集美麻豆

Steve Pemberton chatted with students prior to addressing the Class of 2020 at First Year Academic Convocation on September 8. (Lee Pellegrini)

What does it mean to you to be the first alumnus to speak to students at First Year Convocation?

What an honor just to address the freshman class. But to be the first alumnus, given the University鈥檚 long and storied history, is a very humbling thing. It鈥檚 also illustrative of how things come full circle. I arrived on this campus as a freshman still trying to figure out some things that most 18-year-olds had figured out: Where鈥檚 home, family, faith, identity? I came here still trying to figure out where I stood in the world. I remember how vivid those experiences were 鈥� and questions that were on my mind I suspect are also on the minds of the first-year students. 聽

You鈥檝e said Boston College was the only place you wanted to attend, after having seen a brochure in the seventh grade. But when you arrived, the transition wasn鈥檛 as smooth as you would have hoped. Talk about that experience.

Some of it was my own lack of understanding of what it meant to be a college student. I still remember asking my roommate in freshman year, 鈥淲hat鈥檚 a GPA?聽 What鈥檚 a syllabus?鈥� I didn鈥檛 know any of the basics. I had gotten admitted on, very likely, a raw intellect and my grades of course. Then the social interactions were a real challenge. There were some things I saw, particularly early on, that just didn鈥檛 resonate with me at all. So you combine that with no sense of foundation and no one for me to go talk to about these kinds of challenges. There were some tough discussions.

I remember having debates with my dorm mates about affirmative action, and the insinuation I was there because of affirmative action. That wasn鈥檛 true, but initially it was a struggle. At the time I didn鈥檛 have the ability to convey that I had arrived here from an experience most of my classmates did not have.

Nor that they would ever want.

It鈥檚 interesting, I recently had somebody who felt being around me was being in my shadow. At one point I said, 鈥淲hatever light you think is on me, you would not want to have paid the price to have that light on you, if that鈥檚 what you think it is.鈥� It鈥檚 not an even exchange to say, 鈥淲ell, you have a degree of success and accomplishment. You can have all those things but we鈥檙e going to take away your mother and father and any sense of home, siblings.鈥� Would you make that trade? No, nobody would make that trade. So whatever light you assume you鈥檇 have came from experiences that you wouldn鈥檛 want. Nobody signs up for that. No parent wants it for their child; no individual wants that for themselves. But you do persevere through it. I think there鈥檚 something instructive about that, too.

What lessons did you learn at Boston College that you still use today?

The sense of a greater collective, that despite everything I had lost, I still had a responsibility and ability to change the arc of others鈥� lives. I was never able to feel sorry for myself.

Never?

Never. I was working one summer with the custodial crew and had a discussion with some of the guys one day. They asked me about family background and I said, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have any family.鈥� They said, 鈥淲e understand that, but you are still here and you鈥檝e got it all, despite what you鈥檝e lost. You鈥檝e got an opportunity to correct all of this.鈥� It was like they were talking to a much younger version of themselves as they were talking to me. They told me, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e really fortunate, despite it all, to be here.鈥�

Part of you had thought about leaving school 鈥� you even jokingly said to the crew, 鈥淗ey let me work with you guys next fall as a custodian on campus.鈥�

Oh yeah, and they let me have it. They weren鈥檛 playing around either.聽 They made it clear in no uncertain terms that working with them was not an option. I hadn鈥檛 intended on offending them, and not that they took it as an offense, but what they were saying was, 鈥淲e have greater expectations for you than perhaps even you realize are available to you.鈥�

I think that was probably the first time I realized that, 鈥淗ey, wait a minute. There is a life experience that I鈥檝e had here, a way in which I see the world, a way in which I can think, move, and operate that鈥檚 a bit different.鈥� I think faster and can get to a solution faster but that was a function of survival. You have to wake up every day wondering, 鈥淗ow am I going to eat today? How am I going to be safe today?鈥�

So you fast-forward all these years later and I really quickly say, 鈥淪o what鈥檚 our challenge? What鈥檚 our solution?鈥� It鈥檚 the one-third, two-third rule. One third was, 鈥淲hat鈥檚 the challenge?鈥� Two thirds were, 鈥淗ow do we solve it?鈥� And when you distribute your energy that way, it makes a big difference.

I think you ought to devote yourself to causes and commitments that have nothing to do with you. It鈥檚 just not about your tribe; it鈥檚 about a broader collective, too, because there鈥檚 something valuable and instructive, something you take away from that.

What message you do hope students come away with from reading A Chance in the World?

I wrote the book for several reasons. Most of them are not evident at first glance. I did not write it as a cathartic exercise to heal from all things that had been lost because there鈥檚 a hard truth when you lose that much that early. There is no way to replace that. At that age, it鈥檚 a cavernous void in you. Nor was it really an exercise of me saying, 鈥淟et me show you how lucky you are.鈥� I wasn鈥檛 even thinking that way. I was trying to tell a more universal story about family, that it鈥檚 much broader and wider than you imagine. About faith, fortitude, and forgiveness. The ability to build a new beginning, to be the hero of your own story. And most importantly, for future generations of my own family, to realize that there鈥檚 a lot that鈥檚 been invested in you for my children, and their children, and their children. There was this man once who decided he could right the wrongs that he inherited and that those very experiences actually gave him the power and the ability to do that. That is a very different narrative than 鈥淲oe is me.鈥�

What else will you be telling the Class of 2020?

