Cristina Negrut

From presidents and poets to entrepreneurs, engineers and comedians, commencement speakers these days are often the most anticipated part of the ceremony.  

Every year, for the past eight years, I've read hundreds and hundreds of graduation speeches, all told more than 1,000.

My fascination with commencement speeches started back in 2005. I was spellbound by outstanding talks from David Foster Wallace and Steve Jobs. I soon discovered more examples by ...