Spring Break
Sam Vaghar selected to be the senior speaker at comencement
Sports | 4/29/08
Posted online at 3:04 AM EST on 4/29/08
Sam Vaghar '08 will be this year's senior speaker at the May 18 commencement ceremony.
Vaghar was selected by a committee compiled of faculty, staff and students, the nonvoting chairman of the committee, Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer, said.
The committee picks 10 speeches from the submissions, then students' names are put back onto the essays and they are put online for the senior class to vote on them. The five finalists present their speeches to the committee.
"It's not every day that you get to have a conversation with 5,000 people," Vaghar said.
With his speech Vaghar wants to tell his fellow graduating seniors to stay connected to the school after graduation. "This is only the beginning of our Brandeis experience," he said.
He also emphasized the importance of activism. "Brandeis taught me that our voices matter," Vaghar said.
"I'm an activist," Vaghar said. "I wasn't before I came here. That is one way how Brandeis changed me."
Sawyer said that the committee chooses the final speaker based on multiple factors, including the way the speech is delivered. "The ability to carry a room of 5,000 people is also important," Sawyer said.
Seniors send in their speeches to the dean of student life in February. The speeches are then made anonymous before the committee reads them. Usually between 25 and 30 seniors send in speeches, Sawyer said, but this year there were only around 20, he said.
"The committee felt that he did a nice job presenting," Sawyer said, saying that Vaghar was "confident, focused on the ideas he presented."
"They were all good," Sawyer said. "It was a tough decision."
- Claire Moses
Vaghar was selected by a committee compiled of faculty, staff and students, the nonvoting chairman of the committee, Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer, said.
The committee picks 10 speeches from the submissions, then students' names are put back onto the essays and they are put online for the senior class to vote on them. The five finalists present their speeches to the committee.
"It's not every day that you get to have a conversation with 5,000 people," Vaghar said.
With his speech Vaghar wants to tell his fellow graduating seniors to stay connected to the school after graduation. "This is only the beginning of our Brandeis experience," he said.
He also emphasized the importance of activism. "Brandeis taught me that our voices matter," Vaghar said.
"I'm an activist," Vaghar said. "I wasn't before I came here. That is one way how Brandeis changed me."
Sawyer said that the committee chooses the final speaker based on multiple factors, including the way the speech is delivered. "The ability to carry a room of 5,000 people is also important," Sawyer said.
Seniors send in their speeches to the dean of student life in February. The speeches are then made anonymous before the committee reads them. Usually between 25 and 30 seniors send in speeches, Sawyer said, but this year there were only around 20, he said.
"The committee felt that he did a nice job presenting," Sawyer said, saying that Vaghar was "confident, focused on the ideas he presented."
"They were all good," Sawyer said. "It was a tough decision."
- Claire Moses
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