2011 Valedictorian Dima Daimi

School of Architecture student Dima Daimi was selected as the University of Detroit Mercy’s 2011 Valedictorian. Amongst her many activities as a busy architecture student, Daimi received the 2010 American Institute of Architecture Students Chapter President Award.

Below is the Valedictory address she presented to her fellow graduates during the Commencement ceremony on May 14, 2011.

Valedictory Address

Dima Daimi,
School of Architecture

Good afternoon.

I am honored to be standing here representing the graduating class of 2011. On behalf of the graduates, I would like to thank you for joining us on this special occasion.

We have all gathered here from various academic majors, backgrounds, religions, and have many different interests and views.  However, we are all tied together by one familiar thread, this being that we are all graduating from a university that is in the heart of Detroit, a university that chose not to abandon the city, more importantly a university that plays a crucial role in reinventing Detroit.

A city is not defined only by its current state. Detroit is a phenomenal city that has experienced a prosperous past and great hardship. Discovering the city has shaped us with intense passion and energy that can only come from understanding its unique urban fabric. The University’s Jesuit and Mercy traditions have taught us to envision a better tomorrow, to believe in people and to play an active role in making our community a better place.  We haven’t waited for graduation to come around for us to make a difference. Through participating in mission trips and community service projects across the country and in our city, we have become responsible world citizens.  We’ve seen in our time here at the University that big changes happen with small steps and people working together.

Now let’s not forget why we are sitting here right now! It’s because we spent endless hours studying.  However, no matter what classes we’ve taken, our professors have pushed us to challenge the norms.  Through intense analysis of the power behind our innovations, history, architecture, engineering, economic trials and controversial politics, we are now armed with the knowledge and strength that can only come from experience.

I’d like to thank our faculty, administration and staff for their personal investments into our success, their continuous encouragement and their determination to make the University’s mission come to life. Thank you for exposing us to the real Detroit. Because of you, we leave UDM with an education that has shaped us not only intellectually, but also spiritually and ethically.  I’d like to give a special thanks to Dean Stephen Vogel for his 18 years of leadership, commitment and service to the School of Architecture, the University of Detroit Mercy, and of course, the city of Detroit. I would also like to thank our families, our building blocks, who have supported us through this journey and throughout our lives with their endless love.  Thank you for being there to reassure us that everything is going to be okay when we did not know how we were going pass that exam or finish that project.

Most importantly, over the years we’ve developed our own family here. So I’d like to thank everyone here for the friendship and kindness that has made my time here unforgettable! We’ve spent our waking hours together in class on Facebook and have shared laughs over gourmet meals at the TDR. We’ve pulled a lot of all-nighters, the academic kinds and the fun ones too! We’ve grown together, and we are not the same people we were when we started this adventure.  We might forget some of the things we’ve learned, but we will never forget each other, our times at UDM, and what the city of Detroit has taught us. We did this together!

So here we are at graduation, and I’m sure a question most of us are being asked is, “So what’s next?”  Where are you off to now?  For me, I’m staying in Detroit!  Detroit needs me, and it needs you! It needs all these bright minds to stay and live the mission and not to abandon this great canvas of opportunity! Our time at UDM has empowered us, and our city has inspired us.

But, if you do leave on your quest for adventure, don’t forget about the city that has played a vital role in shaping you, and do remember to come back, visit and, of course, invest!

So now, let’s go out there, do great things, and don’t you ever forget that we are Detroit. 

Congrats, class of 2011.