Something that I do want to talk to them about is something that happened after I wrote the book. And it was the stories of other people鈥檚 lives who wrote me afterwards, the things they did and continue to do at a certain stage of their life to find a fulfilled life. They pause with moments of reflection to look at what鈥檚 around them. They fight, they take stands, not necessarily for a specific cause or principle 鈥� that only descends us into tribalism 鈥� but for a greater good and a more common story. They make a big leap at some point and they鈥檙e not entirely sure of whether or not they鈥檙e going to actually land.

Lastly, something I read from Tennyson describing Ulysses. It鈥檚 a small phrase but he says, 鈥淪hine in use.鈥� Not 鈥渟hine,鈥� but 鈥渟hine in use.鈥� Whatever skills, strengths, talents, abilities that have brought this freshman class here are not necessarily for them; they are to be used for others. So in that way, your gifts are like your struggles; they鈥檙e not really for you, they鈥檙e for somebody else.

One more message: the importance of finding common ground. The reason we don鈥檛 do it is because it鈥檚 hard. It鈥檚 hard to give up some of your part to be part of the whole. But when you come here to Boston College that should be expected of you.聽聽聽聽聽 聽

Your book details the horrors of your childhood: searching for food in garbage, emotional and physical abuse, neglect. How was it that you didn鈥檛 become angry or withdrawn? What was the fire that kept burning to succeed and overcome, despite all those obstacles?

It was two things. One was a love of reading. Reading gave me a little bit more than just the technical abilities that come with reading as much as I did. It actually follows that you write, speak, express and articulate yourself with some semblance of success. Reading gave me something higher and more important 鈥� the vision and values of a life beyond the one that I was in. So that was really, really important to me.

Also, I loved the fight. I loved the idea that it was me against them. And I 鈥� armed just with my vision for a different life and a box of books given to me by a neighbor 鈥� and my weapons were going to defeat them and their weapons. There were small things I took great power from. If I stole food from my foster family鈥檚 kitchen, that was an enormous victory, not just because I was going to be able to eat that day but because I had beaten them. 聽

You鈥檙e a voice of hope for the disadvantaged and marginalized children. When you meet with them, what do you say to boost their morale?

There鈥檚 something in particular that I say that鈥檚 really important. My first message to them is, 鈥淚 am you. Just a little bit older and not nearly as beautiful. Don鈥檛 look at me as someone exceptional or extraordinary, or born with some gift or talent that you don鈥檛 have. If you walk away thinking that, then you鈥檝e missed the point of the story entirely.鈥� It鈥檚 not false humility on my part because I know they have that whispering in their soul that says a new beginning is possible and they ought to sail towards that. And believe that it is actually possible to create a new beginning.

鈥淎 chance in the world鈥� 鈥� that was not said of me in a positive way. It was, 鈥淣ot a shot. He didn鈥檛 have a chance.鈥� But a lot of us say that of another. We say that to ourselves sometimes. You know, a class we want to take, an internship we want to pursue. And we think, 鈥淣o, not a chance. No.鈥� But what if you inverted that and said, 鈥淲hat if all I really need is a chance?鈥� It鈥檚 a very different way of looking at things.

Now, it doesn鈥檛 mean that that chance is going to come to fruition; that鈥檚 not the point. The point is to make the leap. You make the leap, even when you鈥檙e not sure. That鈥檚 the victory. Some of these first-year students may be thinking about a company they want to create, a campaign they want to run 鈥� something that at first glance, society tells them, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not ready for that yet.鈥� So leap. And so what if it doesn鈥檛 quite land the way that you want it to? That鈥檚 a lot more important.

Whatever skills, strengths, talents, abilities that have brought this freshman class here are not necessarily for them; they are to be used for others. So in that way, your gifts are like your struggles; they鈥檙e not really for you, they鈥檙e for somebody else.

One more message: the importance of finding common ground. The reason we don鈥檛 do it is because it鈥檚 hard. It鈥檚 hard to give up some of your part to be part of the whole. But when you come here to Boston College that should be expected of you.

You founded "A Chance in the World," which focuses on connecting people in need with those who will provide it for them. You also set up the Pemberton Fund for the Future with the Home for Little Wanderers to help kids who are aging out of the foster care system. What are other ways you鈥檝e chosen to let the disadvantaged know that there鈥檚 hope and help?

There are also the New Yorkers for Children and the United Friends for Children in California. With those two organizations, we have actually created internship programs at Walgreens because I know what it鈥檚 like to age out of the system. At that point in your life, there are only one of two options. Going to college is very difficult. Less than three percent of kids who age out of the system go on to college, and less than one percent of them graduate. Sobering numbers. The other option is employment.

So what if we could introduce them to the world of work early on? So yes, I have my non-profit and philanthropic commitments. I鈥檓 also chair of the board of the United States Business Leadership Network, a consortium of companies focused on employing people with disabilities. I don鈥檛 have a disability and my children don鈥檛, but I think you ought to devote yourself to causes and commitments that have nothing to do with you. It鈥檚 just not about your tribe; it鈥檚 about a broader collective, too, because there鈥檚 something valuable and instructive, something you take away from that.

Bernie鈥檚 Book Bank is a great non-profit that puts books in the hands of children and you鈥檇 understand why I would support that, because that鈥檚 how important books were to me. And Chance in the World, which [my wife] Tonya and I have founded, is built around the premise of small things, whether you need a trunk for college or an application fee or a box of books. We keep going back to the things that made such an impact on me and who gave them to me, just average, everyday ordinary people.

Despite your success, you鈥檝e