Attention USC grads: even superheroes fail, but they keep going

More than 20,000 students at the University of Southern California graduated on Friday, May 12, as members of the class of 2023.

A good number may have a job or acceptance to a graduate program lined up. But for those whose future is uncertain, that’s fine, too.

“You’ve got time. You’re on the right path. But remember: a good story always moves forward. And that requires action,” said Marvel Studios president and Hollywood producer Kevin Feige, who delivered a commencement address jam-packed with references to superheroes.

Success comes with trying new things, taking risks and “leading with ‘yes’ instead of ‘no’” – traits that have come to define the characters in Marvel movies, Feige said.

But even superheroes fail at times, he then reminded the audience.

“What’s important is that their failure is never the end of their story. They get up. They keep going,” he said, telling the audience he was rejected from USC’s film school five times before being accepted on his sixth attempt. Fast-forward a couple decades, and Feige’s leadership and direction is credited for Marvel Cinematic Universe’s rise to become the highest-grossing film franchise.

“My wish for you, graduates, is that you get comfortable with failure, with rejection,” Feige said. “Accept that it’s a possibility, but never let it define you. And never let it hold you back.”

Feige, who graduated from USC in 1995, received an honorary degree from the university on Friday, along with Frances Arnold, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in chemistry, and iconic labor leader Dolores Huerta. All three were on hand to help celebrate the university’s newest graduates.

This year, USC graduated 20,636 students – a record for the school. This included conferring 5,760 undergraduate degrees and 14,876 graduate and professional degrees, according to the university.

Additionally, more than 4,800 of the graduates were first-generation college students and more than 6,200 were international students, according to university President Carol Folt, who called the class of 2023 one of the most diverse in USC’s history.

While the overall mood during the commencement ceremony was celebratory, speakers also used the occasion to take stock of heavier moments students in the class of 2023 have lived through in the past four years – a global pandemic, civil unrest across the nation and the war in Ukraine, to name a few.

At the same time, Folt said, the last four years were marked with fortitude and innovation, from the development of COVID-19 vaccines in record time to emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, and student-led efforts that prioritized sustainability practices and urged the university to divest from fossil fuel.

And in a nod to this spring’s superbloom of wildflowers in California, Folt noted that superblooms usually occur a decade apart. Yet it was just four years ago since the state’s last superbloom phenomenon.

“That is a wonderful coincidence because the last four years have been anything but normal, and yet here you are. … I see you as a stunning superbloom. You matured in times both sweet and difficult. And you’re facing this day burnished with achievement and promise,” Folt said.

Valedictorian Isha Sanghvi also touched on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic but encouraged her classmates to use the skills and lessons learned to confront today’s biggest challenges.

“We are just the group of people to advocate for change and fight to see it through,” Sanghvi said. “We learned how to adapt in the spring of 2020, and we haven’t stopped using that skill since.”

Friday’s event marked the 140th commencement ceremony for USC. The university estimated that about 70,000 guests attended the ceremony, which took place on campus at Alumni Memorial Park.

It was a much larger gathering than last year’s commencement ceremony, where 4,627 undergraduates and 7,989 graduate students took part in the event, which was attended by about 6,000 family members and friends.

Source: Orange County Register