"When PPLE asked me to do this, I thought it was a mistake. Alumni speaker? Just graduated two years ago? Then I discovered it has in fact been five years since 2021.

Five years since I sat next to an empty chair on my left and right. Because of Covid, only every other seat was allowed to be filled. Our ceremony was divided into two shifts. No parents or caretakers were allowed in the aula. Our graduation speaker was on Zoom. I’m very happy to see you all crammed up here and that when I look around - even though everyone in the crowd looks incredibly youthful - I might even spot some parents in the room.

Five years ago today, I didn’t know that I would never formally use my law major. I didn’t know what Master’s I would enroll in, where in the world I wanted to live, what job I wanted to do. I could not have expected to be working as an investigative journalist at NRC, a national newspaper, five years later. Or that I would be living in a land that I considered as far far away during PPLE - Amsterdam-Noord.

In the next couple of minutes, I’ll take you along my path after graduating PPLE, and at the same time debunk some myths and share some insights I have learned since graduating.

Myth 1: After you pick up your certificate here today, you need to start with a prestigious Master’s as soon as possible, otherwise you are doomed.

When I was in this aula, I felt like I was the only one without a Master’s at a selective university or a Bluebook Traineeship lined up. Granted that I’m a dramaqueen, PPLE can feel like a pressure cooker, where you inevitably start to compare yourself to others.

If like me, you have not unlearned that yet at the time of graduation, now is a good time to start. Here, you might be disappointed to not graduate cum laude. But at your internship or your job, there will also always be someone better than you. Or when you are the best, you are worrying about the time you might no longer be.

Take this moment to celebrate your own success. Whether you are in fact celebrating cum laude, or celebrating finally passing statistics after four tries, or celebrating never having to do another group project or thesis ever again, take this moment to be proud of yourself.

Myth 2: after PPLE you know exactly what you want to do in life.

After I graduated, I went on exchange to New York. I took some journalism classes and fell in love. However, I also enjoyed my law major. Upon returning, I was doubting whether to apply for law or journalism internships. In the end, I got an internship at the economics desk of the NOS, the public broadcaster. Afterward, they offered me a job.

I enjoyed working there, but was doubting again. Working at the NOS was certainly adrenaline-inducing, but I was missing a sense of depth in my research while working on the daily news. Should I still do a Master’s like I always planned? What if I never get a job in journalism again after leaving the NOS? Do I even want to be a journalist?

My boss told me: Don’t let yourself be guided by fear. Much easier said by a boss with a permanent contract than done by an early twenty-something year-old, of course. But I listened. I started applying for legal Master’s and journalism degrees. I ended up choosing to enroll in the Master’s of investigative journalism at Columbia University in New York, simply because after hearing I was accepted, I didn’t even think about the legal Master’s anymore or refresh my email to see the outcome.

I truly believe that the two years I spent interning and working, made me a better applicant because I knew what I wanted. My time at the NOS showed me what I still wanted to learn at university: investigative journalism skills, learning to do coding and programming, and new techniques like OSINT. So I would have more tools to expose wrongdoing, and reveal facts purposefully hidden, the purpose of investigative journalism.

Myth 3: PPLE was a waste of time, if you don’t use your major.

Although I’ve never done anything with law formally, since graduating, I’ve found you will use your PPLE degree and major in unexpected ways. After finishing my Master’s, I worked at Pointer, an investigative TV programme at the Dutch public broadcaster, and now as an investigative journalist at a newspaper. In my investigations into potential war crimes, in Iran, Palestine, Israel or Lebanon amongst others, many legal concepts come back. When is a military target legitimate? When is an attack unproportional? It is not just legal questions that come up in my work. For example, what is the psychology behind double tap strikes, where a location is bombed and after some minutes to some hours afterwards the exact same location is struck again? What makes warring parties resort to this technique, rather than conducting a barrage of strikes all at once? For investigations I did at my previous job, into the Russian shadowfleet and what they are doing in our part of the North Sea, economics and politics were certainly involved. To find the owner of sketchy ships with false flags, it was often necessary to disentangle corporate webs, often leading us through secrecy jurisdictions and shell companies. The questions of how The Netherlands or the EU ought to respond to shadowfleet vessels, and which ministry or governing body is to blame for The Netherlands’ comparatively weak and slow response, is inherently political.

I would go as far as to say that I have never not used PPLE disciplines for my investigations (don’t factcheck me though). 

Myth 4: Finally, the PPLE prides of “interdiscipinarity” and “responsible and humane innovators for the next generation” are just buzzwords.

Debunked! I remember our graduation speaker telling us that we should all consider doing a data science Master's: programming would give us job security for life. We all know how that advice has aged in times of AI. Your interdisciplinarity and critical thinking skills are a strength that signify to employers that you can adapt to changing times and economies.

In addition, I hope you will become the responsible and humane leaders PPLE has tried to groom you to be. When I was an indecisive 17-year old who picked PPLE and had just watched the Netflix series Suits, I took solace in the fact that I could always do the law major, civiel effect and earn a lot of corporate money. And here I am, 'brainwashed' by PPLE to instead become a journalist, sadly without corporate money.

Jokes aside, if your class is anything like mine, most of you will become consultants. But I do very much hope that you will never lose sight of your critical thinking skills, and keep on asking yourself what is ethical. And what you can do to make this crazy world a slightly less scary place.

These were my two cents. I hope you enjoy the rest of the day, and that you will nudge your parents to their hotel later in the evening, and party together as a cohort one last time!