In uncertain times, grads advised to ‘live the question’

11 complete master's degrees at SIT Graduate Institute

May 9th, 2020   |   School for International Training, SIT Graduate Institute

Eleven students completed their master's degree programs May 8 at SIT Graduate Institute, closing out their two-year low-residency programs with virtual capstones presentations and an online commencement ceremony. The 11 students completed their degrees in SIT programs in International Education, Sustainable Development, and Intercultural Service, Leadership & Management.

Dr. Alla Korzh was lead facilitator of the capstone seminar. Following are the remarks she gave at the closing ceremony:

"Congratulations, graduates!

"Your graduation in the midst of the pandemic is testament to the resilience, adaptability, determination, and courage needed to conquer challenges facing our world today. Reflecting on where we are now, we probably have many more questions than answers, and this uncertainty is unsettling for everyone. And yet today, I am reminded of Rainer Maria Rilke’s quote:

Have patience with everything that remains unresolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. At present you need to live the question.

"Be in the moment. Be comfortable in the discomfort of the unknown. And live the question of what if? And if so, how? What world do we envision and deserve post-pandemic? How will each of us shape it the way we envision it?

What world do we envision and deserve post-pandemic? How will each of us shape it the way we envision it?

"I am confident that all of you -- with deep hearts, invincible will, electrifying passion for your professional cause, and steadfast commitment to justice -- will be contributing to a more just, compassionate, science-based, and sustainable world, the one in which our individual actions will shape the collective response to the calamities facing this planet, in which each and every single one of us can make a difference. So, as Henry David Thoreau said, go confidently in the direction of your dreams!"