Nadia Seeteram, Ph.D. ‘08
Nadia Seeteram, Ph.D. ‘08, a postdoctoral Research Fellow at Columbia University’s Columbia Climate School, was the keynote speaker at the Honor Societies induction ceremony on May 11. She spoke about the four pillars of the National Honor Society: Scholarship, Leadership, Character, and Service.
Her full speech is below.
Good evening everyone, Sr. Pat, Sr. Ann, teachers, parents, family, friends, and of course Class of 2023 and 2024. I am really so thrilled to be back at SCA, and truly honored to be a guest speaker tonight. Thank you so much Sr. Pat for inviting me to share a little about my experiences and hopefully a few words of wisdom.
So much has happened since I sat in these chairs waiting to be inducted into the NHS--none of which I could have anticipated. You see, when I sat in these chairs, I felt very sure that I was going to be a lawyer… an environmental lawyer, because my love of this planet has always been a strong part of who I am. Instead, my journey has taken me to cities all over this country and world-- Miami, Atlanta, San Diego, London, back to NYC and now- very soon Washington DC. And I did the one thing that I thought was completely out of reach for me—I got a PhD.
As Sr. Pat said in her kind introduction, I am a climate adaptation scientist. For those of you who have no idea what that means, that is not at all your fault---it’s not a job that existed when I sat in these seats at SCA, or even 5 years ago. In fact, I only first heard about the adaptation sciences a year into my PhD program. Simply put, I study the way that societies are adapting (or not) to the impacts of climate change. You all are familiar with the impacts of climate change by now- Hurricane Sandy, Tropical Storm Ida... basement floodings, subway station floodings, the snowless winter that we just had in the city. We are living in a world, in a climate, that is simply just different than the one that existed when I last sat in these chairs—and I promise you I am really not that old. But this is the world we live in now—one that is ever-changing and with that change… we, our societies, our infrastructure, our energy systems have to also change. And so that’s what I do—I study how we will change, how we will transform.
At this point and because all I think about is change and I am going to talk more about it tonight, I would like to take a moment to appreciate all the things that don’t really change. The constants in our lives. The things we take with us on our journeys. After all these years and having been present at my own NHS induction ceremony, as well as the graduations and every school event—my parents are here tonight. I’m grateful that will never change. I am grateful for SCA—the starting point of my journey. Now I know things have changed, but this community of people, the dedication and wisdom of our teachers, and the joys and pains of being in high school—that doesn’t change. And you may not be grateful for it now, but someday you will be.
Sr. Pat asked me to focus my remarks tonight on the four pillars of the National Honor Society: Scholarship, Leadership, Character, and Service. I have to admit, I found the task to be quite daunting at first—mostly because it required a bit of introspection. I needed to really think about how, or if, I exemplify these values in my own life, as a climate scientist. And then hopefully impart something meaningful to you and not shoot platitudes at you. And so, I came up with a few lessons that have been hard won, but hopefully will get you to think about the type of person you might become.
On Scholarship: You are all here because you are bright, hard-working young women, so I don’t think I need to speak too much on scholarship. I have no doubt that you will all achieve great things. A question that might instead be on your minds is—what should I dedicate myself to? I mentioned earlier that I wanted to be lawyer, and now I’m in a field that barely existed a few years ago. So how did I get here: Well, I worked hard at the passion I believed in. More important than being a lawyer was my commitment to the earth. I grew up with science magazines that introduced me to the world of volcanoes, earthquakes, Antarctica, the aurora borealis, and then a little-known phenomenon called climate change. After my undergrad, I knew I wanted to work on these issues. But the path to where I wanted to be wasn’t clear. And that’s totally ok… it’s not always clear how to get where we want to go, or even what we want to do. But I’ve found that as long you are working hard within your passion, those opportunities and pathways will make themselves known. I’ve been so honored to be trained by some of the world’s most renowned climate scientists. And now at Columbia, I get to, for a little while longer anyways, pursue research and knowledge that others will continue to build on. And who knows maybe I’ll find myself back at the Climate School in a few years. I no longer worry about this because I know that the hard work and dedication that I put into my passion will always lead me to where I am supposed to be. And so I encourage you all, to take a risk in pursuing your passion and work hard at it..
