context

In 2017 I was honored to give the Commence Address to the graduates of the University of Washington's Department of Human-Centered Design & Engineering. The graduating class of 2017 was approximately 150 undergrads, Master's, and Ph.D. graduates and their families (the total audience was approximately 500). 

goals

1. recognize the graduates for their hard work!

2. bridge the graduates' academic work to the professional world they are about to join

3. make the speech memorable (tall order); avoid boring people

my role

I wrote and performed the speech!

my speech

Here's the speech announcement.

And here's a video of the speech itself:

And finally, here's a link to the speech in its entirety. I know, I know, why would one wish to read a speech? Because this one is more like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style book than a traditional graduation speech. Take a read!