DEAN CHRIS MAKAROFF: Now it is my pleasure
to introduce our Student Commencement Speaker.
Max Leveridge is a graduating senior from
Dublin, Ohio majoring in Environmental Earth
Science, along with co-majors in Environmental
Science and Sustainability.
Next year, as a student in the Combined Bachelor's-Master's
Program in Environmental Science, he plans
to get his master's as well as his graduate
certificate in Geographic Information Sciences.
Max is a former Associated Student Government
senator, a College of Arts and Science Student
Ambassador, a member of the Dean's Student
Advisory Council, and a member of the University
Undergraduate Research Committee.
He also founded a campus environmental appreciation
club and won an Honorable Mention last year
for the Goldwater Scholarship.
On top of all that, Max has been working with
Professor Mike Brudzinski, since his first
week at Miami, on a research project investigating
the link between deep wastewater injection
and human-induced earthquakes here in Ohio.
Max has already given over a dozen presentations
on his work, both locally and nationally,
and is co-author on a paper that was just
published this past March in the Journal of
Geophysical Research.
Max credits his mentor, Mike Brudzinski, for
providing him with many of these experiences
-- and likewise, Mike has stated that Max's
"research progress so early in his college
career places him ahead of all other undergraduate
researchers" he's known.
Max believes everyone should take at least
one class in environmental science saying:
"not only is it interdisciplinary -- but it
is also important when you hear news about
climate change, species extinction, or algae
blooms.
It's one of the classes you need to understand
what is happening in the world."
Max plans to earn his Ph.D., with the ultimate
goal of doing research involving endangered
species and identifying ways to protect them.
Organizations like the International Union
for Conservation of Nature or the United Nations
Environment Programme are a couple of his
potential career destinations.
Regardless of where he heads after concluding
his work here at Miami, we know that Max will
find tremendous success in helping enlighten
the world about nurturing and protecting our
environment.
Please join me in welcoming Max Leveridge.
>>MAX LEVERIDGE: Good evening.
I just wanted to start off by saying thank
you -- the Dean's Office for inviting me here
to speak tonight.
Professors for pushing us each day to achieve
our full potential.
Staff for making Miami feel like home.
Friends for always having our backs through
thick and thin.
And most importantly, families for giving
us the support, without which, who knows how
many of us would be here today?
When Ted first asked me to speak to you, I
thought "this is great!"
Then as it set in, I thought "oh crap, what
did I just agree to?"
Then as any person tasked with giving a speech
would do, I immediately started googling ideas
and watching YouTube videos of "the best speeches
of all time."
But don't worry, I eventually got sidetracked
watching Good Mythical Morning, so you won't
have to sit here for seven minutes listening
to me go through countless cliches.
So what am I going to talk about?
If you ask any of my friends, they can tell
you that I've been doing research since I
arrived on campus.
So, I'm going to talk about something I'm
familiar with, something all of you have probably
learned at some point in your lives, whether
it was for one of your captivating Miami Plan
classes or if it was all the way back in elementary
school -- I'm going to talk about the scientific
method ... but with a little twist.
First, you start with a question -- it's the
basis for everything that follows.
Think back several years.
Out of nowhere, you were called into a small
room for the dreaded talk.
Now I'm not talking about the birds and the
bees, I'm talking about when your guidance
counselor asks you, "So Billy, where are you
going to college after you graduate?"
And if you were me, you had absolutely no
idea.
So you start your background research.
This could either be just googling the cheapest
schools, seeing where you can get in with
your ACT or SAT scores, or maybe you're feeling
confident and looking for the best school
in your subject!
Then you decide to go on college visits, where
you learn Robert Frost once said that Miami
is the "most beautiful campus that ever there
was" or that "Miami is one of four schools
that have graduated both a U.S. President
and a Super Bowl winning quarterback."
And who knows, this might've been what convinced
you to come to Miami.
With that, you have made your hypothesis -- "I
think Miami is the best school for me."
So, you apply, you wait to hear back, and
I feel it's safe to assume you were all accepted.
But then again, you know what they say about
assumptions, and some of you might just be
here because you like to get dressed up in
red robes and sit on a converted basketball
stadium floor with two thousand of your closest
friends!
Now comes the fun part ... the experiment.
You come in freshman year, join every club,
rush every fraternity and sorority, and even
head Uptown on the occasional Saturday afternoon
for some ... coffee.
You suffer through the all-nighters, where
you and your friends order Insomnia at 2am,
you accept the challenge laid down by the
professor, who says "this isn't an assignment
you can do the night before" by starting it
the night before it's due, and you sit through
all the lectures, or almost all of the lectures,
where you end up paying more attention to
the cute girl in front of you rather than
how the mitochondria is the powerhouse of
the cell.
Then you sit down and analyze the data.
Unless you've transferred somewhere else,
all of you are pretty happy here at Miami,
or at least happy enough to be here today.
Usually, the first time this comes up is when
those senior surveys "we never got" ask you
all these deep questions about your experience.
But what did you really get out of Miami?
Well, for starters, you have life-long friends
-- people you might stay in touch with long
into that thing called adulthood, and stories
to tell your children to make them jealous
of how wild you were in college.
On top of that, regardless of what your piece
of paper says that says you're qualified to
do something says, you've gained a liberal
education.
It's that thing where you tell your employers
you have experience in something just because
you've had one class in it, but it has also
added countless tools to your toolbox to help
you in your future endeavors.
Above all else, you've gained the invaluable
skill of critical thinking.
You're able to think about complex issues
and decide your own opinions on it.
No more Wikipedia telling you to believe that
the moon landing was just the movie-magic
of some Miami alum!
Lastly comes the conclusion.
You've made it, and congratulations!
But in all honesty, whether we want to believe
it or not, Miami has helped us grow into the
independent and well-prepared adults sitting
here today.
If you had asked me two years ago to stand
up in front of two thousand graduates and
their families, or even a class of 20 people,
I would have laughed and just walked away.
But here I am.
Whether or not you enjoyed the speech is beside
the point.
But because of the experiences I've had here,
I'm doing things that I would have never imagined,
and the journey only starts here.
With any good study, you set yourself up for
future studies -- be it grad school, law school,
med school, a career at your dream job, or
the job that sets you up to become CEO of
Chipotle or Speaker of the House.
But where do we stand on our hypothesis?
Being here today, I feel it's safe to say
your hypothesis holds true -- that Miami turned
out to be the best school for you.
And whether or not you realize it, you now
have to skills to go forth and succeed beyond
your wildest dreams at whatever you put your
mind to.
So with that, my fellow graduates, congratulations,
and by no means for the last time -- Love
and Honor.
>>DEAN MAKAROFF: Thank you, Max.
We wish you the very best.
