2018 University Medalist Freja Ekman

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(audience cheering)
- When my brother was graduating here three years
ago, my parents and I went to his graduation and the
University Medalist, she had just gotten her award and she
was giving her speech, and I remember my parents turned to
me and they're like, "Her parents must be so proud."
And I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to have my mom
sit in the crowd and be like, "I'm so proud."(laughs)
(upbeat music)
My brother is one of the most inspirational people
I have ever met.
He is the type of guy when you go into a room and he's in a
good mood there's not a single person in the room who is not
in a good mood.
He has autism, a hip disease, and epilepsy.
And, a lot of those can be found to be
somewhat genetically linked.
I think that we, not only scientifically, but also
more importantly socially need to be able to advocate
for them and make people understand that they are just like
everyone else and that we're all different in our own ways
and that's what makes us all so amazing.
I've been working with Best Buddies since my sophomore year,
and it has truly been like the most life changing part
of my time here at Berkeley.
It's an organization committed to creating friendships with
people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
My buddy Cindy is the most amazing person I know.
The thing I love about Cindy the most is that whenever
I ask her how her day is going, she always says,
"It's marvelous."(laughs)
And she says marvelous every single time,
because life is marvelous (laughs).
During my time at Berkeley I was fortunate enough to be able
to work in a gene therapy lab with Professor Schaffer.
We've used technologies developed on our very own campus
in order to target a gene that's known
to cause Huntington's disease.
So, by knocking out this mutant gene we're able to
alleviate a lot of the pathology that causes
Huntington's disease and extend survival in mice.
Coming in to Berkeley I had this idea that being
extraordinary was checking off all the boxes and getting all
the best grades, and being published.
But, the most extraordinary people I met were the ones
when you're walking down Sproul, you're rushing to your
8:00 AM, it's sprinkling a little bit, and they stop
to wave and smile and you barely even know them.
Or someone who stays up til 2:00 AM to help you study
for an exam that you definitely should have prepared way
earlier for just because they really like what they are
studying and they want you to enjoy what you're studying
as well, and because they genuinely, genuinely care.
Next year I'll be attending graduate school at
The University of Cambridge and hopefully
the experiences I gain there as well as what I've learned
here at Berkeley will be able to help me one day further
develop new genome engineering and gene therapy strategies.
I remember when the director of prizes called me
and he said,
"Congratulations! You are the University Medalist."
And, I just couldn't believe it.
Being able to represent Berkeley in this way is something
that I could have never imagined being given the opportunity
to do because I want to show people what Berkeley has
taught me and what has made me, me because of the
opportunities and the experiences I've had here.
Go Bears(laughs)!
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2018 University Medalist Freja Ekman

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