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SALT LAKE CITY — MTV star and best-selling author Ben Nemtin will deliver the commencement address at the University of Utah’s 2018 general commencement, the school announced Monday.
The commencement is scheduled for May 3 at 6:30 p.m. at the Jon M. Huntsman Center at the University of Utah and is free to the public, according to a statement emailed to KSL.
The 34-year-old from Victoria, British Columbia, is known for his enthusiasm for passionate living and fight against mediocrity, as noted on Nemtin's website. As college students who felt directionless in life, Nemtin and his friends borrowed an RV and embarked on a two-week road trip to try to complete a bucket list of 100 goals, including opening the 6 o’clock news, smashing a guitar onstage and starting a TV show, according to a biography on the group's home page.
The website says that Nemtin’s life philosophy is based around the question “What do you want to do before you die?”
He was invited to the White House by President Barack Obama and appeared as a guest on the “Oprah Winfrey Show” and NBC’s “Today," as noted in a list of Nemtin's accomplishments on BenNemtin.com. Nemtin’s extreme bucket list was turned into the MTV show “The Buried Life” in 2010, and served as the basis of a full-length book that was published in 2012, the website states.
Nemtin has used his positive message to inspire college students who are unsure of where they are going in life, he said at a TED Teen conference in May 2015. He added that this feeling is all too common for college students.
“We were going through what I think a lot of people go through in college,” Nemtin said at the conference. “We were confused and we didn’t really know what we wanted to do.”
Nemtin dedicated the book to a 17-year-old who died by suicide, as noted in the book's first pages. “We urge you to remember that pain is not always visible and that you are always loved,” the dedication reads.
Saeed Shihab, vice president of student relations for the Associated Students at the University of Utah (ASUU), said in an emailed statement that Nemtin was chosen to energize and motivate students.
“Ben Nemtin boldly sets his fears aside to pursue his dreams and inspires others to do the same,” Shihab said. “His speech will empower the class of 2018 to use their education as a launching pad to achieve great things and become outstanding ambassadors of the University of Utah in their professional endeavors.”
Since gaining worldwide recognition, Nemtin has been invited to speak at numerous conferences, ceremonies and keynotes, according to his website. He said in a statement emailed to KSL that speaking to and inspiring students is an especially rewarding endeavour.
“Graduation is a gateway with paths leading in every direction,” Nemtin said in the statement. “Many struggle answering the question, ‘Where do I go from here?’ I am deeply honored to have this opportunity to speak at the University of Utah’s commencement ceremony and share how I answer that question.”
University of Utah communications specialist Annalisa Purser directed questions about the commencement to other university marketing representatives. They had not been reached at the time this story was written.
