Joan Iva Cube graduated with a major in Writing and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Golden Key honor societies. While at UCSD, she was involved in Circle K International, the largest collegiate public service organization in the world; volunteered as a mentor/tutor through the Friends Understanding Needs program; and tutored elementary school students for the HOSTS program. Joan intends to pursue graduate studies in New York and plans a career as a writer of children's books. She was selected to speak for her graduating class at Commencement by the college commencement committee.

Good afternoon. I would like to begin by congratulating the graduating class of 1999 for all their hard work and for completing this undergraduate stage of their lives. We should all be very proud of our accomplishments. Sometimes we forget that, from a global perspective, not many people make it this far.

Five years ago, when I was applying to this university, I was completely unaware of the differences among the five colleges. I was fortunate, however, to end up here, because Eleanor Roosevelt College with its international focus has helped me to take things in perspective, to step back and see the larger picture. Because we are sometimes so focused on our individual endeavors, we occasionally overlook all the benefits of a college education. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of thinking of college as merely a place where one goes in order to attain a degree which will thereby make one a more attractive commodity for the competitive job market.

Although many of us groaned about them, the general education requirements of Eleanor Roosevelt College truly opened my eyes to a world far different than I had imagined. The Making of the Modern World especially brought my attention to the notion of the global village. There are approximately 5.9 billion people in this world, who live in 191 different nations. Now, if we were to reduce this total population to a settlement of a thousand people, we could then really begin to analyze what role we play in the grand scheme of things. For instance out of that thousand people, only 75 would have a college degree, whereas half of the population would barely be able to read or write. Moreover, only 10 people would own a computer.

Do these statistics mean that now that we are college graduates, we must always think in global terms? No, not necessarily. I do think, however, that at this stage in our lives, we should think of matters that go beyond our individual selves. I know that for me, for example, immigrating here from the Philippines - a country that is still developing and has experienced revolution and martial law within my lifetime - I never forget to ask myself how much of what I attribute to my personal abilities is actually the product of my privileges position. I think we owe it to ourselves and also to the people who have criticized our generation for its apathy and egotism to step back and take a look at the larger picture.

My college diploma may indicate that I majored in Writing, but it could not possibly encompass all that I have attained at this university. In fact, some of the most valuable lessons I have learned were received outside of the classroom. I learned the price of independence. I learned how to make a dollar stretch as far as possible, learning how to live off Top Ramen instant noddles for weeks on end and taking advantage of McDonald's Wednesday 29-cent hamburger deals. I eventually learned how to cook for myself. I learned the true definition of friendship. I learned that not everyone thinks like I think. I learned what it really means to learn.

Of course, valuable lessons can also be taught within the classroom setting. This reminds me of a story about a group of students who entered their Anatomy class on the first day of school to find that there was a detailed diagram of the human body on the blackboard. When the day of the final exam arrived, there was only one test question, and that was to name and locate every major bone and muscle. Instinctively, the students looked to the blackboard for the answers because the diagram had been there the entire quarter, but now it was gone. They began to protest that the question wasn't fair, because they had never been asked to memorize that information, but the professor replied, "That is no excuse. The information was there for months." After the professor collected the exams, he tore them up and said to the students, "Always remember that education is more than just learning what you are told."

And in the words of James Baldwin, "The purpose of education is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to ask questions about the universe, and then learn to live with those answers." Even as college graduates, however, I do not believe that we could ever stop being students, for the world is our classroom, and there are still so many life lessons to be learned. So I say to you, the last graduating class of the 20^th Century, let's remember to take a step back occasionally so that we can look at the bigger picture and see where we all fit in it.