Luisa Gerstner da Rosa was selected as the student speaker for this year’s commencement at the University of Utah. The information systems and operations management double major was one of 44 students asked to write speeches. She decided to give it a shot and sent in her speech, which centers around the concept of bridges.
Originally from Porto Alegre, a city in southern Brazil, Gerstner da Rosa came to the U to play tennis.
“That’s all I’ve done for my entire life,” she said. “I’ve been playing tennis since I was six, very often and very seriously. So that has been my life for pretty much all of my life. Now it won’t be anymore, I’m done.”
Now that she has graduated, Gerstner da Rosa hopes to focus on her other interests. She loves music — both listening to it and making it. Gerstner da Rosa is excited to spend more time on that, as well as with friends, cooking and eating.
She plans to return to Brazil for a period of time to enjoy herself and do things that she couldn’t while going to school seriously. Gerstner da Rosa is most excited, however, to reconnect with the things that make Brazil home.
“I miss the food in Brazil,” she said. “I also miss my friends and my family a lot. Back home we have a habit of sitting down for meals. You sit down and talk for a while for every meal, and here you’re always on the go and on the run. You hurry and eat a sandwich or something.”
Now that she has her degree, Gerstner da Rosa is not certain where she wants to go next.
“My life is a really open book right now,” she explained. “At the beginning of next year I want to go to Africa on a social project or somewhere in South America. After that, I don’t really know where I want to go.”
Although Gerstner da Rosa is unsure of her direction, she knows she wants to help people. She intends to work for a nonprofit organization and hopes that she can make a difference. In her commencement speech, she spoke about her goals and her hopes that other people will also try to make a difference in the world
“My speech revolve[d] around the concept of bridges and building bridges to places we thought we couldn’t go,” she said. “It’s the bridges that we build with other people. I believe that this concept is very representative of my time here at this school, as well as many peoples’ time here.”
“Work hard, and believe in yourself,” she added as the last word of advice for her graduating class. “Have the drive to go somewhere.”