providence, and even though Providence may not be your home, where you live, it has been where you have lived for the last many years. And so I’m proud to consider you one of Providence’s graduates. And in fact, some of Providence’s best and brightest. So congratulations to the Class of 2024.
Now I’m sure that the path to this stage was not always easy, filled with both personal and academic challenges, but you overcame them. And now you’re stepping into this exciting new phase of life. However, along the way to get past those challenges, you had incredible support from classmates and mentors, institutional resources committed to your growth and success. The voices of close friends, family members, coaches, favorite teachers, they’ve all uplifted you to help you get to this stage today. So, I’d like to ask the graduating class to please thank everyone else in this crowd here today for helping you get here. Graduates, if you could thank all of those people who are rooting for your success beyond on to the next step.
I’m sure you know this, but your years at Wheeler have been in a little bit of a bubble. And now there’s nothing wrong with that. And in fact, it’s quite wonderful, actually, that you’ve been able to learn and grow in such a nurturing environment. But you’ve been surrounded by like-minded people that you’ve grown up with, who share, in most cases, many similar hobbies or interests and points of view. And as you head into your next chapter of life, you’re going to meet new peers and communities. Mentors with very different life experiences, people with worldviews very different than your own. Some even with perspectives of the world that are drastically different than yours. And that’s great. And it gets to my first piece of advice, my first challenge to all of you: listen to them. Listen to some of these new people that you meet with whom you disagree. You don’t have to ultimately agree with them. But you will learn and grow by having your point of view challenged by them. exposing yourself to new points of view and opinions is a fundamental part of life after high school.
You’re graduating into a very different world than all of us graduated into. Social media and algorithms where you’re going to be placed into an echo chamber, a world in which you’re only going to see things that people and computers think that you want to hear. Blocking out voices that you might disagree with, whether it’s social media circles, friends, groups, or colleges that you’re headed to, in order to find opposing perspectives, is going to take some work. And it’s going to make it harder for you as young adults to empathize and understand nuance.
But there is a solution to this in the Class of 2024. I have confidence that you can be part of the solution to this. You are smart, curious, critical thinkers, the things that Wheeler has taught you. Tou will then be the solution to this great challenge that’s facing our society right now. And so when you get to college, seek out the people that challenge your opinion, debate with them. Go listen to some guest speaker that you find outrageous. And then afterwards, leave and talk about how terrible they were. But go and listen to them. Find a new club that’s outside of your comfort zone, and then watch yourself grow. Because that’s what this next chapter in life is about. To find out who you are, to develop more complex and nuanced opinions, to realize that there in fact might be some contradictions within your own beliefs, and then learn to wrestle with that complexity. Stepping outside of your bubble and discovering someone or something entirely new will expose you to opportunities that never would have been available to you. And one of those opportunities or passions might end up helping you realize an entirely new dream.
Now, dreaming about your future is exciting. But it can also be daunting. Your next year, five years, 20 years are going to be shaped by a million decisions that you can’t possibly anticipate. And they’re going to lead you down new paths. When I sat at my own high school graduation, I remember the speaker told us to follow our dreams. It’s pretty common graduation advice. Works well on a poster, maybe a bumper sticker on that Mini Cooper – add “follow your dreams.” And that gets to my second and, don’t worry, final piece of advice. Focus on chasing opportunity, not on chasing dreams. Because the thing is that many people don’t know what their lifelong dreams are, nor should they. And the dream you have today may not be the dream you have tomorrow. Sure, it’s important to think about the future. But remember, you cannot possibly dream what you do not know. And in the years ahead, what you know and who you aspire to become will constantly shift as a result of new information. The world is constantly changing, you are constantly evolving with it. Shouldn’t your dreams evolve as well?
A couple of days ago, I was at a pre-k graduation in Providence. There were nine graduates. They were very proud, it’s an academically-rigorous program, I assure you. And the teacher went around with a microphone and asked those incredible four- and five-year-olds what they wanted to be when they grew up. There were a couple of firefighters, there was a racecar driver. There was one young girl who said, “superstar!” That’s all she wanted to be was a superstar. Now, if you can think back to your time in elementary school or the earliest that you can remember, and think about what you dreamt to be at that moment, I would imagine that dream has evolved since then, as well, it should, because you have done what Wheeler has taught you to do: to be curious, to explore, to take a new study, to try a new club, to take on a new cause. And that has taken you down new paths.
In my case, and this is really important advice Wheeler grads, because I suspect I was a little bit like many of you in school. I was a great student, worked really hard, involved in everything, won an award at my graduation, called me up, said something. And then things didn’t quite go according to plan. And for students like me, and for some students like you, that can really throw you off. I found myself adrift in college for the first time in my young life. And I ended up deciding to study what my dad studied. Because I didn’t have a better plan. And then I went on to graduate school because that’s what was next. And once again, I studied what my parents studied in absence of a better plan. I had various internships, and I didn’t like any of them. Now that turned out to be useful. And I would remind you that sometimes learning what you don’t want to do is also a valuable piece of information. It wasn’t until a friend of mine in the neighborhood ran for city council, and he asked me to come volunteer for him, that I found my love. I started volunteering, I realized I loved politics, I loved the prospects of helping people. I loved it all. Now 20 years later, I’m standing here on stage as the mayor of our great city. So I say to you, again: chase opportunity. The rest will fall into place. Don’t worry about it. Trust me, just chase opportunity.
As you embark on this journey after graduation, there are going to be moments when you feel overwhelmed. But during these times, remember your support network. Many of them are here, and you will build new networks in your next phase. Ask for help, rely on them, just like you’ve been taught to do because opportunities will in fact be present everywhere. But they will not always be perfectly packaged. Sometimes they will come as challenges or setbacks. But that’s okay. Don’t be afraid to take those risks. Because here’s the thing, Class of 2024: you are graduating with a superpower that most other classes have not graduated with. You are graduating with the gift of resilience. As has been mentioned a few times, you came into school in the midst of a global pandemic, most of you did not have an 8th-grade graduation. And your first year in school was different than any first year of school that any of us on stage had. And yet you came through it, and here you are as the exceptional class that you are. So if you think any of this is daunting, know that you’ve got that gift of resilience, you’ve earned it the hard way. And that will be your greatest asset as you go forward.
So as you continue on your journey, I challenge you to continue to learn by trying something new, by listening to different perspectives, and most importantly by seizing opportunity. You will never know where it’s going to lead you.
Your families here are proud of you, your teachers are proud of you, and the city of Providence is proud of you. Congratulations, Class of 2024.
