okay so do you want to make a difference
I mean a real difference because I’m
Danielle Bart’s and I want to make a
difference we all want to do something
really big and important right we dream
about it but sometimes big isn’t what we
imagine sometimes really making an
impact
doesn’t look like being a superhero
sometimes a big impact looks well small
sometimes it looks like five feet tall
with a brown pixie cut in a floral
patterned skirt or a bald head wearing
wire-rimmed glasses and sometimes we
stumble upon big impact in an old dusty
brick building built in 1970 so go back
with me all the way to 2002 as I was
filling out the top of my SAT test I was
shocked to find two blanks for schools
that would automatically receive my
scores you see I wasn’t ready for this
because I didn’t know where I wanted to
go to college I just knew that skiing
and surfing everyday sounded like great
ideas so the University of Colorado and
the University of Hawaii received my SAT
scores and that was the extent of my
college plan and months later I got a
come on by my office when you get a
chance from the senior guidance
counselor when the counselor calls a
senior to the office you’ve missed some
scholarship deadlines you have forgotten
an application essay but not that day
that day miss Milam said something to me
as casually as if she were reading the
lunch menu she said that my SAT score
from a tiny school like ours in rural
South East Texas qualified me for
financial aid at the University of Texas
I only needed to apply well after that
comment I applied to UT and I never
purchased skis or a surfboard
so when a girl from a tiny town goes to
one of the nation’s largest universities
she’s got to try some new activities and
make some friends right so I try to
sport that I’d never heard of perhaps
you’ve never heard of it it’s called
rowing that’s right like rowing in a
boat and a year later I was offered an
athletic scholarship to stay on the UT
rowing team and as I filled out
paperwork and prepared to sign my name
to accept an athletic scholarship to one
of the most successful athletic
departments in the country I remembered
that comment in miss Mullens office when
she had found funding way back before I
ever knew where I wanted to go to school
when I had no idea how I would pay for
it she was just doing her job but she
changed my life years later at UT I’m
driving home one routine evening after
rowing practice and I got a phone call
from a 409 area code now 409 is
Woodville Texas but I hadn’t lived there
in years so why would they be calling me
and Woodville Texas is a population of
2014 people folks so it’s rare that
anyone’s number is unknown to anyone
else so I answered the phone to bob
Boykin the town photographer that’s
right Bob Lincoln who had taken photos
of every sporting event I’d competed in
every school dance I’d attended and
every town pageant he was calling me in
Austin to talk about the Woodville
Rotary Club meeting that day my name had
come up in conversation because they’d
discovered a fellowship sending students
to countries around the world to study
and live in exchange cultures well we
think you’re uniquely suited for a
program like this and we can’t think of
anyone better to apply well this
international scholarship had a tight
application turnaround in the middle of
finals and naturally I was already
pressed up against a self-imposed
procrastination deadline so I wondered
is a tiny chance it’s some big idea even
worth all this extra effort but the
Rotary Club of Woodville thought so and
Bob Boykin called me
to encourage me to apply so I did and I
won that scholarship and I spent the
year after graduation living in the
Dominican Republic
traveling to numerous countries
mastering my second language and
literally learning more about myself in
the world than I even knew existed all
because of one idea at a Rotary Club
meeting and one phone call with some
words of encouragement years after I’d
moved back to Austin Texas I found out
that the incoming graduate assistant
rowing coach had bailed on her new job
at UT that’s right she had chosen to
pursue her master’s studies at another
school as if there are other schools
worth attending but my coach is called
to say Danielle if you can get into grad
school before the semester starts you
can have her scholarship and you can
coach with us okay so I need to get into
grad school in July for classes that
start in August which requires test
scores that I don’t have application
essays I haven’t written letters of
recommendation I haven’t even requested
Oh in the tiny detail that it requires
all of that seven months ago before
admissions deadlines were closed so I
thought this is impossible but it’s also
too good not to try so I took the GRE
completely unprepared heads up there’s a
writing section on that test and then I
begged for 24-hour turnaround on letters
of recommendation and I crafted the most
creative essays saying how I’d always
wanted to be in that graduate program
even though I didn’t apply eight months
ago when everyone else did and then I
took a day off work and I went traipsing
all over UT’s campus in the heat of July
and I went in every department that
would open the door to explain why they
really wanted me a few weeks later I
talked to the law school in the LBJ
School of Public Affairs and the
government department and the College of
Education and once I was dripping sweat
and out of ideas I just stumbled into
the sociology building the old brown
plain brick dusty sociology building not
because I wanted to study sociology
because I was hot and I was out of ideas
out of hope and that’s the building
where I had taken my favorite course at
UT boundaries and dilemmas issues of
