Commencement as Perfection

Student Address to Degree Recipients

by Monica Brooker, ALB ’05

During her undergraduate studies at the Extension School, Monica Brooker, winner of the 2005 Dean’s Commencement Speaker Award, served as president of the Harvard Extension Student Association, worked as a teaching assistant and faculty aide, volunteered in the Bridge Program for literacy, and co-authored a chapter of an ethics handbook. This fall, she’s enrolled in the master’s program in clinical psychology at Columbia University Teachers College.

Monica Brooker, ALB '05

This is my third Harvard Extension School Commencement. Two years ago I arrived at this auditorium all dressed up; however, I was short about ten credits and a cap and gown. I was a Commencement volunteer. I was posted outside the auditorium, taking tickets. When the doors opened I would try to catch a glimpse of the graduates. Their enthusiasm was infectious, and I remember saying to myself, “I’ll be here next year.”

Last year I showed up here again, all dressed, with all my credits but still short one cap and gown. Again, I was a Commencement volunteer. This time I was posted inside the auditorium, ushering people to their seats and handing out programs. As before, the enthusiasm and excitement of the graduates was infectious. However, this time it was bittersweet, as I had decided only a few weeks earlier to defer my graduation, and it was not easy watching my cohorts walk across the stage to receive their diploma and the much anticipated handshake from Dean Shinagel.

I was one of the last people out of the auditorium that day. I just stared at the empty stage, watching the florist remove the flower arrangements and thinking to myself that I needed to do more. I had focused all my energy and attention on the requirements. What I had left unexplored were my own virtues and passions. So I resigned myself to what would be the most amazing journey of academic discovery and self-exploration.

This year, I have learned to teach as well as to be teachable. Serving as a teaching assistant to Dr. Myra White gave me a glimpse of the classroom from a different perspective. Watching students like myself thoughtfully unfold and confidently engage in academic discussion was immensely rewarding. Learning firsthand from Dr. White the effective and meaningful approaches to research and writing provided me with critical tools that I would need when I embarked upon my own research. I learned to construct an argument, not just for the sake of argument but also for the sake of arriving at a meaningful conclusion. This April, alongside other Extension School students, I proudly presented the findings of my independent research project, supervised by Dr. Matthew Nock, at the first Harvard Extension School Research and Career Forum. As president of the Harvard Extension Student Association I learned to lead and, to the relief of some, to follow. But most importantly, amidst endless hours of research and work, I have discovered my own virtues and a passion that informs my perspectives and guides my motives.

In 1878, in a letter to his wife, William James declared, “I have often thought that the best way to define a man’s character would be to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which, when it came upon him, he felt himself most deeply and intensively alive. At such moments there is a voice inside which speaks and says: “this is the real me!’”

Today I can stand before you and state that I am passionate about the notion of resilience and an individual’s capacity to change the course of his or her life. This idea drives me and guides my path, personally and professionally.

I can also tell you that the discovery of that thing, that theory, that notion, is just the beginning. Intellectual passion, like any fire, must be fueled, and there is no greater fueling station along the highway of knowledge than Harvard. As such, the Harvard Extension School is a unique academic opportunity that serves both traditional and nontraditional students by providing an environment where full-time parents, full-time workers, and full-time students can engage in the same rigorous process of learning and discovery.

Undeniably, our interactions with the faculty, the subtle guidance of our advisors, and the steadfast support of administrators have enriched the intellectual environment that has confirmed our virtues. During the past three years, I have had the wonderful opportunity to get to know so many of my classmates, and, truly, it is the cherished exchanges, the sense of support and belonging, and the expression of dreams and goals that have brought me as well as you to this point.

Why do I tell you this? Because I believe that indifference can achieve nothing great and that passionate endeavors serve the individual as well as the greater society. A passionate endeavor endures criticism and challenge, and rises even out of fatigue because it drives us and inspires us to do more. Indeed, the self-actualization of academic virtues in the form of intellectual passion is one of the greatest gifts that we can receive.

To the Baconians among us, let me disclaim that I am not charging the Class of 2005 to engage in reckless academic abandonment. To the contrary, I suggest fervor with measure and passion with correctness, for this surely is the ideal.¹

This year, I deferred volunteering. I have my cap, my gown, my degree, and a path of exploration that suits me. On this, my third Commencement, I march with you, my classmates, as one “intensely alive,” as one for whom Commencement is perfection.

To the Class of 2005 I say, “lux veritatis.” . . . Let the light of truth illuminate your path, and let your passions guide your steps.

William James, Collected Essays and Reviews, 1920