The Commencement Address

38 HACKLEY REVIEW COMMENCEMENT SUPPLEMENT 2022 click here for video of the Address 

Dave Karger ’91

Good morning Hackley faculty and staff, trustees, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, and most of all, members of the Class of 2022 . It is wonderful to be back here on the Hilltop for the first time in years, and I’m honored that you invited me to be a part of your ceremony today . I am told that you chose me based on an anonymous description that read in part: “He is a television host who appears regularly on E! and the Today show and has co-hosted ABC’s Live from the Red Carpet on Oscar night .” So I apologize to any and all of you who thought that you were getting Ryan Seacrest as your commencement speaker .

But even if it is not from Ryan, you all certainly deserve a hearty congratulations. No class was hit harder by COVID-19 than the Class of 2022. I feel horrible that, for over a year, you couldn’t have any athletic matches, musical concerts, or dramatic performances. And it’s so frustrating that the pandemic denied you so much precious in-person time with your classmates. But I think it’s so great that, when the outdoor mask mandate was lifted right in time for your Junior Day of Fun, almost all of you braved the summer-like temperatures to play kickball, toss water balloons, and make tie-dye t-shirts. I mean, you even organized a ping pong tournament in the chapel? You are my kind of people. Although you are all about to embark on an exciting adventure and spread out across the country and maybe even the world, the people that you are sitting with right now will always be a huge part of your lives. And although I am sure you’ve heard this before, it is true and it is the best news: Your Hackley education, especially the emphasis on writing, is going to give you a major head start during your first fall semester and beyond. So how can you all continue to spread joy and live authentically as you head off to college and begin thinking about your life after school? Well, I am here with a few lessons learned in the 31 years since I was in your shoes. When I think back to everything that has gone right in my life, I can always attribute it to a combination of three words that start with O: optimism, opportunity, and openness. You will surely hear those three words several times during the rest of this speech.

Throughout my childhood, I always had an obsession with music and movies. As a first-year student at Duke University, I remember walking into the career center on campus, asking for the entertainment industry specialist, and telling him I was interested in finding an internship in New York City for that summer. He said, “Wow, we’ve never had a freshman come in here before.” But I refused to let that deter me, and I was optimistic and continued to check in with him until he alerted me to a PR firm in Manhattan that was willing to consider a younger student. That internship led to another one the following summer

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at MTV, which helped me land my third internship, at Entertainment Weekly, which turned into a full-time job after I graduated. So if there is something you want to pursue, go for it. Go for it from the day you arrive on campus. It will never be easier for you to gain valuable job-related experience than while you are in college. Write for the paper, sing in an a cappella group, play intramural sports, produce news stories for the campus TV station, and take that class that everyone else thinks is too weird. Use these next four years to find out what you truly love. Part of that will mean finding out there are things you think you’ll love doing or learning about, but then you realize once you start diving into them that you actually don’t, and that is totally okay too.

You might even realize you can do something you never knew or dreamed that you could. That is certainly what happened to me. Even though I pursued a career as an entertainment journalist and managed to land a dream entry-level job right after I graduated, I never thought I would become a broadcaster. I thought that if you were a writer at a magazine, then you just wrote for the magazine and that was pretty much it. But I soon learned that journalists of all sorts are often sought after on the radio and on television as experts in their given fields. A colleague at Entertainment Weekly encouraged me to try some live radio and TV appearances after hearing me speak at a staff meeting, and I decided to be open to the idea and run towards the opportunity and give it a go. A few years later, I became a regular commentator on the TODAY show, which helped me eventually transition from print journalism to the broadcast world. So be open to any new experiences or opportunities and listen to people who see in you something that you didn’t necessarily see in yourself. And then be sure to be not only your own harshest critic, but also your own biggest fan. Although it helps when someone believes in you, it is more crucial that you believe in yourself.

My four years in college were some of the most thrilling years of my life, and I’m so excited for all of you to explore different interests and be open to discovering your true selves. But it is easy to feel like you sometimes have to suppress certain aspects of yourself in order to fit in. When I was here at Hackley many years ago to speak to the Class of 2001, I remember expressing embarrassment that when Duke organized a Wear Blue Jeans Day on campus to support gay and lesbian students, I, as a closeted teenager, wore khakis that day in fear that anyone would think I was gay. All these years later, that still remains one of my biggest regrets. I’m hopeful, however, that things are way different in 2022 than they were in 1991. So I encourage you to enter your college or university with your whole self at the forefront. If you’re a self-professed science nerd, run with that. If you are LGBTQ+ like me, live openly and honestly. If you’re an amazing track runner and a poetry lover, be both. Be all the things. Don’t let anyone define you as one thing. And most important, as one character in my current favorite Netflix show Heartstopper says: “Don’t let anyone make you disappear.” The next four years should be your time of living out loud, whatever that means to you.

