Student Speaker

Caroline Vermillion

Major in Music Business and Management
Greenville, South Carolina

Welcome President Brown, faculty and staff, honored guests, family, friends, entourages, and
graduates. | am honored to be your student speaker this year, and to speak on behalf of the
graduating class of 2019.

What a monumental moment in all of our lives. We've arrived at the same place, but that does
not mean that we all had the same process or journey getting here. Some of us knew our paths
from the moment we arrived; some of us took detours; and some of us are sitting here in
disbelief that we have to pack up and find another place to hang out.

Sometime between the first day of orientation (with our red lanyards draped around our necks,
plagued with the looming fear of ratings auditions) and today (with graduate robes draped
around our shoulders, anticipating our next steps), each of our individual experiences have
been integral to our stories. They have been essential to shaping the next steps we will take.

For the past few years, we have been enclosed and protected in our “Berklee bubble.” It has
been a safe place to fall, and grow, and change, and develop, and hone, and become.
However, even though we are no longer at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and
Boylston, we can still carry this community and sentiment into the world with us.

Whether we realize it or not, Berklee has taught us more than just what the curriculum outlines.
Itis now that | look back on the past four years and realize that ear training wasn't about
memorizing melodies at all. It was about listening in order to make an informed decision.
Harmony wasn’t about learning the changes to "Autumn Leaves.” It was about understanding
the way separate entities can interact to create tension and resolution.

Conducting wasn't about practicing beat patterns. It was about understanding technicality,

but remembering to always lead with conviction. European Music History wasn't about Bach
and Beethoven (or maybe it was a little bit), but it was also about reflection as to how the world
around us shapes the music we hear, and how we too can shape the world with dialogue,
musical or otherwise. Each of these transferable skills have led us to this point, well prepared to
strengthen our resolves, to approach the next chapter bravely, and to contribute meaningfully
to the world.

If there is one thing that has colored my education and altered the way | see the world, it is the
annual lecture given on the first day of Business Leadership and Ethics by Associate Professor
George Howard. For those of you that didn't take this course, I'll let you in on the punch line:
"It is about the purpose before the product.” You can have an outstanding product, but without
a purpose as the foundation upon which this product is built, it is hopeless to believe that a
product can resonate.

As we look at the honorary degree recipients sitting here before us, we recognize that the
successes of their individual careers can be attributed to a number of traits, and talents,
and characteristics. But residing just below the surface of all of their great products is a
resounding purpose.

Missy Elliott is not described as “one of the most significant female artists in contemporary
music history” just because of her song, or product, “Get Ur Freak On" (although: what a bop!).
It is more because of her reverberating tone of female empowerment that blares through

our speakers.