life and death now this wasn’t an issue
of life or death but it was a big
dilemma and I happen to find my
professor from that class in his office
that day and he did something amazing
after I reminded him who I was of course
you see it it would more than four years
since I’d been in his class he invited
me in and spent an hour
scouring departments deadlines and
details and helping me craft my message
and my situation so the department’s
would consider this extraordinary
exception you see with one small gesture
he helped me find funding for my
master’s program which was giant years
later when I walked the stage for my
Master’s graduation it was giant when I
traveled to the NCAA National
Championship for ut’s first ever
appearance and when we were awarded the
national coaching staff of the year
because we came in seventh at our first
ever appearance I realized I am an NCAA
Division one award-winning rowing coach
because one professor opened his door
for one hour in policy school led to
internships that led to campaigns the
led to where I am now on the executive
staff for the mayor of Houston and not a
day goes by that I don’t remember those
small moments with those individuals I’m
so grateful for those small moments with
my very own band ragtag superheroes miss
my alums comment led to funding for
college and a sport that changed my life
and Bob Wiggins phone call sent me
traveling around the world in one hour
with an open door got me to graduate
school that continues to open doors for
me you see now I identify those people
for the mayor’s priorities and I work to
find folks whose knowledge and expertise
in hard work make big differences all
over our city so if any of my small
moments lead to any of those
good people becoming an unsuspecting
superhero for someone else than I to
have had a huge impact so if you’re
hoping to make a big difference one day
consider today because whether you’re a
school counselor for 400 students or a
Rotarian in a tiny town of 2,000 people
or a professor all alone in your office
you can be so big you see my superheroes
didn’t wear capes but they had the power
to transform my entire life
and looking down the road whether I run
a corporation or run for elected office
it will be miss Milam Bob Boykin and
professor ayo whose small moments had
huge impacts because doing your job and
making an encouraging comment and
spending just a little time have big
effects so when people ask me what they
should do to best serve I simply tell
them you don’t need an invitation
you don’t need an official appointment
just show up make your ideas heard and
support someone the effect may not be
immediate and you may never see the
results of the chain of action that
you’re initiating but you an individual
with just one statement one idea or one
hour can have a huge impact thank you
[Applause]
I mean a real difference because I’m
Danielle Bart’s and I want to make a
difference we all want to do something
really big and important right we dream
about it but sometimes big isn’t what we
imagine sometimes really making an
impact
doesn’t look like being a superhero
sometimes a big impact looks well small
sometimes it looks like five feet tall
with a brown pixie cut in a floral
patterned skirt or a bald head wearing
wire-rimmed glasses and sometimes we
stumble upon big impact in an old dusty
brick building built in 1970 so go back
with me all the way to 2002 as I was
filling out the top of my SAT test I was
shocked to find two blanks for schools
that would automatically receive my
scores you see I wasn’t ready for this
because I didn’t know where I wanted to
go to college I just knew that skiing
and surfing everyday sounded like great
ideas so the University of Colorado and
the University of Hawaii received my SAT
scores and that was the extent of my
college plan and months later I got a
come on by my office when you get a
chance from the senior guidance
counselor when the counselor calls a
senior to the office you’ve missed some
scholarship deadlines you have forgotten
an application essay but not that day
that day miss Milam said something to me
as casually as if she were reading the
lunch menu she said that my SAT score
from a tiny school like ours in rural
South East Texas qualified me for
financial aid at the University of Texas
I only needed to apply well after that
comment I applied to UT and I never
purchased skis or a surfboard
so when a girl from a tiny town goes to
one of the nation’s largest universities
she’s got to try some new activities and
make some friends right so I try to
sport that I’d never heard of perhaps
you’ve never heard of it it’s called
rowing that’s right like rowing in a
boat and a year later I was offered an
athletic scholarship to stay on the UT
rowing team and as I filled out
paperwork and prepared to sign my name
to accept an athletic scholarship to one
of the most successful athletic
departments in the country I remembered
that comment in miss Mullens office when
she had found funding way back before I
ever knew where I wanted to go to school
when I had no idea how I would pay for
it she was just doing her job but she
changed my life years later at UT I’m
driving home one routine evening after
rowing practice and I got a phone call
from a 409 area code now 409 is
Woodville Texas but I hadn’t lived there
in years so why would they be calling me
and Woodville Texas is a population of
2014 people folks so it’s rare that
anyone’s number is unknown to anyone
else so I answered the phone to bob
Boykin the town photographer that’s
right Bob Lincoln who had taken photos
of every sporting event I’d competed in
every school dance I’d attended and
every town pageant he was calling me in