Now while I’m up here, I do have a few extra random life tips that I would like to offer. When you’re talking to someone that you’ve just met, make sure you’re asking one question about them for every question they ask about you. Always keep a box of note cards and a book of stamps in your dorm room or your apartment so you can make someone’s day with a handwritten thank-you note instead of a text. And for God’s sake, never ever watch a movie on a TV channel that shows commercials. That’s just a waste of time.

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But here is what I want to end on: When I think back to my years as a college student, what I loved the most was just the sheer number of people I was able to meet. One thing my Duke friends often remind me of all these years later is that no one ever wanted to walk across campus with me from our dorm to the food hall for dinner because I would inevitably stop and talk to a half-dozen people on the way. I’m sure that was very annoying for my friends, but it’s something I was proud of back then and still am today. I liked being the optimistic and open person who knew everyone and was able to connect different groups of people. Of course, it was easy to be social in the early ’90s because we didn’t have iPhones. And although my phone is essentially a part of my body these days, I do have to say that I’m glad I was a college student in the pre-digital world. So if you remember one piece of advice that I offer today, please make it this one— Promise me that whenever you’re walking around your beautiful college campus, keep your phone in your pocket or in your backpack. Enjoy that moment fully as it is happening every day and stop to talk to as many people as you know. And if anyone asks you why you would ever dare to walk somewhere without carrying your phone in your hand, just say that Ryan Seacrest told you to.

Congratulations to the Hackley Class of 2022. It’s only going to get better from here, and I can’t wait to see what you all achieve over the next four years and beyond.

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Congratulations to the Class of 2022!

Tiya Aishwarya Arvati Francesca Auricchio Tanner James Benedetto Jason Raphael Berger Devin Crepeau Bernstein Luke Powers Best Henry Jacob Beyrich Alexander Leo Bileca Amelia Bornmann Jonathan Robert Brewster Jinlin Cai Max Nathan Calman Jason Malachi Campbell Lucas J. Caramanica Hannah Owen Carey Dionne L. Chen Corinne Therese Cheong Luke Alexander Chiasson Megan Soongshi Chin Stefan Matija Darmanovic Sydney Noelle DeFilippo Thomas Charles DeGirolami Natalie Pamela Delgado Nikhil Raghavan Dhakad Parker Quinn Diaz Catherine Clare Didden Brendan Gabriel DiStefano John Philip Esposito III Serina Rae Fasciano Nicholas Michael Garland Annabelle Jordan Gray Meredith Vester Greenberg John Maximilian Hardart Harrison Avery Hayward Colin Alexander Ives Emma Alexis Joseph Olivia Rose Kearns David Koffler Catherine Morrison Lapey Charles Sukjoo Lee Maxwel Wilcoln Lee Michael James Lee Kamila Sophia Qashu Lim Brooke Lynne Lopez-Ryan Iheukwumere Woyinmiedor Marcus Maren Christine McCrossan Benjamin Charleston Metcalfe John Edgar Meyer Maya Grace Miller Sophie D. Miller Charlotte Kate Molinoff Ashley Brooke Morgner Joseph Bronislaw Nadol IV Phoebe Marin Naughton Wesley Charles Neidhardt Daniel Eiji Nuzum Dylan Hugh Ormsby Grace Mei Li Park Divek Patel Elliott Aaron Peterson Katerina Anna Popova Michael Richard Potanin Kaitlyn Qu Samantha Eve Rainero Gregory Robert Reich Molly Dylan Reinmann Vanessa Restrepo Claire Emily Robertson Jared Zachary Rosenberg Emily Elizabeth Rossman Skyler Kate Safriet Jessye Nicole Salmon Calista Madison Santomero Theodore Alexander Saujet Griffin Michael Senyek Ameera H. Shaban Siddhant Sohal Shah Mayyada Omar Shair Dechhen Karmo Sherpa Eve Catherine Spencer Destiny Paige Stephen Callum Stewart-Wood Hadi Sumaida Ryan Barry Thomson Noah Ben-Or Tirschwell John Ethan Torkin Alina Hesse Watson Chelsea Nicole Weisenfeld Christian Michael Wiele Nicholas Erik Wind Marie E. Wurtz Mac A. Wyman Theo Augustus Yannuzzi Lucas Yerkes Zachariah Yusaf Mira Rai Zaslow Daniel Frank Zhang