Nakisha Evans '02 has been selected by the Office of the Dean of Student Life to deliver the undergraduate speech at Commencement 2002. "I'm excited that I was picked to represent the class of 2002," Evans said.

According to the selection process for senior speaker, seniors wishing to be considered for speaker must submit an essay. The selection committee, which consists of four elected and four randomly selected seniors from a list generated by the registrar and four faculty members, then narrows this field down to nine or 10 students. Dean Richard Sawyer chairs the committee, but does not have a vote.

Next, the senior class votes, and the top five students are selected to then give their speech before the committee, which eventually selects the one speaker. The speaker is then reviewed and approved by President Jehuda Reinharz.

This year, Evans was selected out of the 19 seniors who applied to be speakers by submitting an essay on the Brandeis experience.

"Coming out of the first round of selections, her essay was clearly chosen by people as one of the top essays," Kaitlin Nichols '02, senator for the Class of 2002 and member of the selection committee said. "Coming out of the second round where everyone voted online, she was chosen as one of the top five in that election . The next step in this process was the top five came and gave their speech to us . Her presentation and her delivery was outstanding."

While Evans said she does not yet know exactly what she will speak about, she said that it will most definitely relate to her experience as Brandeis, which has been "multicultural and activist."

"I feel that I got selected because of what I embody," Evans said. "I never tried to hide who I was ... I do diversity, I am this loud activist."

"Students knew these things are a big part of me," she added,

Still, Evans said her speech will not be without humor.

'Will it be funny? Of course," she said. "There's a lot that's funny about Brandeis."

Evans is a double concentrator in Politics and African American Studies (AAAS), as well as a dean's list student who is a Peace and Coexistence Fellow.

She is a co-coordinator of the Brandeis chapter of the Society Organized Against Racism (SOAR), was elected as student representative to the Board of Trustees, served as the Undergraduate Departmental Representative to the AAAS Department, is a member of the Programming Board of the Intercultural Center, and the Black Student Organization (BBSO). She is also a McNair Scholar.

Evans is currently writing her Senior research project titled "And So the Girl Marries: The Cultural Politics of Marriage in African-American Culture."

"The student body picked her, her essay was incredible, and her presentation and delivery was amazing," Nichols said.

"I like to think that I got picked because I embody the spirit of the class of 2002," Evans said.



Michaela May and

Yanna Krupnikov contributed to this article