Taylor Swift to give NYU commencement speech
NEW YORK >> Both Jenny Dhoumo and Lauren Kirshenbaum found out on Instagram.
Dhoumo, a 24-year-old New York University senior was in a cafe, doing schoolwork, when she saw a friend's repost from Rolling Stone, announcing that Taylor Swift would speak at the NYU commencement this month and receive an honorary doctorate of fine arts.
Dhoumo, who will receive a degree in media, culture and communications, after a challenging college enrollment that lasted seven years across three universities — she took time off to work and help her family — has been a fan of Swift's since her girlhood in Queens; Swift's debut album was the first CD she owned. She had been fretting about her prospects after graduation. The news seemed auspicious.
“This felt like a weird sign, like a reassurance that things will be OK,” Dhoumo said at the blooming edge of Washington Square Park, the public space in Greenwich Village that doubles as the university's quad. “I think her being this icon of my youth, and now being here in my adulthood, she's coming back to me. Not to relive my childhood, but maybe to connect to my inner child a little.” To say, “Remember who you were back when you were 11 years old, and now you're here today, this young woman, getting ready for the world.”
Kirshenbaum, a 22-yearold computer science major and a self-described “medium fan” of Swift's, marveled at the singer's persistence and pertinence in her life.
“It's crazy to think of the people I grew up listening to — Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles — and how relevant they still are,” she said. “We've kind of evolved with them.”
The pop star has had 10 albums hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts since 2006, nearly the entirety of most students' memories.
“She feels deeply. It's a great talent,” said Senniah Mason, a 21-year-old international relations major from Phoenix, who was having graduation pictures taken with her roommate, Isabelle Jacques, a 22-yearold psychology major from Boston.
Students receive only two tickets, and the university is trying to enforce its prohibition on selling seats to the event however it can, even by threatening to withhold diplomas from rule breakers.