Student Speaker Lydia Brubaker's '05 Commencement Address:

When I did my interview for senior speaker, a member of the selection committee asked me to describe Muhlenberg using just one word. My mind raced. How could I possibly express, in one word, the immeasurable effects of the experiences I’ve had here? How could I capture the myriad ways that this place, and the people here, have helped to shape me as a human being? The task seemed nearly impossible, but the answer I ended up giving was the word, “home.” And as I walked down academic row that evening, I thought, “Come on, Lydia! That was like the lamest answer you could’ve possibly given! They’re never going to let you speak!” But the more I thought about it, over the past few weeks, the more I realized that there’s a lot of truth in the claim I made, though perhaps not exactly in the way I meant it at the time.

I meant that Muhlenberg is “home” because it’s a place that I’ve grown to treasure. It’s a place where I’m comfortable, where I feel like I can “be myself.” I feel like I belong on this campus, whether I’m sitting on the lawn staring up at Victor’s Lament or sitting in a classroom in Moyer. I love to be serving coffee behind the Java Joe cart or conducting a rehearsal in the TP Lobby. The people at Muhlenberg have become very special to me as well. I’ve made friends here that have laughed and cried with me, and I know I can always count on them. I’ve found faculty and staff members here who have taught me volumes and inspired me to continue pursuing knowledge while always holding on to my creative spirit. However, the people and places that make up this college community have been much more to me than just a comfort zone.

Recently, in an effort to merge my two fields of study, I led a group of students in a theatrical exploration of postmodern philosophy. One of our goals with this project was to give people a new aesthetic experience of the campus – to make them look at the campus in new ways. In order to do this, we juxtaposed the themes of The Wizard of Oz against the ideals projected by the college. You may recall the Haas Tower turning green, as the Emerald City, for 5 minutes one night, or the fluorescent yellow bricks on academic row. Aside from creating mass confusion and hysteria – especially among plant ops workers, who mistakenly thought that the yellow substance was spray paint instead of chalk – the best thing to come out of the project, for me, was the opportunity to really examine the college and what it means to me.

In the process, I rediscovered an article I had read in Charlie Richter’s “Intro to Dramatic Arts” class, way back in freshman year. The article, by Linda Hansen, is called, “Experiencing the World as Home: Reflections on Dorothy’s Quest in The Wizard of Oz.” Hansen compares Dorothy’s Journey to our search for a spiritual home, but I think it can also be applied to our time as Muhlenberg students. Hansen says, “Oz is best understood by Dorothy…not as a way of escaping Kansas, but as energizing her for Kansas, for the work of bringing joyful possibilities to life there…because of Oz, she is ready now for Kansas to be home.” Like Dorothy’s adventures in Oz, I believe that Muhlenberg has energized us for our future endeavors. The experiences we’ve had here have allowed us to feel at home in the world, wherever we go after graduation. We joke about living in a bubble at Muhlenberg, but this so-called bubble is not an escape from reality. Rather, it is an environment where we can do the growing that is necessary for bringing all the joyful possibilities we imagine to realization in the world around us when we leave.

So, Muhlenberg is home for all of us, but it’s not home because we have our favorite chair in the library or because of late-night games of Frisbee golf or manhunt in the CA. The crazy squirrels don’t make it home and neither do the bagel bombs in GQ. It’s not home because of those professors we’ve talked with for hours in hopes that some of their genius will rub off on us. And it’s not even home because of the friends we still can’t get enough of after we’ve played charades and card games with them until the wee hours of the morning. All these things and people are important, and I will treasure them all, but, as Linda Hansen says, “Home is not a place ‘out there’ to be found, but a power – like intelligence, love, or courage – to be developed.” Muhlenberg is home for us because the people and places here have formed the environment in which we’ve developed the power to be at home in the world. Our time at Muhlenberg has given us the opportunity to learn and grow, and to discover the possibilities that exist for us in the world, and now we are ready to move on. Each of us is now ready to do the work of making the world home for others, to show everyone else the possibilities we have found while at Muhlenberg. Whether we start a job, attend graduate school, move to a new city, travel the world, or even stick around to do a little more thinking and planning, Muhlenberg will always be an important part of what we call home. I hope that as you embark on new adventures, you will each carry with you those joyful possibilities you’ve discovered during your time here, and always be on the lookout for ways to bring them to life in the world around you.