Dani Nurick Dani Nurick Commencement Speech So, what are you going to do next year?
I think we’ve all experienced this question before. It comes from an old family friend, a
relative so distant you’re not sure they’re really related, the rabbi, your late night uber driver. For
some of you, the answer might have been simple. Oh, medical school. I have this awesome low
paying job lined up in DC. For others of us the answer has not been quite so short and sweet.
Next year? Gee, time flies when you’re not constantly actively engaged in planning for the
future. Come on, are people really asking me this again? Or just that blank, sorrow-filled look,
eyes wide with fear and apprehension, Or perhaps it’s a combination of all of the above. Well, if
there is one thing I have learned recently, it’s that we are all likely going to be doing something.
That’s a relief. Whether that’s grad school, a job, or living at home and plowing on with the job
search. We will all be doing something next year.
I’m sure you all remember your first day here at Brandeis. Even if that memory has been
long repressed, buried deep in your subconscious next to geometry and the order of the American
presidents. I remember setting up my roommate and my room with identical teal and pink
accessories, waiting in long lines of agitated drivers, and sitting amidst a room full of strangers
listening to the welcoming remarks at convocation. I remember hearing the wise words of
President Fred Lawrence that stuck with me to this day, “the best years of your life are this one
and the next three.” Back then I didn’t realize how powerful these words would be, and hence
didn’t write them down word for word. To me, this phrase says everything. Live in the moment.
As Brandeis students, we are constantly asking ourselves what we can do to make the world a
better place in the future, how we can move forward with our dreams. We have spent four long
years preparing for this vague, elusive concept of: the future. So much so that we often let the
present slide.
But, is it really all about what we are going to do next year, and in the future? Everyone
out there is asking us the wrong question. It’s not about what we’re going to do next year, or this
decade, or the rest of our lives. Sure, what we do will be of great importance. I know that in this
room are those who will be the leaders of our generation, political activists, wonderful parents,
teachers, doctors, change agents. But the question is not what we do, the question is how. Are we
going to live with a smile on our faces? Are we going to embrace every moment, and see each
day as its own celebration? Let’s live next year, and every year, as if it’s the best year of our
lives.
Over the past four years, Brandeis has taught us how to manage our time, crank out a
paper in a seemingly impossible amount of hours, and, yes, how to live in the moment, and make
each moment count. There have been bad times, worse times, and even better times. We’ve all
experienced the caffeinated haze of struggling to complete five papers and three exams and oh
also a presentation. We’ve gotten to know the library a little better than we ever would have
wished. We’ve stopped mid Rabb steps because, well, no one’s in good enough shape to climb
those four times a day. We’ve also experienced poignant lows, immense losses in our
community, grown apart from people we love, and experienced the burdens that often come with
newfound independence. It is in these times that we have gathered together, and relied on each
other for support. In these moments we demonstrated that friendship is a life-long bond, and that
we stand by each other during injustice, mourning, fear, and regret.
1 Dani Nurick Yet, we’ve also experienced the highest of highs. We’ve danced our hearts out to music
not yet well-known at Springfest, watched the event we poured our sweat and tears into come to
fruition, cheered for our favorite celebrity Ruth Bader Ginsburg as she shared with us words of
inspiration, and spent countless hours laughing over nothing and everything with the people we
have come to love. We’ve achieved goals we thought impossible, taken our dreams to new
heights, and become part of an embracing community. These are all the moments that have
shaped us as individuals, and shaped us a community.
We know that the highest of the highs can’t happen without the lows. Our time here at
Brandeis would not have been a dynamic experience of learning and growth without every
moment, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we have accepted and embraced this. We will
always remember and cherish the good, but also recognize the bad that made us who we are and
taught us to question, learn, and explore.
It’s these big moments that count, but also the small. We will look back on the changes
we made here, the activists and leaders and teachers and artists we became. We will look back on
our semester shows, our theses, our formals, our winning games. However, it’s the small
moments too that make every day and every year the best of our lives. It’s the times we made
ourselves vulnerable, and were accepted. It’s the times we took a risk and spoke up. It’s the times
we can’t count, the ones that weren’t special. It’s the times we appreciated a glorious sunset over
chapels field, danced to our favorite song at a party, when an hour flew by talking to a professor,
and bought pints of Ben and Jerry’s from the C store right before it closed. It’s the time someone
smiled to us in passing, held the door open for an absurdly long time, and made us feel heard and
listened to. It’s in these small moments that we truly live.
This year, as I watched my first year residents move in to, coincidentally, the same floor I
lived on my first year, I was transported back to memories long forgotten. The fear we felt
walking into a large lecture hall for the first time, scanning the crowd for a friendly face. Getting
lost in a seemingly never-ending campus, only to find out later that it takes less than ten minutes
to walk from one side to the other. Talking to the very first person you meet at orientation and
assuming you will be best friends for the rest of your college experience. Yet, also the
excitement we felt about everything. Our first paper given back with good comments from a
professor. The first time we felt as comfortable with our new friends as with the friends we left
behind. The first time we called Brandeis home, and it really felt like it. We may have lost some
of our innocence, and some of our curious anticipation to take in all the new things we
experience. But there are things that we did, and should, hold onto; the spirit and energy with
which we embraced every moment, and the novelty and excitement with which we lived every
day.
Let’s take this same energy into the next step of our lives. Let’s appreciate all of the new
aspects of our lives, even those that are challenging and intimidating. The moments we dread, the
moments we look forward to, and the moments we may not even remember or recognize.
Whatever the next step of our lives; let’s face it as we did the last one, with the thrill of truly
living for every moment.
So, how are we going to do next year? Next year, and every year after, we may not be
enjoying our Sherman brunches, frolicking on the Great Lawn, or talking about social justice
until dawn streams in through our blackout curtains. We may not take with us our old textbooks,
or the numerous keys we’ve somehow accumulated, but we will take with us the attitude we
cultivated here at Brandeis, where every moment is a big one, and every year is the best of our
2 Dani Nurick lives. The past four years truly have been the best of our lives, but it doesn’t stop here. No matter
what we do and where we go, let’s make the next four even better.
Class of 2016, let’s celebrate every moment we shared, and every moment that is yet to
come. Here’s to four more of the best years.
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