You don’t need to fact-check me because I went to New York University and can attest to the fact that Taylor Swift received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from the college named after her song “Welcome to New York” on Wednesday, May 18. The vocalist of “Out of the Woods” gave a speech during the school’s Yankee Stadium graduation ceremony.
Prior to the event, Ms. Swift commemorated the occasion on TikTоk by sharing a video of herself arriving at the stadium and donning her first cap and gown (she homeschooled and graduated from high school early, skipping college).
She spoke to the graduates with a natural blend of warmth, humor, and wisdom. She considered the cost of being an adolescent role model, the joy of accepting cringe, and some of her previous fashion choices while sporting her trademark red lip.
Here’s the entire thing, courtesy of Rolling Stone:
Hi, I’m Taylor.Last time I was in a stadium this size, I was dancing in heels and wearing a glittery leotard. This outfit is much more comfortable. I’d like to sаy a huge thank-you to NYU‘s chairman of the board of trustees, Bill Berkeley, and all the trustees and members of the board, NYU’s president Andrew Hamilton, provost Katherine Fleming, and the faculty and alumni here today who have made this day possible. I feel so proud to share this day with my fellow honorees Susan Hockfield and Felix Matos Rodriguez, who humble me with the ways they improve our world with their work. As for me, I’m…90% sure the main reason I’m here is because I have a song called “22.”
And let me just sаy, I am elated to be here with you today as we celebrate and graduate New York University’s class of 2022.Not a single one of us here today has done it alone. We are each a patchwork quilt of those who have loved us, those who have believed in our futures, those who showed us empathy and kindness or told us the trutҺ even when it wasn’t easy to hear. Those who told us we could do it when there was absolutely no proof of that. Someone read stories to you and taught you to dream and offered up some moral code of right and wrong for you to try and live by. Someone tried their best to explain every concept in this insanely complex world to the child that was you, as you asked a bazillion questions like, “How does the moon work?” and “Why can we eat salad but not grass?” And maybe they didn’t do it perfectly.
No one ever can. Maybe they aren’t with us anymore, and in that case I hope you’ll remember them today. If they are here in this stadium, I hope you’ll find your own way to express your gratitude for all the steps and missteps that have led us to this common destination. I know that words are supposed to be my “thing,” but I will never be able to find the words to thank my mom and my dad, and my brother, Austin, for the sacrifices they made every day so that I could go from singing in coffeehouses to standing up here with you all today because no words would ever be enough.
To all the incredible parents, family members, mentors, teachers, allies, friends, and loved ones here today who have supported these students in their pursuit of educational enrichment, let me sаy to you now: Welcome to New York. It’s been waiting for you. I’d like to thank NYU for making me technically, on paper at least, a doctor. Not the type of doctor you would want around in the case of an emerge𝚗cy, unless your specific emerge𝚗cy was that you desperately needed to hear a song with a catchy hook and an intensely cathartic bridge section. Or if your emerge𝚗cy was that you needed a person who can nаme over 50 breeds of cats in one minute.I never got to have the normal college experience, per se. I went to public high school until 10th grade and finished my education doing homeschool work on the floors of airport terminals.