On Leadership: Leadership is an interesting pillar, because I think when people think about how to be a good leader or what makes a good leader, they tend to focus on how they can influence people or get them to follow them. I am of a different mindset. I think that being a good leader ultimately stems from an unwavering belief in yourself. That you will make it through. Part of that is related to working hard at your passion.. but the other part goes beyond believing in yourself, which is a really nice thing to say. So I would amend that wise saying of, believe in yourself to advocate for yourself. That one took me a long time to figure out, so I hope you’ll take my word for it and go right to advocating for yourself. You see, there will never be a better advocate for you and what you can bring to the table than you. And when those paths, those opportunities to get to where you want to be are unclear, advocating for yourself and your talent and your scholarship can make those opportunities appear. And so in that sense, being a leader is more about how well you can make use of those opportunities and it all starts with leading for you. I guarantee that you are all capable of making your dreams a reality. It sounds scary and advocating for yourself is not always the most comfortable thing to do. But we only grow in those moments of discomfort and it’s that type of perseverance that makes you a leader.
On Character: Now every leader that I know and respect is ultimately someone who embodies good character- or the third pillar. But what does it mean to be of good character? For me, it rests on a simple premise: that it costs you nothing to be kind and generous to everyone that you meet. It’s a very simple thing, but you will be surprised at how many people fail to internalize that simple premise. But for me, the people that I respect the most, the people that seek advice or mentorship from, who I strive to emulate—are always the people that extend the most courtesy, compassion, and generosity of spirit to everyone they meet. Sure, being the one to be fear or the formidable one may get a lot of people talking about you. But people respond more to kindness than fear. And again it really takes very little from you to extend respect to everyone that you meet—and in all honestly--- as you grow in your chosen professions, you will come to realize how small the world really is. Everyone around you is part of your community and may even be a future colleague. Which brings me to the final pillar.
Service: Everything that I’ve learned from my studies to just this incredible life journey is that we are all part of something greater than ourselves. We are part of an unquantifiable cosmos, living on a pale blue dot of a planet that is the only home we’ve ever known as a species, and yet our impact extend far beyond ourselves. This is why we have climate change… we burn fossil fuels here and it impacts our entire planet. But in this same way that our actions are connected to consequences, it’s also the same pathway for us to be of service to others. Our impacts, our decisions, our choices do not just stay with us, but they in turn cascade and permeate and affect all the people around us, including perhaps people we might never meet or have yet to meet. My decision to stick with the earth sciences in college meant that in a few months that I get to work on helping counties in the Middle East and North Africa on adapting to climate change, and my decision to offer someone a seat on the subway might make the difference for someone who might be having a very long day. When you realize the power of your decisions and the impact you can have because we are all connected through this immensely complex societal web, you realize your ability bring about change, of all kinds, and be of service to those around you.
The truth is you are all a part of a generation that will experience great change. I can only speak for the sciences and tech but when I look around I see a world that is hurtling towards AI without truly unpacking the consequences, private entities seeking to monetize space, phenomenal achievements in biomedical and genetic research, and of course the transformation we desperately need in the face of climatic change that is unprecedented in our short human history on this planet. I say that not to scare you—although there are arguably so many things about everything that I just mentioned that are scary. But I say this instead to inspire you, to ask yourself how you can be of service to your communities in meeting some of these challenges.
As an adaptation scientist, I spend a lot of time thinking about what we are going to lose. The realities of a changing climate is that we will lose coastlines and ecosystems and there is inherently a lot of grief in that loss. I’ve listened to community leaders in the Gulf South who have to relocate because the land that their families have lived on for generations is washing away beneath their feet. I’ve listened to young people just trying to get to work in Miami-Dade but the rain falls so hard and so fast that it just floods and they don’t want to risk driving their cars through the floodwaters. There is not much you can say in these situations. And for a while, I was stuck thinking about just how much we are going to lose. It just comes with the job. But now I find myself on the other side of loss: the transformation. I mean, I’m going to be, and so will you, living on this planet for hopefully many decades and so now I’ve taken to thinking about what can I do in my capacity as a scientist to help those communities build a better future? What can our future look like now that we have the opportunity to transform? What visions can become reality and how can I become a part of that? I encourage you all think strongly about what change you want to see in a world that we all build together. When you figure it out, I encourage you to work hard for that passion, to advocate for yourself, to be kind and generous to everyone you meet on your journey, and remember that that vision only comes together because we are all part of something bigger than ourselves.
Thank you all so much for listening to me tonight, and congratulations to the class of 2023 and 2024! Welcome to the club!