Year
Class of 2021
Browse commencement speeches from 2021, including addresses by Atul Gawande, Issa Rae, and Robert Lopez. Each record links to the available source material, transcript, video, and archive context.
4 addresses 10 themes 4 highlights
Highlights from 2021
Records with stronger source signals, summaries, transcripts, videos, or visual archive material.
Atul Gawande Stanford University Speaking to advanced degree candidates during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Atul Gawande reflects on the unpredictability of careers and lives, urging graduates to say yes to new experiences early in life and pay attention to what truly energizes them. He recounts how his own path combined surgery, public health, and journalism despite advice to choose one, and how each ultimately reinforced the others. He closes by drawing lessons from the pandemic about leadership, unity versus division, and finding worth by helping others. InfographicSummaryTranscriptVideoOfficial source 
Issa Rae Stanford University Issa Rae, a Stanford alumna, addresses the class of 2021 by reflecting on how the community she built at Stanford shaped her creative career. Using the lyrics of the song "Wipe Me Down" as a framework, she recounts her journey from disappointing her father by majoring in African-American studies to creating student theatrical productions, a web series, and eventually her HBO show "Insecure." She urges graduates to approach opportunities with confidence, value and support their community, and claim the success they have earned. InfographicSummaryTranscriptVideoOfficial source 
Robert Lopez Yale University InfographicVideoOfficial source 
Bryan Stevenson Massachusetts Institute of Technology InfographicOfficial source Represented themes
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All 2021 addresses
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