By Matthew Kaminsky, Currier Times Staff///

On Tuesday October 15th, Curry College held its first “President Speaking Series” in front of hundreds of audience members in Keith Auditorium.

The first guest was former Massachusetts governor, Deval Patrick, the state’s first African-American governor, who served the state from 2007 to 2015, and led the state during the Boston Marathon bombing crisis of 2013.

The speaker series featured Curry College President, Jay Gonzalez, asking questions, and is billed as a chance to speak with “leaders from a variety of disciplines and with wide-ranging expertise to connect with the Curry community and discuss topics relevant to our world today.”

Patrick spoke about when he graduated from Harvard University that he was not sure what he was going to do.

“I was intrigued by law school, applied to secondary teaching and got in, but in the end I really did not know what I wanted to do,” said Patrick.

He said he was “rescued” from his indecision by being awarded the “Rockefeller Fellowship,” given to only three graduating Harvard seniors. The requirement was to spend a year in a non-western cultured place.

The former governor said he wanted to go to Africa. He wrote letters to anyone he knew who knew someone who lived in Africa and only got one response. It was from someone who lived in Sudan who worked on a UN project and invited Deval to have him come and help him out.

When Deval arrived in Sudan, he learned that the person who he was going to meet had just left two weeks prior; he would now have to navigate Sudan on his own. He took this as an opportunity and reminder that not everything will go perfectly and there are bumps in the road.

Notably, Patrick spoke about how when he was at Milton Academy, and questioned whether he belonged. And he learned some valuable advice.

“It isn’t entirely about the place, it is about you,” said Patrick. “Whether you belong in your own skin and who and what you are and when you come to these understandings there are parts of you that you may lose.”

While he heard this when he was 14 years old, he took that with him wherever he went, whether it was running for governor or running for the White House, which did not last long.

The former governor’s message to the students and Curry College community is to be who you are and do not always jump straight to conclusions.

He mentioned that when graduating college that if you told him he was going to be a governor that he would have just laughed. He wanted students to know that life would bring things you do not expect and that sometimes it can bring
lifelong success and happiness.