Department Of English Commencement Speaker Featured In The Washington Post
May 21, 2013
The Department of English's commencement speaker Jamie Lee gave an honest speech about the moment she became satisfied with her choice of study.
By Valerie Strauss, The Washington Post
The University of Maryland’s English Department held its commencement ceremonies on Monday and student Jamie Lee gave the following unusually honest speech in which she concedes that she once thought going to College Park was beneath her and that studying English was a self-indulgent exercise. Here’s her speech:
I’ve had a lot of defining moments in college. I got my first part-time job, and my first rejection letter. I was assigned my first roommate, and found my best friend. I turned 19, then 20, and then 21, and I became amazed at how much can change in twelve months. I also found my soul mate…and then found out he’s gay.
But none of these are even close to the moment I became satisfied with my choice of study.
I resisted declaring English as my major for two years. My whole life I’ve been plagued with this sense of what I should do, based on this perceived idea of correctness. I don’t know where I get this trait from, but it’s why I came in as a freshman journalism major.
Study English, my mother told me. I told her I wanted more than a cardboard box after I graduate and decided journalism was a compromise—I’d still write, I reasoned, while pursuing an actual career.
My reasoning skills have never been great.
Journalism and I do not really get along. I got a C in journalism 100—my first and only C—and didn’t get the point. I stuck with it and kept reasoning with myself. I reasoned with myself for two years before admitting I was miserable. I did not like hounding people for “the scoop,” or leaving out the Oxford comma. I also did not like being restrained by facts—you cannot create in journalism. They call it “fabrication.”
I walked into English advising my sophomore year and discussed the requirements. “Does this interest you?” the advisor asked. And I said yes so quickly she asked me to repeat myself.