Aliyah Khan
I won’t stand here and say that once we graduate all our self-doubts will disappear. Just like in school, there may always be someone you compare yourself to or look up to in your career. But be confident in who you are and don’t be afraid to learn along the way. In order to overcome impostor syndrome, we must have compassion for ourselves. Share your feelings, your questions and your doubts, and set manageable and reasonable goals.
– Aliyah Khan
Welcome to faculty, friends, family and, of course, our School of Interdisciplinary Studies Class of 2022! My name is Aliyah Khan, and it is an honor to stand and speak before you all.
Today we have completed a major milestone. Whether you are accepting a bachelor’s degree or a master’s, we all deserve a big congratulations. We have put forth so much effort to get where we are and, despite all those difficult exams, long papers, and late nights, we prevailed and succeeded. Many of us have experienced setbacks and watched our friends graduate before us, or we are leaving behind our friends to graduate early. This is a day of happiness, excitement and even a twinge of anxiety as it is now our turn to move on to the next step in our lives.
These past few years, we have learned how to be independent. Many of us have moved away from home, balanced classes with work and found new friendships here at UTD. In this brief time, we have made UTD our home, and now we are moving away from that home. We are leaving what is familiar and with this comes uncertainty. We started college with the idea that life would be amazing once we graduate. We looked forward to starting our careers, finally making money and being able to do the things we love, like travel or start a family. Now that we are finished with college, it all seems so daunting. Sometimes I feel like I’m still that same freshman trying to figure out if I have enough Comet Cash to buy Chick-fil-A. Now, I have to figure out how to make it in the real world. We must realize that despite these thoughts in the back of our heads, our peers and professors at UTD have helped shape us into well-rounded adults.
Many of us have likely struggled with a little something called impostor syndrome. When I first started college, I often felt less competent than my peers. Everyone was always comparing scores. We all know that one person in the GroupMe who said they did terribly on an exam when they got a 98 and you barely passed. I felt like everyone around me was smarter than me and that I was falling behind in achieving my goals. I felt like a disappointment because I didn’t have three research labs under my belt by my second semester of freshman year. Despite those feelings, I am here today graduating with all of you. I learned that constantly comparing myself to others would never make me feel any better or do any better. I learned to embrace myself. I joined different clubs and Greek life and surrounded myself with people who would help uplift me. By my senior year, I had helped charter a new sorority on campus, I had switched majors and left pre-med behind, and I had excelled in classes I heard horror stories about like A&P and Organic Chemistry. Freshman year me had no idea we were capable of this.
Keep in mind that today is a celebration of us. We are capable. The world is evolving around us so quickly and, with this, we are discovering ourselves. All those classes we dreaded waking up for taught us accountability, they taught us how to do our own research, how to form logical thoughts and opinions and how to trust in our abilities. I won’t stand here and say that once we graduate all our self-doubts will disappear. Just like in school, there may always be someone you compare yourself to or look up to in your career. But be confident in who you are and don’t be afraid to learn along the way. In order to overcome impostor syndrome, we must have compassion for ourselves. Share your feelings, your questions and your doubts, and set manageable and reasonable goals.
As you move on from college and enter the professional world, think of this quote by A.A. Milne, author of Winnie the Pooh: “You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
I wish you all the best of luck in your adventures and I am happy to share this day with you. Thank you!
Aliyah Khan came to The University of Texas at Dallas from Klein High School in Spring, Texas. She is graduating today with a Bachelor of Science in healthcare studies. On campus, she was a founder and secretary of the Native American Student Association, as well as a founding sister of Alpha Kappa Delta Phi. In 2021, she was awarded the I.R.I.S. Award for her dedication to the five pillars of her sorority: Sisterhood, Scholarship, Leadership, Service and Asian Awareness. Outside of UTD, she was the founder and chairwoman of the Seventh Generation Youth Council for the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana. After graduation she will work at a pediatric clinic and apply for the upcoming physician assistant school cycle.