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Graduation Speech of Marley Forest '18 To the members of the Board of Trustees, President Johnson, distinguished speaker Tracy K. Smith, faculty, staff, family and friends, welcome. And, to my fellow graduates of the Class of 2018, congratulations! I have to say, out of all the difficult tasks that Wellesley has thrown at me over the last four years, writing this speech has had to be by far one of the hardest, with the exception of ECON 101. Because while writing the speech didn’t require me to draw any graphs or do any simple math calculations, it did ask me to reflect on four of the most demanding, richest, and joyful years of my life. And it asked me to do so in away that would resonate with each of you, a task in and of itself impossible, since the power of Wellesley is that there is no one way to experience it. We have all found different communities here, difference spaces that make us feel held and connected. We have found different disciplines that inspire us, professors who have given us glimpses of our capabilities, and challenged us to push our thinking beyond the boarders of what we thought possible. But amongst these individual paths, we are also bound together by what we have in common: we have shared this campus, from the mega-blizzard of our first year, to the several false springs of this senior semester. And while New England weather may have bonded us together in its indecisiveness, it also did so in its beauty. How many of us have been awed by the magic of a lamppost catching the light of snowflakes at night? Or awed in the spring when every tree at Wellesley erupts in flowers, filling grassy spaces with blankets full of our friends? How many of us have memories of walking around Lake Waban, with a friend, or with a crush, or maybe just by ourselves? I bring up these moments not to be overly sentimental, but because I think there is power in us sharing this collective home for four years. We may all have had different Wellesley experiences, but they all happened here, together. And while I would love to talk about the beauty of Wellesley all day, the speech would be dishonest and unfair to our time here to pretend that all memories of Wellesley have been so starry-eyed. It’s true that for many of us, Wellesley has been a place of incomprehensible love. But it is also true that many of us have faced difficult times here, some of us perhaps even the worst of our lives. There have been nights in which we didn’t think we could stay here, nights when we questioned if we had been admitted by mistake, or if we would be better suited somewhere else. There have been days in which we felt anger and frustration towards this institution, which through our advocacy we have continued to demand live up to its promised values. These past four years, we have lost friendships, tragedies have struck our lives, and the world outside has turned darker time and time again, bringing into question our safety and our futures.I bring up these harder moments not to dampen this day of celebration, but rather to acknowledge the resilience that has grown from them, for it is also part of what has brought us to be the class sitting here today. Wellesley is not perfect, and to pretend that it is would be a disservice to the complexity of this place and the depth of these past four years of our lives. As you celebrate today, embrace this complexity as part of your Wellesley experience, both the successes and the obstacles. So, Wellesley sibs, how do we make sense of these four years? Now that we are sitting here together, what has been important about this place, and what we carry with us after we are kicked off campus at 8PM tonight? There are many things I could list that distinguish Wellesley. But when I think about my time here, there is one attribute that stands apart from the rest, a factor which in its essence I believe embodies all that is most unique, encompassing, and prevailing about Wellesley. And