Commencement

This year’s Commencement speaker has often been arrested for truancy and vandalism, yet she maintains a spotless criminal record. She has also repeated the fourth grade dozens of times despite earning her college degree. All kidding aside, we are pleased to welcome Nancy Cartwright as our very special Commencement speaker. Nancy has been in the entertainment industry for 42 years. Most notably the Emmy-award-winning voice of Bart Simpson, she has also been the Honorary Mayor of the North San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles for nearly 17 years, received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Ohio University in the field of communication, founded two non-profit organizations whose emphasis is on children, she is a producer, writer and humanitarian, and is the hippest grandmother with the personality of a 10-year-old boy.

Below is an excerpt from Nancy’s commencement address to the class of 2022.

Six Salient Steps for Success

Before I get started, I just want to say, (as Bart): “I think it is awesome that you are having a 10-year-old boy giving the Commencement speech to the graduating class of 2022! Go Dragons!”

All kidding aside, I am truly honored to be here; oh, and by the way, Bart would NEVER be accepted at the Delphian School…and if he were, we wouldn’t have a show anymore because you would get his ethics in. It just wouldn’t work.

When Steve Anderson, Delphian’s board chair, asked me to speak, I had never visited this school. But my kids went to Delphi Academy in Los Angeles so I’m kind of familiar with the curriculum here. They are both happily married and they are both very much on purpose with their lives. In fact, my son and his wife have two lovely children. Yes, Bart is a grandma! I tell you this because I already know that the mission statement of the Delphian Schools is: “To empower young adults to bring positive change in the world through reason, creativity, and integrity.” So, I got to thinking, “What sage advice can I give you, that you don’t already know?”

I came up with “Six Salient Steps for Success”—that’s four less than 10 so you can become successful faster. In retrospect, these are what worked for me in pursuing my own goals and dreams.

I was about your age when all this started coming together. Unlike Bart Simpson, most of my life I have not been much of a “bad boy.” I was number four in a family of six kids. I grew up in Kettering, Ohio, just south of Dayton—home of the Wright Brothers. In high school, I was on the gymnastics team and my nickname was “Cartwheel”. I also played the trumpet, and I was in our all-brass marching band. In my senior year, we used to chant, “Eat my shorts!” No kidding.

But it was the speech team that inspired my creativity. On the speech team, I found my niche in telling children’s stories, like James Thurber’s Many Moons and The 13 Clocks. I got a critique once that said, “You have an interesting, unusual voice. You should do cartoons for a living.” Bam! And then I was off and running! This was my training—it was performing at competitions and developing characters that would serve me well into the future. I just got out there and did what I loved. And with that, I give you:

Lesson #1: DO WHAT YOU LOVE!

If you are doing it for money, good luck... and luck is a slippery fish. When I first started, I just did what I loved. Speech competitions. Gymnastics. Trumpet. I was mediocre in the last two, but I scored on the speech team, so I pursued more of that. If you can get paid to do what you love, that’s gravy. If you aren’t making a living by doing what you love, at least do what you like and still do what you love. In other words, don’t just quit because you can’t make a living doing it because the creativity will take you places you never dreamed of.

I’ve been in this business for 42 years, and before The Simpsons, I had years of classes, studying tapes, working on and developing new characters, and enduring hundreds and hundreds of auditions… and rejections. Being successful is a bit subjective but when it comes right down to it, it is your belief in yourself and your willingness to invest the time it takes, effort, and practice to become a professional that will move you and your dreams into reality. This brings up:

Lesson #2: BE A PROFESSIONAL

With every new endeavor, I approach it with the intention that I want to be a professional at that subject.

Really observe what is needed and wanted so that you can fill the boots of perhaps someone who is slacking off or not as motivated as yourself. I have found that it is your intention that will carry you forward, much further than your ability or talent. People just like to be around those who “help with passion.”

That is what I did. Right after I graduated from high school, I got this amazing part-time job at WING, the local radio station. I was hired to fill in for staff who went on vacation. I really didn’t want to work in accounting… It was really horrible, but I just did what was needed and wanted without complaining. And by the middle of the summer, I had created a character that became this kind of promotional gimmick. It became a little gimmick for the station. Little did I know that that little character was an ancestor to Bart Simpson! Continued online using the following link:

www.delphian.org/commencement2022