Evans Liolin/
It is indeed an honor to address you fine students today. It wasn’t long ago that I was in your shoes — ambitious, curious, excited, & if I’m being honest, trepidatious. To begin, I commend you, VATRA, for selecting such excellent prospects, and I congratulate you students, for choosing an appropriately challenging path at the outset of your lives. Perhaps like you, I have always aimed high. In primary school, I tried to read a couple grades ahead, as a young lightweight oarsman, I raced heavy. As a musician, I aspired to learn the most challenging stuff & played with musicians ten years my senior. As a collegiate freshman, I took senior level courses, and as a senior, I did graduate work. My grades suffered for it, and my path was not linear. I failed often, but better opportunities, and better mentors, kept coming. Over time, I amassed a broader set of experiences than many of my peers. The more difficult path, it turns out, regardless of grades & other metrics, is often the way to succeed, and that’s success as *you* define it. As they say, the extra mile is never crowded.
My education has opened doors I didn’t know existed; I have lived in five great American cities, and forged friendships with uniquely talented peers who have done wonderfully inspiring things. As a coach for Northeastern, Georgetown, Yale & USRowing, I have traveled to compete in five countries, representing the United States, and indirectly, the Albanians.
And when life offered up its predictably unpredictable challenges, my friends and family were there. Sometimes you will experience this care as oppressive, and this is natural. Over time, you may come to see these intercessions as a loving family clearing the way for you. Through all of it, it is mission critical that you learn to read your own instincts, fight for your beliefs, defend those you love, and otherwise navigate what well-meaning people will call ‘the real world.’ Sometimes we need ease, and sometimes challenge. It can be hard to decipher which, and when, is most appropriate. I have full confidence you will figure it out.
Today, people seek opportunity differently than when I was coming up, with social apps at the forefront, as opposed to mailing a cover letter and resume. In many ways, it still comes down to who you know. So treat everyone with respect & listen to them, I mean *really* listen to them: the world leader, the janitor, the restaurant owner, the waiter or waitress on their first awkward day, the celebrated scholar & the hotel maid, those born with a silver spoon, and the homeless, the severely accomplished, and the quiet one in the corner, who hasn’t yet found their voice. So often, you will come to discover, they are one & the same. When you do find your confidence & courage, share it with those who are still searching. If you often put others first, there will come a time, when you least expect it, that they will collectively put you first, for all the best reasons.
And if you do GOOD over time, you might land in a place where your resume becomes a formality, a synopsis of the work you have done to build yourself, and serve others. In looking back, I never removed that VATRA scholarship from my resume. It was not large by today’s standards, but for an
ambitious student like myself, the resources helped me attend the University of New Hampshire & the University of Chicago, the number one party school at the time, and then, academic bootcamp. What can I say, I’m Albanian, I like the extremes.
While I flipped pizzas, mowed lawns, waited tables, cleaned bathrooms, wrote grants, and tutored underprivileged kids to pay for school, something made me leave that scholarship on my CV. In truth, my VATRA scholarship lives foundationally on the bottom of the page to this day, anchoring my life’s experience, like the sturdy Albanian mountains providing a safe home for our ancestors.
My father, whom you may remember by his charismatic presence, or by reputation, attended Princeton, and brought spiritual hope to our homeland. He may have even helped your parents and grandparents situate themselves when they first landed here. Like us, Dad cherished education. He didn’t grow up with fancy things, but when university life arrived, he was able to focus on his interests. It is my hope that the support you receive
from VATRA will afford you the opportunity to build yourselves with that same, pure, freedom.
Long before he died, my father encouraged me to cherish my heritage. There are so few of us he said. At the time, I was a devoted trail runner—I like to run & hike to gather & refine my thoughts. Reflecting on my father’s words, I noticed I could either trip, or propel, off roots on the trail. In a way, it was my choice — a fitting metaphor for how you might regard your Albanian heritage, *your* roots. Our familial intensity is sometimes distracting, but it can also serve as a powerful leveraging point as you navigate life’s challenges.
Some of our fellow countrymen & women will tell you to ‘make us proud.’ I encourage you to make yourself proud, on your terms, and not only of your eventual accomplishments, but how you achieve them. Learn to condense and refine that breathtaking, but sometimes diffuse Albanian urgency. In effect, you need to hurry, but with patience. Immerse in the moment, but always think long game.
A globally respected friend and oarswoman, Caryn Davies, is Harvard’s most decorated Olympian. She recently helped a group formulate a better understanding of proper leadership, “How can you create space for someone *else* to perform?” Her question affirms, and gives peace to, my better instincts. VATRA, by supporting your efforts, is doing just that, and as you move through life, I encourage you to create that space for others.
In closing, as you cultivate your learned talents, beliefs, skills and fascinations, meld them with your inherited traditions. When you inevitably doubt yourself, know that our historically unique ancestors are with you: Cleopatra, Alexander the Great, Skanderbeg, Mother Teresa, John Belushi, Dua Lipa, this list of splendid human beings of diverse talent goes on… Never forget that we here, are for you, and that I am here for you, as my father, and my grandfathers were before me. So… Bonne Chance, Për Shumë Vjet, Gëzuar, and… Ju dua Shumë…