The student leader's speech 2026

Dear fellow students, professors, the Rectorate and administration. Dear international students, exchange students, and guests,

I have come here, as the leader of the Student Committee (SUT), to give you a speech. A speech that is supposed to inspire and motivate you to get as much as possible out of the next few years at NMH. It is a great honour, but also a great responsibility.

You have already heard speeches from people who have been in your shoes before, and who have come away with life experience and advice they can pass on to you. I don't have that life experience. I'm 21 years old, and I'm entering my third year of the Music Education programme as a classical horn player. I'm in your shoes, right now.

I came to NMH two years ago. I was fresh out of high school, social but shy, excited but also terrified. I had just moved away from my mom's caring love, my dad's endless encouragement, and their extremely delicious home-cooked meals, to an old, moldy apartment with three strangers and a French press. By the time I sat in one of those chairs listening to speeches, I'd lived by myself for two weeks. And I had no idea what I was doing. But the thing is, I still don't. And I'm not sure if I ever will.

I know very little about the meaning of life and how to become the best student. But I do know one thing, something we all know: humanity. Because we are all human. We are all individuals. Somehow, we have all developed completely unique characteristics that make us who we are. We get these characteristics mainly through genetics and our environment. And I think that's why we're standing here today.

Humans have seemingly always had unique personalities. It's likely because we adapt to survive, but it's probably also what makes us so creative. We have this amazing ability to be present. The ability to be aware. Aware of our situation, aware of our surroundings. We're even aware of our own abilities, and what our future could look like because of them. Everyone in this room is unique, and yet we all share one vital ability: the ability to make and share music. The ability to create something personal, something beautiful, something so powerful that it creates its own value through the impressions we get when listening. And when we share that power with others, it increases tenfold. We can share that power by being present.

The year is 2026. In more and more places around the world, we see people who want to cultivate differences, inequalities, hatred and loneliness. People who talk about “us” and “them”, and who want to group us and take advantage of us. There are also people who want to strip away our humanity, who want to digitalise and streamline our lives. But I don't think that's really the point of humanity.

In the midst of everything happening in the world right now – in politics, technological advancements, and conflicts around the globe – and in the midst of your everyday lives, with the hours of practice, the endless lectures and assignments, and all the competition, I want you to feel honoured that you're here, right now. Not because the school is prestigious, or because you beat every other applicant when you got admitted here. No, I want you to feel honoured because you're together. Every single one of you came here to make music together, and to share that ability with each other. Some of you have travelled further than I would ever have dared myself, just to be together with a handful of people who share the same love for music, creation, art, and community as you do. We all have classes, lectures, and assignments we have to do. But there's no one in this room, this school, this institution, who's trying to tell you what you cannot do. I think the two most human things we can do are to be present and to be together. And, in the end, that's the point, right? I don't know anything about the meaning of life, but the closest I've ever gotten was being present and being together.

Togetherness. Presence. I think those are the two most important words we have in the Norwegian language.

I'm not going to stand here and ask you to make the next few years the best years of your lives. That's an impossibly high standard to set! You're going to have jobs, opportunities, and experiences in the future that I hope will top the next few years at NMH.

Instead of telling you these are going to be the best years of your life, I want to encourage you all – students, professors, everyone – to make these the first years of a life in which you are more present and more together. I know I will, so you and I will be in it together.

Now, go make some really good music!