Smrithi Upadhyayula

Fellow Comets, faculty, family and friends, I am forever grateful for the opportunity to speak to you. I am also grateful for my parents, my professors and my friends; without their unwavering support, I would not be standing here today.

As Dr. Dean Ornish once said, “The need for connection and community is primal, as fundamental as the need for air, water and food.” Three years ago, we all learned just how true that is. Many of us were separated from the school, work and family environments that enrich and uplift us. We faced previously unfathomable levels of isolation, often alongside enormous personal and professional challenges. But the UT Dallas community carried on. We organized online study groups, helping each other solve problems on the Zoom whiteboard and intentionally putting faces to the names on our class rosters. We offered encouragement before difficult exams and shared notes in our class GroupMes. Reporters for The Mercury conducted fascinating virtual interviews, bringing us all closer to happenings on campus. Our chess, esports and Model United Nations teams competed — and excelled — in online competitions. Our University Emergency Medical Response staff continued to provide vital medical services to those still on campus. And when COVID-19 vaccines became available, we stepped up to serve as a vaccination center for the broader community around us.

It wasn’t always easy, but we kept our community alive so that when we returned to campus, there were familiar faces to greet us and mentors invested in our success to guide us along the way. Today is a day to celebrate that community and all we have gained from it, as well as to look ahead at all the amazing ways in which we will shape our communities in the future. One thing I’ve learned from going through college during the pandemic and spending this semester in Washington, D.C., as an Archer Fellow is that community is malleable. My college community was born online, transitioned back in person, and through the Archer

Fellowship, has expanded to include friends and colleagues from across the UT System. Community transcends time, modality and location, and it truly is what we make of it.

Now, equipped with the degrees we’ve earned, the connections we’ve made and the life skills we’ve learned, we are more prepared than ever before to contribute to the world around us in meaningful new ways. So, as you enter your new job, your new home or whatever the next phase of your journey may be, I leave you with this question: How will you reach out, and carry forward the vital gift of community?

Congratulations, Class of 2023! I wish you the best of luck! Thank you.

Smrithi Upadhyayula is graduating summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in cognitive science, a minor in music and Collegium V honors. Since starting at UTD as a National Merit Scholar in fall 2020, she has been involved in several student organizations including Molding Doctors, The Mercury, Delta Zeta Sorority and Collegium V Council. She was a flute soloist in Musica Nova, UTD’s advanced chamber music ensemble, and served as a vice president of the award-winning UTD Model United Nations team. She was an undergraduate research assistant in Dr. Michael Burton’s Neuroimmunology and Behavior Lab, where she earned publication in Frontiers for Young Minds. She just completed a semester in Washington, D.C., where she represented UTD as an Archer Fellow and interned at the U.S. House of Representatives. After graduation, she will attend medical school at UT Southwestern Medical Center.