For most students, graduation is about crossing the stage to receive a diploma, but for one senior, standing on the stage itself will likely be the highlight of the ceremony.
Tristan Reed, an economics student and Daily Bruin columnist, has been selected to be the student speaker at this year’s College of Letters and Science commencement and will share the platform with graduation speaker and former president Bill Clinton.
Reed was selected after completing an essay, submitting a resume and delivering a version of his proposed commencement speech to the Graduation Speakers Committee, said Marc Mayerson, assistant dean of social sciences and a member of the committee.
Mayerson said Reed was chosen for a number of reasons, such as the strength of his resume, though he said the content of the speech and the manner of delivering it were the most important criteria.
“(Reed) just seemed like one of those people that gets the most out of their undergraduate education. His speech stood out as being a good combination of message and memory,” Mayerson said.
Reed’s speech was also distinguishable from the rest because of the confidence with which he delivered it, a mark of his understanding of his own message, Mayerson said.
Bernice Shaw, a friend of Reed’s and former cultural affairs commissioner for the undergraduate student government, agreed that Reed’s personality would make him a natural choice for commencement speaker.
“I think Tristan’s one of the most eloquent and intelligent people here at UCLA. … I think he’ll be able to provide the humor and at the same time, maintain a very high intelligence level to his commencement speech,” Shaw said.
Reed’s ability to write a speech which could relate to nearly everyone also appealed to members of the committee, Mayerson said.
“He seemed to be able to distill what his experience was at UCLA as far as creativity and involvement. When you bring that from the past into the future, that’s what people can relate to,” Mayerson said.
Shaw also said that the depth of Reed’s undergraduate experience and his involvement in a variety of activities would lend scope to a speech that most students could relate to.
“He’s hung out with the activists, he’s hung out with the super-academic type and other crowds as well. He’s very well-versed in terms of the circles he’s been around at UCLA,” Shaw said.
Reed, stepson of former Executive Dean Patricia O’Brien of the UCLA College, was the founding chair of the UC Sudan Divestment Taskforce, worked with the humanitarian student-group FORGE to help women in a Zambian refugee camp, and has won three research awards, according to a press release.
Reed said his drive to pursue academic excellence came after the death of his mother in high school, which motivated him to “turn his life around.”
But among all of his accomplishments, Reed cites his tenure at the Daily Bruin as being a primary catalyst in helping him appreciate the totality of the college experience.
“As a Daily Bruin columnist, I’ve been forced to think very deeply about student life and what it means and what is the nature of it. And in that exercise, I’ve been able to synthesize all the different types of creativity and see how all that would come together,” Reed said.
Creativity, the ability of students to develop ideas and act on them, and “figuring out a new way to see the world,” will be central theme of Reed’s speech.
“I think I’ve been exposed to a lot of different types of creativity, be they as artists, as business entrepreneurs, as student activists. … I see the power of students’ creativity to improve the world,” Reed said.
Reed hopes to deliver a message that will resonate with the audience.
“I hope people leave feeling profoundly optimistic about what they can accomplish after college,” Reed said.
After graduation, Reed said he will be employed as a research assistant in Sierra Leone until he enrolls in Harvard University in 2009, where he hopes to obtain a doctorate in economics.