Ivy Female Orator Jenna Martin | Harvard Commencement 2014

good afternoon seniors friends family and loved ones joining us here today they do terrain in Basel for their touching and beautiful remarks my name is Anthony Paula and I am one of the 2014 senior class marshals I am honored and excited to be introducing Quincy House native and a good friend Jenna Martin as a 2014 female IV or Raider Jenna is originally from Los Angeles California at Harvard Jenna was an English concentrator the head writer of on Harvard time and on campus comedic news show and a member of the Lampoon lit staff Jenna was also involved with sketch comedy on campus and during her shop summers she interned at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The New Yorker where she was published twice on the magazine's website after graduation she will be returning to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a television writer without further ado please join me in welcoming the amazing extremely talented and wonderful Jenna Martin our 2014 female Ivy already [Music] Thank You Anthony hmm I'd like to thank you all for coming family and friends especially because let's face it no one likes going to graduations with apologies to any recent middle school graduates kindergarten graduation is the last cute one and coming to this one is like going to a wedding for 1655 couples when you really only care about one if that to the esteemed professors and TS you've been to so many graduations that I sincerely hope you're playing a drinking game to get through this one I'll even say some key words to get you chugging Harvard graduation future compassion to the class of 2014 I imagine we're all feeling some mix of anxiety and relief and if you're anything like me a little bit of anxiety isn't enough to overwhelm whatever else you're feeling that anxiety can make you prematurely nostalgic for the days when your biggest problem was a 5 to 7 page paper also known as a four-page paper with wide margins and a really long title or when your biggest problem with that you have too many advisors by now each of us has had a freshman advisor a peer advising fellow a proctor a resident dean of freshmen those last two are different by the way a sophomore advisor in Austin burr resident Dean a sophomore advising coordinator a concentration advisor and for the masochistic a thesis advisor I sincerely thank all of my advisors but I just want to put it out there that Luke Skywalker defeated the Empire with only one advisor and he spoke in incoherent aphorisms had crazily inconvenient office hours and never once offered Luke a mini mr. Goodbar despite the luxury of too many advisers there are some questions on our minds right now that no one can answer for certain like will the club's I join to be enough to convince my future children that I used to be cool well my concentration have any application in the real world it's common at this point to bring up folklore and mythology but I don't think Celtic studies get the attention it deserves most people either don't know what that is or think you're pronouncing it wrong and perhaps the scariest question of all did I peak in college I think that there are two and only two answers to this question absolutely not and you know probably I'll entertain the you know probably answer first we're about to enter a scary world where our dumb mistakes will be met with a dubious look and a wisecrack about where we went to college at least here if someone says there's no way you go to Harvard it's usually a pick-up line if I may speak from my own fears of having peaked in college when I first came to Harvard a part of me just wanted to study English and write comedy but another part of me wanted to discover something new that would become my passion like anthropology or conceptual art but hopefully Investment Banking four years later I'm getting a degree in English and every club I joined was somehow related to comedy with the arguable exception of the Lampoon it turns out I can't be changed if I may sum up my experience in a metaphor I'm sorry a simile no seven English degree is useless unlike one of televisions many illustrious bad boys Don Draper Tony Soprano Chuck Bass Harvard's gen ed requirements and activity fairs are like another character who thinks it can change me but sorry Harvard I can't be changed and that's why this day makes me sad because not only can i no longer compared myself to Don Draper but I also don't know for certain if I'll find another place where I can be so completely myself and still have friends and feel fulfilled where else will I be surrounded by so many people just being there dorky selves and doing what they love except at a white-collar prison so maybe it's all downhill from here just like it's been downhill for commencement day speakers since Oprah came last year but I mean seriously good luck tomorrow former mayor of something what's-his-face however the one thing I do like about graduation also leads me to believe that we didn't all peak in college my fellow graduates there's probably someone in the class of 2014 who makes you think well I'm screwed but that guy is going to be amazing well graduation allows you to share something with that person and I'll bet there's someone else who feels the same way about you why the person who looks up to you could even be speaking right now if your name is zamyla chan if you're still worried that you might have peaked in college then think of your favorite harvard grad could be JFK could be Natalie Portman mine hands-down is John Adams I mean his life probably didn't turn out the way he expected when he graduated but he still became our second president you might even say he was the Yale of presidents he married an incredible lady and inspired an entire miniseries when I was accepted into Harvard I couldn't wait to go to the same school as our grouchiest founding father you might even say I came for the John Adams and then stayed for the Sam Adams yeah but please don't say that my parents are in the audience my point is the person who made you excited to come here should also make you excited to leave class of 2014 I'm not saying you can do anything as you will discover tomorrow you can't look good in a cap and gown but at least there's a good chance you didn't peek in college congratulations to the class of 2014 and their families [Applause]

Channel: Harvard University

Views: 126,353

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Keywords: harvard, harvard commencement, harvard graduation, graduation, graduation speech, commencement speech, Harvard University (Organization)

Id: F0tLAscw48c

Length: 11min 39sec (699 seconds)

Published: Wed May 28 2014