Alexandra Petri ‘06’s “Advice” to the Class of 2011

On June 12, Washington Post editorial writer, humor columnist, and NCS alumna Alexandra Petri provoked delighted, non-stop laughter at NCS’ Commencement with her address entitled “Bad Advice.” Ms. Petri managed to subvert the kind of advice usually given to graduates (“follow your dreams”) while delivering a powerful message of her own about knowledge, imagination, and self-reliance. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed her remarks.

Introducing Ms. Petri, NCS Board Chair Elizabeth Hayes said:

"I’m always delighted to see Alexandra’s byline on the Washington Post op-ed page, because I know I’m in for a treat. She is the author of the Post’s online humor column called 'Compost' and a Saturday print column.

"How she came to such prominence has its roots, of course, in her time at NCS. Alexandra’s love of writing and humor was first manifest at NCS when she founded the now-defunct humor magazine The Perturbed Squirrel, and served as co-editor of Half-in-Earnest. Her NCS classmates, among the earliest fans of her writing, chose her as their Flag Day speaker. She repaid the favor by describing Flag Day as 'the world's biggest groomless outdoor wedding.' She also won the Flag that day for academic achievement.

"Alexandra went on to attend Harvard, where she co-wrote the freshman musical and two shows for the Hasty Pudding Theatricals as part of the first-ever all-female writing team. She served as co-president of the stand-up comic society and was inducted into the Signet Society of Arts and Letters, whose past members include T. S. Eliot and Frank Rich. She received the Wendell Prize for most promising freshman scholar, the Hoopes Prize for her senior thesis—a verse translation of Aristophanes’ Frogs—and the Le Baron Russell Briggs Travelling and Thesis Prize. When she graduated in 2010 both as Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude in English, with a secondary field in Ancient Greek, she was selected to deliver the humorous Class Day Ivy Oration. Her topic? “Elevator Safety and Immortality.”

"At Harvard, she also discovered a love of writing columns, penning “Petri Dishes” for the Harvard Crimson. After a summer internship writing editorials for the Washington Post, she returned the next summer and began a humor blog which subsequently blossomed into her online column.  Alexandra has also appeared on Showbiz Tonight, Jeopardy!, and Al Jazeera, and her writing has been quoted everywhere from the Huffington Post to NPR’s Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me.

"She may be young in years, but the Collected Commentaries of Alexandra Petri would already make a hefty volume. At the Post, she has written about Star Wars speed-dating, the apotheosis of Oprah, books versus Nooks, carcinogenic cellphones, the May 21 apocalypse, the secret diary of Osama bin Laden, broadband caps, Palin, Trump, and a scathing article about Facebook postings that 915 people have liked on Facebook. But she also occasionally lets people see her serious side, as when she posted a lovely tribute to the Reverend Peter Gomes, late Harvard Professor of Christian Morals, and a former member of the NCS Board, when he passed away in February.

"Because she combines wit with great insight, and because she once stood where our seniors do now, Alexandra is superbly qualified to introduce our graduates to the astounding, sometimes confounding world that awaits them. Please welcome Alexandra Petri."

Click here to read Ms. Petri's Commencement address.