[Music]
once upon a time there was a young
maiden who lived in a small Kingdom with
her stepmother and two stepsisters
treated as a servant in her own
household she worked tirelessly all day
cooking sewing and cleaning tending to
her chores on the night of a
long-awaited royal ball the maiden is
visited by her fairy godmother with the
help of the friendly forest animals in a
touch of magic her dirty rags are
transformed into a beautiful gown and
she is sent to vie for the affections of
the prince at the royal palace now I
have purposefully not mentioned any
specific names or places and yet I can
almost guarantee that you all are
anticipating the same ending we are all
waiting for that one iconic line and
they lived happily ever after
the classic Cinderella story is deeply
ingrained in American culture in fact it
seems that all of the Disney Princesses
have become cultural icons so what is it
about these stories that makes them so
captivating and timeless across
generations well the answer is actually
very simple
nearly every Disney Princess story is
also an underdog story as byproducts of
American culture we are all hardwired to
root for the underdog and it’s not just
Disney Princesses either there’s a
reason we praise David for killing
Goliath a reason we root for Katniss in
PETA in the arena a reason we feel
happiness when the little train says I
think I can I think I can I think I can
and then he does and a reason we will we
were all secretly cheering on Loyola and
sister Jean in the 2018 March Madness
tournament even though they were nowhere
on our brackets these figure
whether fictional or real were all
essentially underdogs according to
merriam-webster an underdog is defined
as one a loser or predicted loser in a
challenge or struggle or two a victim of
injustice or persecution and with that
second definition it dawned on me that
the United States is a nation of
underdogs our history is one underdog
story after another from the American
colonists in the Revolutionary War to
the inrush of immigrants in search of
the American dream
to finally the communities of women and
African Americans and indigenous peoples
who continue to take a stand against the
norms of American culture and fight for
their rights to equality whether you
realize it or not we are constantly
contributing to this long history as
many of us face our own underdog moments
every day at some point in our lives we
have all taken a test on a subject we
don’t really understand we have all
faced the better team some of us may
have been born on first base and for
those of you that were you may feel like
you have to work twice as hard to catch
up to the kids who are lucky enough to
be born on third maybe for some of you
this realization is kind of
disappointing maybe for you underdog has
a negative connotation but that’s not
how I see it in fact I believe it’s
exactly the opposite I believe that the
ability to embrace our underdog moments
is extremely important I want to
encourage you all to embrace the times
when you were undeniably the underdog
because in every underdog moment there
are three things that will always make
you stronger the first is the doubt of
the audience every underdog faces doubt
no underdog is ever expected to succeed
use that doubt as motivation allow that
burning desire to prove your doubters
wrong push you to achieve goals you
never thought you could reach the second
is embracing your Challenger
my dad has always told me that there
will always always be people who are
smarter more athletic or more successful
than me
this may seem daunting even discouraging
at times but an underdog is always
surrounded by people who are supposedly
better let these people encourage you
consider them as examples and learn from
them and the third and final is the
freedom of knowing you have nothing to
lose I believe there is freedom and low
expectations
if I succeed then that’s awesome but if
I fail then who really cares
I was never expected to succeed anyway
so take a risk if you think you’re going
to fail try anyway go all-in because you
have nothing to lose when I first
accepted the invitation to speak here
today I felt this was bound to become my
own little cinderella story I doubted
myself wondering whether I was truly
capable of settling my nerves standing
in front of a crowd of hundreds and
delivering a meaningful talk but there
was a teacher of mine who asked why
wouldn’t I why wouldn’t I take this
opportunity what did I have to lose and
he was right I could stand up here and
fail miserably and forget all of my
lines but I would still look back on
this experience with pride knowing that
I had the courage to take it on in the
first place I’m so glad I did thank you [Applause]
once upon a time there was a young
maiden who lived in a small Kingdom with
her stepmother and two stepsisters
treated as a servant in her own
household she worked tirelessly all day
cooking sewing and cleaning tending to
her chores on the night of a
long-awaited royal ball the maiden is
visited by her fairy godmother with the
help of the friendly forest animals in a
touch of magic her dirty rags are
transformed into a beautiful gown and
she is sent to vie for the affections of
the prince at the royal palace now I
have purposefully not mentioned any
specific names or places and yet I can
almost guarantee that you all are
anticipating the same ending we are all
waiting for that one iconic line and
they lived happily ever after
the classic Cinderella story is deeply
ingrained in American culture in fact it
seems that all of the Disney Princesses
have become cultural icons so what is it
about these stories that makes them so
captivating and timeless across
generations well the answer is actually
very simple
nearly every Disney Princess story is
also an underdog story as byproducts of
American culture we are all hardwired to
root for the underdog and it’s not just
Disney Princesses either there’s a
reason we praise David for killing
Goliath a reason we root for Katniss in
PETA in the arena a reason we feel
happiness when the little train says I
think I can I think I can I think I can
and then he does and a reason we will we
were all secretly cheering on Loyola and
sister Jean in the 2018 March Madness
tournament even though they were nowhere
on our brackets these figure
whether fictional or real were all
essentially underdogs according to
merriam-webster an underdog is defined
as one a loser or predicted loser in a
challenge or struggle or two a victim of
injustice or persecution and with that
second definition it dawned on me that
the United States is a nation of
underdogs our history is one underdog
story after another from the American
colonists in the Revolutionary War to
the inrush of immigrants in search of
the American dream
to finally the communities of women and
African Americans and indigenous peoples
who continue to take a stand against the
norms of American culture and fight for
their rights to equality whether you
realize it or not we are constantly
contributing to this long history as
many of us face our own underdog moments
every day at some point in our lives we
have all taken a test on a subject we
don’t really understand we have all
faced the better team some of us may
have been born on first base and for
those of you that were you may feel like
you have to work twice as hard to catch
up to the kids who are lucky enough to
be born on third maybe for some of you
this realization is kind of
disappointing maybe for you underdog has
a negative connotation but that’s not
how I see it in fact I believe it’s
exactly the opposite I believe that the
ability to embrace our underdog moments
is extremely important I want to
encourage you all to embrace the times
when you were undeniably the underdog
because in every underdog moment there
are three things that will always make
you stronger the first is the doubt of
the audience every underdog faces doubt
no underdog is ever expected to succeed
use that doubt as motivation allow that
burning desire to prove your doubters
wrong push you to achieve goals you
never thought you could reach the second
is embracing your Challenger
my dad has always told me that there
will always always be people who are
smarter more athletic or more successful
than me
this may seem daunting even discouraging
at times but an underdog is always
surrounded by people who are supposedly
better let these people encourage you
consider them as examples and learn from
them and the third and final is the
freedom of knowing you have nothing to
lose I believe there is freedom and low
expectations
if I succeed then that’s awesome but if
I fail then who really cares
I was never expected to succeed anyway
so take a risk if you think you’re going
to fail try anyway go all-in because you
have nothing to lose when I first
accepted the invitation to speak here
today I felt this was bound to become my
own little cinderella story I doubted
myself wondering whether I was truly
capable of settling my nerves standing
in front of a crowd of hundreds and
delivering a meaningful talk but there
was a teacher of mine who asked why
wouldn’t I why wouldn’t I take this
opportunity what did I have to lose and
he was right I could stand up here and
fail miserably and forget all of my
lines but I would still look back on
this experience with pride knowing that
I had the courage to take it on in the
first place I’m so glad I did thank you [Applause]
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