Grads encouraged to ‘pay forward’

Sarah Lawrence graduates were reminded that success is never achieved without the support of others and were encouraged to “pay forward” the support they”™ve received. The messages were from Ford Foundation President Darren Walker, who addressed 315 undergraduates on May 18, and Kyes Stevens, founder and director of the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project, who addressed 129 master”™s degree candidates on the 17th. 

Walker recalled his childhood in a rural southern town where his mother had the foresight to enroll him in the first class of Head Start in 1965.  

Darren Walker and Kyes Stevens

“There”™s a story that we Americans like to tell ourselves: the story of the self-made man,” said Walker. “It”™s the story of the entrepreneur who founds a startup in his garage ”“ or the minimum-wage worker who pulls himself up by his bootstraps. But graduates: that story is pure fiction.” He added, “I share this because it”™s often easy to forget that our success is not only our own.”

During the commencement for graduate students, Stevens talked about her work in bringing education and equity to those in prison. Stevens, a Sarah Lawrence alumna, also rejected the idea that success could be achieved in a vacuum without the support of others. “I am full of gratitude for all the people along the way who invested in me. A simple reminder that we do not get anywhere all on our own. That whole bootstrap logic is broken.”

College President Cristle Collins Judd told the graduates, “You are surrounded by people whose lives have shaped yours and with whom you have shared a very special experience, place and philosophy of education.”