Senior Speaker: Sustainable Community Development

A message from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences:

Each year, our graduating students in every major select a student to speak on behalf of their area of study. Because we are a large college, the time allotted to our ceremony does not allow for each speaker to appear on stage. However, these speeches have been recorded for your viewing pleasure. 

At its core, our College supports open and free inquiry and debate about the most weighty and consequential subjects that face us all. Each student was given a minute to speak on whatever topic they think will be meaningful to their peers. Some of the contributions are lighthearted, others are serious, and some may inspire some people and conflict with the values and beliefs of others. But that is the nature of free inquiry and debate: it should challenge us and make us think. We are proud of every one of our graduates, whether or not we agree with the views they express here. 

Transcript: 

Sustainable Community Development. A major built upon the desire to prepare and work for future generations and the planet. We’ve all taken our own paths to get here, whether straightforward, coming in as a freshman, or winding, exploring our interests until we found what fit. Our concentrations individualize our experiences even further. But while we may not have taken the classes in the same order or time, we’ve all
followed Prof. MacDonald to the varves by Southwest, meandered to Amherst College’s veteran’s memorial for Prof. McGirr’s essays, and attended an Amherst City Planning meeting for Prof. Barchers.

The Olver Design Building has become our home. I’ve lost count of the hours spent working at the orange chairs on the second floor. I’ve cherished conversations with friends on the rooftop garden. I look at the building with pride as I walk down North Pleasant Street.

But as our program intends, we must keep looking forward. We’ve poured our hearts and souls into our classes, and it’s time for us to do the same with our next chapter in life. We’ve spent four years studying how to benefit our communities and work on creating a sustainable future, and it’s time to put that into practice.

Whether we have a job already lined up, a master’s program to pursue, or are still searching for our next steps, we’ve been given all the tools necessary and the confidence to enter the working world.

We live in uncertain times, but what we do is at the forefront of our future. We’re about to receive diplomas that title us as certified to create change, but it’s up to us to create certainty in our future and do what we have been called to do. It’s up to us to develop communities and create a sustainable world for future generations, and there’s no better time for us to do so than now.