Nicholas Kristof: The perfect final convocation

My final convocation at Elon.

The buzz around campus today was the installation of Phi Beta Kappa at Elon, but even more importantly, Nicholas Krisof spoke to us about "A Call to Action: Encouraging Young People to Join the 'World's Fight' and Take on a Cause Larger than Themselves." He is a hero in the journalism world and certainly one of my idols.

To me, he is the Anderson Cooper of print journalism - giving voice to the voiceless and taking up challenging causes to make the world a better place by telling one story and impacting one life at a time. Kristof spoke completely by memory. No notes on the podium. No prompters. Incredibly impressive. He truly spoke from the heart, which made his charge to us all the more meaningful.

The one thing that stuck out most to me was when he said talent is universal, opportunity is not. We have won the lottery of life, he told us at the end of his address. So true. It reminded me of our opening convocation freshman year when President Lambert used students in the audience to represent the number of people attending a private university compared to the number of people who are underprivileged and suffering from disease. We are such a small number in the grand scheme of things, but each one of us can make a huge difference in the world. If I've learned one thing at Elon, it's that. And today's address from Kristof affirmed it.

I've been so blessed to have heard Cooper and Kristof speak during my time at Elon. Their visits to Elon made me more passionate than ever to be the kind of journalist I have always wanted to be no matter what road I have to travel to accomplish that. 

After convocation, some of the Pendulum seniors (aka my best friends) found each other outside the gym for a family photo.