‘The class that did the impossible’

What Libère Ndacayisaba missed most about pre-pandemic life as a PhD student was being able to go with his research team to breakfast in the mornings. Before the COVID-19 pandemic upended how we work, Ndacayisaba used to cherish regular breakfasts with his team to get together and just talk about science.

While the pandemic brought many new, unique challenges to graduate school, missing in-person events was just one of the struggles that made walking across the stage at graduation on Saturday extra special.

“Every one of us had to overcome many challenges to become the scholars and leaders that we are right now,” Ndacayisaba said in his commencement speech to Keck School of Medicine of USC’s PhD, DNAP, MPH & MS students. “I started school as a barefooted little boy in sub-saharan Africa selling peanuts on the streets of northern Burundi. Twice I was hospitalized to malaria. And thanks to scientists just like you who developed chloroquine I am here today.”

“Every one of us had to overcome many challenges to become the scholars and leaders that we are right now.” – Libère Ndacayisaba

After his father died in the civil war in Burundi, Libère came to the United States for college. Even though he could not read or write, his mother taught him the value of education.

“From her I learned the value of hard work, resilience, courage, and humility, which have guided me from life to this moment,” he said.

Ndacayisaba graduated with his PhD in Medical Biophysics.

The commencement’s main speaker was also a USC PhD graduate who performed his research at the Keck School of Medicine, Dexter Holland. He’s also the lead singer of the Offspring, a popular rock band. 

“My story has had both a musical side and a scientific side,” Holland said in his commencement speech. “I had these two great loves, how would I decide? Well as foolish as it sounds I decided to pursue both. I believe that there’s an intersection between art and science. And that even in our scientific field we draw upon our creativity.”

One of his most creative moments was inspired in a lab at USC. Working with flasks and trying to cool them down, he realized, ‘You gotta keep em separated,’ which also happens to be the lyrics of one of the Offspring’s most popular songs.

In nature there are no straight lines, he said. Just like his scientific journey. While he paused his academic career to be a rock and roll artist, he eventually came back to finish his thesis and graduate with his PhD. And the coronavirus pandemic also changed many people’s paths from a linear one, to a much more complicated journey.

“You did it, and no other class ever had to do that,” Holland said. “And you did it at a time when many people have lost their faith in science, and trust in the scientific community as a whole has been challenged.”

Holland believes that science is a hunch followed by passion.

“You follow that hunch because you believe that there’s something out there to discover that you don’t know yet, something that maybe no one else in the world knows yet, or has ever known,” he said. “And here at USC you learn to take that hunch, the notion of what could be the truth and combine it with your unwavering passion to find that truth. And your perseverance is what has brought you here today… It’s not the end of your learning, but a marker of the sacrifice and commitment to the continued pursuit of the truth. Today we will celebrate what generations will remember as the class that did the impossible.”

Watch the full commencement ceremony HERE.