By Zilana Lee
On June 1, 1997, the Chicago Tribune published online a mock-graduation speech by columnist, Mary Schmich. Age 43 at the time, Schmich felt she had a great deal of advice to give to young people. Inspired by a woman she saw sunbathing during a walk along Lake Michigan, Schmich thought, “I hope she’s wearing sunscreen.” Then in four hours, she wrote the speech which began with the line, “Wear sunscreen.”
Immediately upon publication, the speech went viral mostly by email. Lost in a thread of sharing the speech, it became falsely attributed to the commencement speech delivered by American author Kurt Vonnegut at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Neither were correct – Vonnegut did not write the speech and never gave a commencement speech at the college.
Schmich is a Georgia native and previously served as a Tribune national correspondent based in Atlanta for five years, and Tribune Atlanta Bureau Chief. She earned a B.A. at Pomona College and attended journalism school at Stanford.
Schmich won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2012 and received awards from various other organizations including the Chicago Journalists Association and the Illinois Press Association.
Her full speech can be found at here.
