Some of the best and most moving parts of Barnard Commencement are the speeches given by graduating seniors. They each share something meaningful about the academic or extracurricular experience at Barnard -- giving fellow grads, families, faculty, staff, and guests the chance to hear, directly from students, what you have gotten out of your time here.
Who are student speakers?
One of them could be you!
The Senior Class President will speak, and the Barnard Commencement Committee selects two additional speakers based on an application process that includes a written speech and an audition video.
1. ACADEMIC REFLECTIONS SPEAKER
This graduate focuses on the academic experience at Barnard; they can speak about any meaningful experience, such as a project or thesis, a great course taken, a transformative relationship with an adviser or professor, a book that was important, or something similar.
2. SENIOR REFLECTIONS SPEAKER
This graduate focuses on an aspect of the Barnard experience beyond the classroom that was important to the Class's four years, tying personal experience to the larger, shared experiences of the Class. Speakers can, for example, discuss an event of campus, local, or national importance, and how it impacted the class, or can reflect on one or more special campus events, traditions, or things that occurred over the past four years that were special to the Class of 2024.
Speeches should be no more than 3 minutes when read aloud.
Fill out THIS FORM -- including (1) an uploaded draft of your speech and (2) a link to a video of you delivering this speech (format: unlisted Youtube video) -- no later than March 24, 11:59pm EDT.
https://forms.gle/Db2EPnhmvafPgm2q7
See examples of past student speeches in the 2023 commencement video (Academic Reflections at 32:56, Senior Reflections at 47:19)
