Mary Fasano gave the Commencement address
at Harvard University’s 1997 degree awarding ceremony. On
that day she became the oldest person ever to receive an undergraduate
degree from Harvard.
I
remember one night a few years ago when my daughter was frantic
with worry. After my Harvard Extension School classes, I usually
arrived at the bus station near my home by 11 P.M., but on
that night I was nowhere to be found. My daughter was nervous.
It wasn't safe for a single woman to walk alone on the streets
at night, especially one as defenseless as I am.
That night my daughter checked the bus station, drove around
the streets, and contacted some friends. But she couldn't
find me, until she called my astronomy professor who told
her that I was on top of the Science Center using the telescope
to gaze
at the stars. Unaware of the time, I had gotten lost in the
heavens and was only thinking about the new things I had learned
that night in class.
This story illustrates
a habit I have developed over the years——I lose track
of time when it comes to learning. How else do you explain
a woman who began high school at age 71 and who is graduating
with a bachelor's degree at 89? I may have started late, but
I will continue to learn as long as I am able because there
is no greater feeling, in my opinion, than traveling to a
far away country as I have and being able to identify by sight
the painting of a famous artist and the statue of an obscure
sculptor. I have found that the world is a final exam that
you can never be prepared enough for. So I will continue to
take classes and tell my story.
Lately it seems that everyone is asking me, "Mary,
what advice do you have for other students?" So, while
I have you all here, I'm going to ease my burden
of answering you each individually.
If the saying is true that wisdom comes with age, you may
safely assume that I am one of the wisest people in this hall
and possibly at this University today. So listen to me when
I tell you this——knowledge is power.
My
studies were interrupted
when I was in the 7th grade, back sometime around World War
I. I loved school but I was forced to leave it to care for
my family. I was consigned to work in a Rhode Island cotton
mill where I labored for many years. I eventually married
and raised 5 children, 20 grandchildren, and 18 great-grandchildren.
But all the while I felt inferior
to those around me. I knew I was as smart as a college graduate.
I knew I was capable of doing a job well; I had proved it
by running a successful family business for decades that still
exists. But I wanted more. I wanted to feel confident when
I spoke and I wanted people to respect my opinions.
Does it surprise you to discover how much you have in common
with an 89-year-old woman? I know that many of you graduates
today, whether you were born in 1907 or 1967, have faced similar
barriers to completing your studies and have sometimes felt
inferior around those you work or socialize with just because
you didn't have a degree.
But I am here today——as you are——to prove that it can be
done; that the power gained by understanding and appreciating
the world around us can be obtained by anyone regardless of
social status, personal challenges, or age. That belief is
what has motivated me for the last 75 years to get this degree.
It is also the mission of the Harvard Extension School. Without
the support I received from this School, I might not have
graduated until I was 100——a phrase that many of you have
probably used in jest.
There are many students here who do not have the opportunity
that I do to speak their minds and have everybody listen,
whether they want to or not. But be assured, fellow graduates,
that we are more similar than you might think. If you have
treated education as your main goal, and not as a means to
an end, then you, too, have probably been claimed as a missing
person once in your academic career, whether you were lost
in the stars or the stacks of Widener Library.
And you, too, know that the journey was worth it, and that
the power of knowledge makes me the most formidable 89-year-old
woman at the bus stop.
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