Austin to talk about the Woodville
Rotary Club meeting that day my name had
come up in conversation because they’d
discovered a fellowship sending students
to countries around the world to study
and live in exchange cultures well we
think you’re uniquely suited for a
program like this and we can’t think of
anyone better to apply well this
international scholarship had a tight
application turnaround in the middle of
finals and naturally I was already
pressed up against a self-imposed
procrastination deadline so I wondered
is a tiny chance it’s some big idea even
worth all this extra effort but the
Rotary Club of Woodville thought so and
Bob Boykin called me
to encourage me to apply so I did and I
won that scholarship and I spent the
year after graduation living in the
Dominican Republic
traveling to numerous countries
mastering my second language and
literally learning more about myself in
the world than I even knew existed all
because of one idea at a Rotary Club
meeting and one phone call with some
words of encouragement years after I’d
moved back to Austin Texas I found out
that the incoming graduate assistant
rowing coach had bailed on her new job
at UT that’s right she had chosen to
pursue her master’s studies at another
school as if there are other schools
worth attending but my coach is called
to say Danielle if you can get into grad
school before the semester starts you
can have her scholarship and you can
coach with us okay so I need to get into
grad school in July for classes that
start in August which requires test
scores that I don’t have application
essays I haven’t written letters of
recommendation I haven’t even requested
Oh in the tiny detail that it requires
all of that seven months ago before
admissions deadlines were closed so I
thought this is impossible but it’s also
too good not to try so I took the GRE
completely unprepared heads up there’s a
writing section on that test and then I
begged for 24-hour turnaround on letters
of recommendation and I crafted the most
creative essays saying how I’d always
wanted to be in that graduate program
even though I didn’t apply eight months
ago when everyone else did and then I
took a day off work and I went traipsing
all over UT’s campus in the heat of July
and I went in every department that
would open the door to explain why they
really wanted me a few weeks later I
talked to the law school in the LBJ
School of Public Affairs and the
government department and the College of
Education and once I was dripping sweat
and out of ideas I just stumbled into
the sociology building the old brown
plain brick dusty sociology building not
because I wanted to study sociology
because I was hot and I was out of ideas
out of hope and that’s the building
where I had taken my favorite course at
UT boundaries and dilemmas issues of
life and death now this wasn’t an issue
of life or death but it was a big
dilemma and I happen to find my
professor from that class in his office
that day and he did something amazing
after I reminded him who I was of course
you see it it would more than four years
since I’d been in his class he invited
me in and spent an hour
scouring departments deadlines and
details and helping me craft my message
and my situation so the department’s
would consider this extraordinary
exception you see with one small gesture
he helped me find funding for my
master’s program which was giant years
later when I walked the stage for my
Master’s graduation it was giant when I
traveled to the NCAA National
Championship for ut’s first ever
appearance and when we were awarded the
national coaching staff of the year
because we came in seventh at our first
ever appearance I realized I am an NCAA
Division one award-winning rowing coach
because one professor opened his door
for one hour in policy school led to
internships that led to campaigns the
led to where I am now on the executive
staff for the mayor of Houston and not a
day goes by that I don’t remember those
small moments with those individuals I’m
so grateful for those small moments with
my very own band ragtag superheroes miss
my alums comment led to funding for
college and a sport that changed my life
and Bob Wiggins phone call sent me
traveling around the world in one hour
with an open door got me to graduate
school that continues to open doors for
me you see now I identify those people
for the mayor’s priorities and I work to
find folks whose knowledge and expertise
in hard work make big differences all
over our city so if any of my small
moments lead to any of those
good people becoming an unsuspecting
superhero for someone else than I to
have had a huge impact so if you’re
hoping to make a big difference one day
consider today because whether you’re a
school counselor for 400 students or a
Rotarian in a tiny town of 2,000 people
or a professor all alone in your office
you can be so big you see my superheroes
didn’t wear capes but they had the power
to transform my entire life
and looking down the road whether I run
a corporation or run for elected office
it will be miss Milam Bob Boykin and
professor ayo whose small moments had
huge impacts because doing your job and
making an encouraging comment and
spending just a little time have big
effects so when people ask me what they
should do to best serve I simply tell
them you don’t need an invitation
you don’t need an official appointment
just show up make your ideas heard and
support someone the effect may not be
immediate and you may never see the
results of the chain of action that
you’re initiating but you an individual
with just one statement one idea or one
hour can have a huge impact thank you
[Applause]
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