Master’s in Data Science Graduate Speaker Credits Degree for Building Lasting Friendships
Alvin Ng was the Master of Information and Data Science student speaker at the May 2024 UC Berkeley School of Information Commencement
Alvin Ng delivered the following address on May 18, 2024, at Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley —
Fellow graduates, esteemed faculty, proud parents, loved ones, and all those who accidentally stumbled into this ceremony looking for free snacks, good afternoon!
A year ago, I was out there amongst the audience, with a group of friends who later became my capstone team, celebrating those who were graduating a year ahead of us.
We knew one year later that it would be us who would be getting the congratulations. We started joking about me being the student speaker and how I should advertise Irvine in my speech due to my love for the place. And because we are a bunch of data science students, of course, we used ChatGPT to write us a speech...
Because, it was all fun and game until I got the news about being elected as the speaker, and everything got real. So in order not to give Irvine a bad reputation, I got serious about how I could give the best speech and leave some memorable quotes that may one day be made into memes by the younger generation.
I was struggling to find a topic until one day I was talking to my therapist and he asked: “Is there something in your life that you are proud of?” For the most part, I have always considered myself extremely fortunate — meeting the right people and joining the right profession at the right time. However, the one thing I am proud of is surrounding myself with people I admire. Friends such as those whom I had the absolute honor to work with on our capstone. Friends with such strong morals that they decided to build a summarization engine for a probation agency instead of building me a match-making service using OkCupid data like I had suggested. Every single person I have met through MIDS has left me in constant awe and admiration and you guys motivate me to become better every day.
So, instead of me giving life advice to a group of audience members, the majority of whom probably have more years of life experience than I do, I want to use this opportunity to celebrate.
To celebrate the fact that most of us finally have our weekend back… no more coordinating time zone meetings with project peers from all over the world; no more asking your boss if it’s ok to have your class during the middle of the workday; and most importantly, no more taking classes in your car because you have a pickleball match to catch right after.
I have the utmost respect for every single one of us graduates… not only because we had the dedication/courage to come back to school (perhaps we all forgot how much studying we had to do for undergrad… the readings, the math…), but also because we managed to juggle a full-time job, a part-time master and a family. This was not an easy feat. I don’t know how I did it, and I don’t know how everyone did it. That said, I know our friends and families probably really missed seeing our faces.
And for that, I want to say thank you — a sincere thank you to all the loved ones whose support gave us the opportunity and motivation to finish this degree. Without every single one of you in the audience, we would not have done it. Graduates, please give them all a big hug.
Lastly, I want to add, as you move forward into the next phase of your lives, I encourage you to consider making Irvine your home. Wait no, wrong speech again. Alright, for those who I have met and not met throughout this entire program, I also want to give you my sincere thank you. I would not have done it without all the helping hands. I strongly believe that the community we have built here and the impact we will be making coming out of this program will be long-lasting. I am grateful and honored to be elected as your (class of 2024) commencement speaker and I am proud to call myself a MIDS graduate. Go Bears!
