Senior Speech: Ummi Hashim

I want to start off by congratulating the Class of 2026. Your emotions must be all over the place. Some of you might be excited. Some of you might just want to get it over with. But some of you might be feeling something unexpected: fear. 

Sure, you’re going to strut on stage, grab your diploma, and exit in style. But there might be some lingering worries. Maybe some small things, like tripping. And maybe bigger things, like college. A lot of you might be sitting here asking yourselves, "Now what?" And that’s okay. It’s only natural to fear change.

Now, it doesn’t matter what exactly you’re afraid of. It doesn’t matter if you think it’s “silly.” What matters is that you know that there is something you fear. What comes next is figuring out how to face it. It might seem hard at first. After all, fear is important. It protects us. But only to an extent. You can work with your fear, but you can’t obey it.

An African proverb sums it up best: “One cannot stop sleeping because they fear bad dreams.” Just because something is scary, doesn’t mean that you should avoid it. Sometimes, you just have to do it. And if you’re scared, do it scared. Even if it takes what seems like forever, you trying matters. It means that despite your fear, you didn’t allow it to control you. It means you’re stronger than your limits. And who knows? Maybe that nightmare you feared will turn into a sweet dream.

Today is the first day of the rest of our lives. And I’m scared to death. I’m not sure if I’ll manage not to embarrass myself completely. But I’m still doing it. I’m still talking because I know that I tried, even if I was scared out of my mind. And I seem to be doing pretty well so far.

To those wondering, "what comes next?", I’ll be honest: I don’t know. No one does, and that’s okay. You don’t have to know. We live in uncertain times, and what matters now is that you’re here. So you’re scared; big deal. So am I. So is everyone else, at one point or another. You’re still graduating. You’re still doing it scared. And for that, I commend you. And I assure you, even though you’re scared, we’ll be walking that stage together. You don’t have to start the rest of your life alone. We’ll be with you.