that is community. I acknowledge that I am only what I have become these past four years because of you all. What you all have taught me, called me out for, the ways I’ve been hurt, but more powerfully, the ways I have been loved. The people on this campus have fundamentally shaped me the person standing on this stage today. I challenge you now sibs – sitting here on June 1st 2018, look around you. Who in this community do you carry within your sense of self, and how have they shaped you to be the person graduating today? That is Wellesley. We are Wellesley. This community in its essence is what is powerful, and important, and critical about this experience and this place. You do not need me to tell you that the world we are entering into is not an easy one. It’s true and has always been true, that the challenges and barriers we will face will not be equal to one another, and the fight we will have to fight will not always be fair. But as I look at you all, my family of the last four years, I see looking back at me a vision of possibility, of strength, and of change. And therefore, Purple Class of 2018, this is my charge to you. You, as an individual with tremendous insight and potential, a mixture of knowledge and awareness that is unique to only you, recognize your ambitions and your dreams and be proud of them. And then, in recognizing your influence as one person, multiply that by 35,000. That is the number of living Wellesley alums worldwide whose ranks we are about to join. If we choose we have a global army of brilliant, driven and powerful peers who hold within them the same community that we do. That is not insignificant. That is extraordinary. So I leave you with this thought: as individuals we can each make a difference within this world, but as a community, we can and we will change it. It has been the biggest honor of my life to share this community with you all in this past four years. Here’s to a lifetime of changing the world together. Thank you. 大一的18届 vs 大四的18届 原文翻译 尊敬的理事会成员，Johnson校长，致辞嘉宾Tracy K. Smith，教职工，家人和朋友们，欢迎您们。亲爱的2018届毕业生们，祝贺你们！ 我不得不说，在过去四年里威尔斯利为我布置的艰巨任务中，撰写这篇演讲必须是迄今为止数一数二困难的 – 如果不算上ECON 101的话。因为虽然写演讲不需要我画任何图表或者进行任何简单的数学运算，但是它要求我回顾我生命中最严苛，最丰富，最快乐的四年。它还要求我在回顾时与你们每个人产生共鸣。这个任务本身是不可能的，因为威尔斯利的力量在于感受她的方式不止一种。 我们都在这里找到了不同的集体，在不同的空间里得到归属感。我们找到了各自喜欢的领域，以及开拓我们的能力，挑战我们思维极限的教授们。虽然我们每个人走上了不同的道路，我们仍被同一件事紧紧联系起来：从大一的超级暴风雪，到大四最后一学期姗姗来迟的春天，我们共同生活在这座校园里。 将我们联系起来的不仅仅是新英格兰飘忽不定的天气，还有她美丽的景色。在我们之中，有多少人曾经为夜晚雪花投射在路灯上的梦幻剪影所倾倒？有多少人惊叹于春天降临时每棵树上怒放的花朵，和放眼望去坐满了朋友的草坪？又有多少人在记忆中曾和朋友，男神/女神，亦或是独自一人，在慰冰湖畔散过步？我提到这些瞬间不是为了故作感伤，而是我认为我们这四年里共同的家有一种力量：兴许我们每个人在威尔斯利有不同的体验，但是它们都发生在这里，由我们一起经历着。 虽然我很乐意花整天时间谈论威尔斯利的美丽，但是如果像这样假装所有在威尔斯利的回忆都是理想的，那么这个演讲对我们在这里的时光来说是不诚实也是不公平的。确实，对于我们很多人来说，威尔斯利是一个充满了无法言喻的爱的地方。但是大部分人的的确确在这里经历了困难的时光，对于有些人来说也许甚至是此生中最艰难的时光。在某些夜里，我们以为自己要待不下去了，我们质疑自己是否本不该被录取，或者我们是不是在其他地方会适应得更好一点。有些时候，我们对这所学院感到愤怒和沮丧，于是通过我们的呼吁我们不懈地要求她实现她承诺过的价值。 在过去的四年里，我们失去过友谊，悲剧在我们的生活中降临，外面的时间一次次地变得越来越黑暗，我们担心着我们的安全和未来。我提到这些艰难的时光不是为了给今天的庆典蒙上灰暗的色彩，而是感激在困难中生长出的韧性，是这种韧性使我们成长为坐在这里的毕业班。威尔斯利不是完美的，而假装她很完美则是对这所学院的复杂性以及我们生命中这四年的深刻意义的亵渎。所以，在你们今天庆祝的时候，请拥抱这样的复杂性。请将你们的成功和失败都囊括为你在威尔斯利所经历的一部分。 那么，威尔斯利的（兄弟）姐妹们，我们该如何解读这四年呢？对于坐在这里的我们，这个地方有哪些重要意义？在我们今晚八点被赶出校园之前，哪些东西是我们要带走的？我能列举出很多威尔斯利特殊的地方。但是当我回忆我在这里的时光，有一个因素脱颖而出，它涵盖了威尔斯利最最特别的，包罗万象的，亘古不变的特点– 那就是集体。我承认，四年来我能成为我如今的模样完全是因为你们所有人。你们教给我的所有东西，你们指出的我的错误，我如何受伤，以及更有力量的，我如何被爱。这座校园里的人们从根本上将我塑造成了今天站在台上的这个人。（兄弟）姐妹们，我给你们一个挑战– 今天是2018年6月1日，你坐在这里，请你看向你的周围。这个集体里的哪些人成为了你自我的一部分，他们如何将你塑造成今天要毕业的这个人？这就是威尔斯利。我们就是威尔斯利。究其本质这个集体才是威尔斯利和我们在这里的经历中最强大，最重要，最核心的部分。 你们不需要我告诉你们我们将要进入的世界并不简单。从古至今的事实便是，我们将要克服的挑战和阻碍不会对每个人都是平等的，而我们不得不面对的斗争也不总会是公平的。但是当我望向你们每个人时，我四年来的家人们，我看到向我望过来的是充满可能性，充满力量，充满变化的未来。 所以，2018届紫色班的毕业生们，这是我对你们的要求。你，作为一个拥有广阔的视野，巨大的潜力，独特的知识和意识的独立人，认清你的志向和梦想并且为其自豪。然后，认识到你独自一人所拥有的影响力，再乘以三万五千。这是如今在世的遍布全球的校友的数量，而我们也即将加入她们的行列。如果我们愿意，我们有一个环球军队。这个军队由出色的，有动力有能力的同行者们组成，而她们身上有着来自和我们相同的集体的印记。这力量并非微不足道– 这力量举足轻重。 所以我留给你们这句话：作为独立的人我们每个人可以各自在这个世界里做出改变，但是作为一个集体，我们可以，我们也一定会，改变这个世界。过去的四年来能够和你们共享这个集体是我此生莫大的荣幸。从今往后便是一起改变世界的人生。谢谢你们。 （翻译：Huihan Li '20）
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