Valedictorian María Augusta Díaz Speech Transcript

2017 Undergraduate Commencement Valedictorian Address
by Maria Diaz '17
delivered on May, 6, 2017, at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles

Good morning to the esteemed President Snyder, the Administration, Trustees, Faculty and Staff, Friends, Honored Guests and, of course, good morning to my dear friends, the Class of 2017.

Our class motto says, "The world is nothing but a canvass to our imagination." That is why today I want all of us to imagine a world where we're all kids again. It seems like such a long time ago that our hardest assignment was coloring inside the lines and our biggest pain was a bruised knee. Today, in the midst of of all the commotion, suffering, and division that are taking place everywhere in the world, it also seems like it was such a long time ago when we, like kids, looked at one another as nothing more than a human being, a reflection of oneself, a friend to play with. Children are born into this world without knowing any binaries. They do not know what is good or bad, black or white, male or female, right or wrong.

The intrinsic innocence in their minds allows them to see the world as nothing more than an enormous playground where their wildest dreams can come true simply because others dream them too. It does not matter what those others look like, what color their skin is, what gender they are, or where they come from. All that matters is that they share the same dream and they are willing to play tirelessly to make it come true. Isn't that what we have been doing during these past four years then? Since 2013, we have all shared the same dream and we have all worked with each other. We have all played together to make it a reality this morning. Just like kids, right?

I am blessed and will be forever thankful that LMU became this giant beautiful playground where I could work and dream with incredible, diverse, unique, and extremely intelligent people. I want to give a special thanks to Dr. Sean D'evelyn who truly embodies LMU's mission of the promotion education of the whole person. He did not only encourage me to pursue academic excellence but to also be a more humble, caring, and genuine person. Thank you Dr. D'evelyn.

Nevertheless, I have asked you today to imagine what it's like to be kids again because, unlike them once we are done playing, once our goals have been met, once our dreams have come true, we tend to forget that we could not have done it alone. We immediately turn our focus back to what makes us different instead of treasuring what brought us together in the first place. Dreams have no race, no gender, no visa status, no religion, no political ideology, and no social class. Then why is it that as we grow up we insist on using these labels so much that we end up using to describe the dreamers to determine the validity of their dreams, to decide whether they even have the right to dream at all.

All our lives we have been told, "Stop acting like a child and grow up." Today, I can't help but wonder who said we must forget how to be kids in order to be adults? Who decided this is the way we should grow up? Certainly, we have grown and grown up at our time at LMU. But as we continue with our lives as adults, I want to encourage us to defy the rules society has established about how we should grow up. It is in our hands to find a way in which to be adults who can be responsible and wise while simultaneously being as open, embracing, and collaborative as when we were kids. Thus, grow up without forgetting about your values. Grow up without forgetting about tolerance. Grow up always knowing not to prioritize division but to love and respect one another. Grow up knowing that binaries and social constructs are never more important than dreams.

My dad, who I am blessed to have here with me this morning, Ola Papi!, has always told me, "Despierta por la manana con el espiritu que tenias cuando eras nina." Class of 2017, today I want all of us to start waking up every morning with the same spirit we had when we were kids. Today, I want all of us to go out to the world and show society that we millennials are not afraid to grow up differently, that we millennials can become great adults without having to neglect our true selves, our inner child. Like kids do, go out and teach those you encounter along the way. Those that have been blinded by divisiveness, teach them about tolerance, about respect.

Show them that division is nothing but a reflection of our fears. Show them that genetically-speaking race does not exist on humans. Show them that gender does not define who you are or what you're capable of. Teach them about innocence, teach them about teamwork, teach them about true love and, most importantly, teach them how to be better adults, how to be better human beings by embracing again the selflessness, resilience, and pure kindness that exists only inside the heart of the child that lives within all of us. Thank you.