Speaking for their class, to the world
During Morning Exercises, hundreds of graduating students will file into Tercentenary Theatre to have their degrees formally conferred. But only three will speak. Commencement orations have evolved at Harvard from a series of thesis defenses — often given in Greek, Latin, or Hebrew — to five-minute speeches by a graduate student, an undergraduate student, and, in a nod to tradition, an undergraduate speaking in Latin. Below, the Class of 2011 orators, chosen in a speech-writing competition held by the Harvard Commencement Office, share their stories. Charlie Bridge, Latin oration Latin orator Charlie Bridge says that the field of classics "lays the foundation intellectually for so many different careers and pursuits." Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer Charlie Bridge, a native of Belmont, Mass., studied Latin for five years at Roxbury Latin School. But “when I came to Harvard, that wasn’t what I envisioned myself doing,” the Dunster House senior said. An introductory course in Greek, however, “recaptured the...