2008 Graduation Speech - May 5

Carnegie Mellon - Qatar

Nora Al Subai - School of Computer Science

Thank you President Cohen. Thank you Y.H. Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, President Cohen , Dean Thorpe, esteemed guests, faculty, staff, friends and family

I’m standing in front of you today not only because I want to, but because I need to. I’m not going to paraphrase some sappy pop song. I’m not going to recite quotes about the road less traveled. I’m not even going to extol the values of hard work. Instead, I’m going to honor our graduate’s, our past 4 years together, our seasons of growth.

It all started 4 years ago with our Summer: 35 of us had graduated from high school and were getting ready to enter Carnegie Mellon - fully aware that our acceptance was an accomplishment all in itself. And it was: the seeds were planted and began to grow, but the cycle only started there. As the first class on our nascent campus, we were given a red-carpet welcome: I’m talking about rose petals in the air, Strauss’ Waltz in the background, eager students flitting through the hallways. That Summer was marked by a distinct sound - LAUGHTER. We laughed so much and so hard we were constantly reminded of how we’re sharing buildings and that our laughter was actually disturbing people. But nothing could stop us. We laughed , we bonded, we became a family. It was a summer of laughter, hope and a new beginning. We didn’t want the Summer to end, but the sun cannot shine forever - it must turn to fall.

That second season of our growth - our autumn - we fell - flat down, face first. Just as leaves have to fall so that new, stronger ones can grow, our falling shaped us into stronger individuals. That Fall marked the beginning of our LEARNING experience. It soon became apparent just how high a goal we had set for ourselves. The rose petals in the air turned into homework and quizzes falling all around us, Strauss‘ waltz in the background turned into the theme song of Mission Impossible, and the flitting through the hallways took longer because of all the tripping and stumbling. We began to understand just what Professor Stehlik meant by “being a geek is hard work”, what Professor McGinnis meant when he told us to “put on our game faces“, and during these discoveries we learned the importance of this new growth - it was hard, but necessary. We persevered, and even though we failed at times, we never gave up. I remember we would look at the Freshmen and wonder if we were ever that young. We probably were, but this Fall we were testing our boundaries by striving for greatness, by challenging the unknown, and by reaching out beyond our limits, and - only to fall as often as we succeeded. We fell a little, we fell a lot. But with each stumble and set back, came a lesson. Although there was no way we would have known this then (we wouldn’t have believed it even if people told us) - the greatest lessons we learned were the ones where we fell the hardest. So we pulled ourselves up, we pulled each other up, and we carried on.

The Fall helped us to prepare for the difficult days to come. Our Winter had arrived - suddenly and quite coldly: We cried more, we consumed more coffee, we experienced self-doubt that at times was overwhelming. But because we were able to LAUGH during the Summer, and LEARN through the Fall, we were prepared to survive the winter: we had to LIVE. Every morning was a struggle, every task a challenge. But that was okay: because you cannot be inspired until you taste the desperation of feeling overwhelmed, and you cannot understand success until you’ve mastered the art of failure. We figured out how to fail until we figured out how to succeed, but we faced the challenge of inspiration through desperation. It was in this time of difficulty that, although things were falling apart around us, we gathered around the ember of a fire. Winter was cold, but we kept each other warm around a spark of hope. We put on our coats, and continued through the blizzard. Sure enough, after every ebb there is a flow. And it was from that ember of hope that the promise of Spring arose.

Our Spring came early: As winter‘s snow gave way to fields abundant with new growth, we too, with the lessons we learned from our mentors, friends and family, rose from the ground stronger, wiser, and better equipped. As the flowers bloomed, so did we with a new appreciation of LOVE. We loved wholeheartedly, unconditionally and with faith. We took our struggles and challenges and turned them into opportunities. We laughed, we learned, we lived, and now we were loving - loving ourselves, the people around us, and our lives. The Class of 2008 sprouted from its planted seeds one summer day into a forest, each of us a tree. Although we now grow on our own, our roots remain entangled.

Carnegie Mellon will always be a home we can return to. The family ties we have formed will always unite us no matter how far we travel. Our struggles as a group, and as individuals, have helped define us and shape us into the people we are today. We walk away from Carnegie Mellon with many skills and leave behind a legacy of memories: being a family; spending exciting times as the first students at our Qatar campus; sharing the loss of a loved one; and now, setting out into the world united by a common past and a shared vision of a successful future.

All the memories we made through our SUMMER of laughter, all the lessons we learned from our mistakes in our FALL, the new sense of living with our hearts through our WINTER, and the deeper appreciation of love that we finally earned in our SPRING, marked our cycle of growth here at Carnegie Mellon University.

Before you walk out that door tonight, I ask you all to take a close look at the graduates in front of you, at your classmates beside you. They took the risk of being this campus’ pioneers, they’ve overcome every obstacle presented to them, and they have set high standards for future students to follow. So, again, I thank you all for coming to celebrate their triumph.

Most of all I want to thank, I need to thank, you, my classmates, the Class of 2008. THANK YOU for believing in me and showing me how to believe in myself. THANK YOU For making me realize that the right thing to do is often the hardest. And lastly, THANK YOU for helping to quiet the voices of doubt in me, and helping me to seize every opportunity to follow my heart.

When we leave here today, know that people will ask themselves “will we ever be like that?” I know that we will continue to set high standards, encouraging ourselves and the people around us to aim for and achieve great things. (the following was added during the actual speech: “I‘m sure most of you noticed the rain today. It‘s raining in the middle of May! Not only is that rare, but out of all the days, it‘s raining on our graduation day. I‘m hoping we can see this as a sign of a new beginning, of hopeful and successful future“). This is our time and frankly, I know we’re going to change the world.

As my finally responsibility, I carry on a long standing Carnegie Mellon tradition. 4 years ago during Orientation, the Class of 2008 stole and concealed our class tile. It is my honor to return it to its rightful place, so that it can be the first of many in our new university home. President Cohen, Could you please see this on its way.