Olurolakemi Odufowokan

I want to begin with an enormous thank you. Thank you to the faculty, thank you to the staff, thank you to the families and thank you to the friends who have been by our sides to support us to reach this moment. I want to give a special thanks to my parents, my siblings and especially the friends I have made during my time here. However, most of all, I would like to thank and congratulate each graduate today. I am honored to stand in front of you today and proclaim: Class of 2022, we did it!

As we take the first steps toward our future, we need to reflect on our past and what has brought us here. Though we may not have realized it then, each memory we have made during our studies is invaluable. My first memory with the Jindal School was when I interviewed to be a part of the management honors program prior to my first year. I was asked what legacy I wanted to leave after I graduated. At that time, I replied, “To have a building named after me.” While that has not happened yet, it cemented the fact that at UTD, I could make history.

However, I have learned that stars shine even brighter when clustered together, and it is together, we, the graduating class, have created history on and off campus. I have been in awe of you, my fellow graduates, who were resilient enough to watch the world fall into a pandemic, thrive in a digital age and even reemerge to resume life in person. It is you who, through all the tribulations, have created your own companies at the Blackstone LaunchPad, participated in student organizations, competitions and research, and most recently contributed to our school’s stellar rankings across all programs! Class of 2022, you are extraordinary.

You did not bring yourself to this day alone, but we are all essential actors in our lives. Though we have different majors, different levels of study and different origins, it is this institution that served as a melting pot where we reached our full potential. With the MBA and master’s students in our school’s Consulting Leadership and Development Society, I learned to be data-driven and began a fruitful career in management consulting. It is my fellow undergraduates with whom I have competed in case competitions and worked on projects that I learned the foundation of our future vocations and about whom I desire to be. Those who offered a friendly smile as we walked past each other in the halls who got me through the toughest of days.

Such is why I implore you all not to stop here. Seize hold of life and create the history we want to see. As Comets, we have learned that the sky is not the limit, rather, there is an expansive universe ripe for exploration for the brave and determined. Though I challenge you with this task now, I know it is not easy. At times it may even be terrifying. Remember that you are a Comet in those moments of fear, and you are not alone. The challenges we will face will be more considerable, perhaps even unprecedented. However, like myself, I know that every graduate today no longer wants to live on the sidelines to experience history. Instead, we will be the ones that go down in the history books.

Though we are graduating, this does not have tobe the last page of our stories at The University of Texas at Dallas. Continue to collaborate and reach new heights together. As we go out onto professions, service or even further our education, we strive to positively impact the world around us. At the end of the day, let them say it was a Comet that blazed across our skies. Thank you, Class of 2022, and thank you UTD.

Olurolakemi Odufowokan came to The University of Texas at Dallas from George Bush High School in Houston, and is graduating today magna cum laude with a degree in global business. She joined UTD in August 2018 and received an Academic Excellence Scholarship and a Naveen Jindal School of Management Freshman Excellence Scholarship. She is also a member of the Davidson Management Honors Program. She has been involved in various organizations across campus including Model United Nations, Consulting Leadership and Development Society, Dallas Formula Racing and Delta Sigma Pi. She has worked as a Peer Advisor helping to guide the college experience of students in our on-campus apartments and residence halls. Over the past years, she has interned at Pinwheel, Oliver Wyman and most recently with the Global Development Initiative, where she consulted a foreign company on its market entry strategy into the Dallas-Fort Worth area. After graduation, she plans to continue as a consultant at Oliver Wyman.