June 02, 2022
The Mamba mentality: Aisling Maguire ’22
Aisling Maguire ’22 presented this address during the Academic Awards Ceremony for the Class of 2022, held in the Peterson Recreation Center on May 21, 2022. She was a management and finance double major from Trumbull, Conn., who will work as a business operations and strategy analyst with Fidelity Investments.Congratulations to the class of 2022!
When thinking about what message I wanted to share and how I could include the accomplished students I share this honor with, I thought back to an email I received from Dean Godin. It listed the following five letters: M, A, B, A, M. Unfortunately, it was not the day’s Wordle hint.
It was an email greeting to Matt, Andrew, Mackenzie, Brian, and me.
A couple notes about me to help you understand where my mind immediately went: first, I enjoy identifying patterns, and second, I love basketball. Therefore, my brain read the greeting as MAMBA, and I began thinking about the “Mamba mentality” and how it has contributed to my success at Providence College.
The late Kobe Bryant coined the term to describe his work ethic and approach to perfecting his craft. He explains that the Mamba mentality “means to be able to constantly try to be the best version of yourself. It’s a constant quest to try to be better today than you were yesterday.”
The beauty of the mindset is that it does not only apply to sports. “The Mamba mentality is more of an approach than anything else. It’s about attacking what’s in front of you with passion and purpose, without fear and doubt and without an ounce of quit,” he said.
Not only does anchoring my address to the “Mamba mentality” weave my co-valedictorians into the core of my theme, but it also helps convey how I set out to approach my time at PC and the devotion higher education deserves.
As a first-generation college student, I found that several unknowns made navigating the entire college process challenging for me, but I was never uncertain regarding my work ethic and attitude toward education.
My appreciation for education stems from observing my parents work hard to provide my siblings and me this opportunity; and since I can’t afford them a beach house yet, I hope as preliminary form of repayment you take pride in hearing the profound role you played in your children’s successes as I humbly stand up here today one week after Emma achieved her master’s degree and three weeks after Brendan was admitted into the PC Class of 2025.
I’m forever grateful for their commitment to our education. For as revolutionary South African political leader Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Allow me to reiterate, “YOU can change the world.”
It is no secret that we are graduating into a world of anger, unrest, and division. But as my business school classmates know, for every debit there is a credit, and the books must balance. Therefore, I argue that within this darkness lies an opportunity for you to spread hope, love, and light through the power of your PC education.
As Providence College students we’ve been blessed with an education rooted in faith and focused on developing leaders. The Dominican values underpinning the PC education separate PC students from others and provide a foundation for human flourishing. It’s what makes Providence College a place you never want to leave but remain forever proud to say you came from. And I’m grateful that I have the privilege to share that I am a Providence College alum.
To you, a distinguished group of students, who have already excelled and achieved so much academically, I implore you to have confidence in your abilities, use your talents, and never stop learning.
For me, applying the Mamba mentality has involved personal sacrifices, discipline, humility, and complete focus and understanding that being the best version of myself in the little day to day tasks will enable me to contribute to something greater.
I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the significant role played and sacrifices made by others in my life. I’d like to thank my mom and sister for taking my calls as I ran from a philosophy marathon to club basketball lamenting the mountains of work and lack of hours in the day, my professors’ constant willingness to provide me with resources to succeed, and Liz, Katherine, Marley, and Schuyler’s patience and understanding of my goals as I know I certainly exhausted my allotment of “sorry I can’t tonight” texts.
I’m standing here today only because of the support of many.
But enough about me for a moment. I thought I’d begin to conclude by sharing —on a lighter note — some ways I’ve proudly observed the MAMBA mentality at work in the Providence College community:
• An early example that came to mind was the determination of first-year PC students to read the entire Odyssey COVER TO COVER by the third day as a college student for an infamous Civ lecture quiz;
• The dedication of getting in a few extra steps to avoid walking on the PC grass;
• Providence College’s resolute commitment to excellence that has advanced the college and led to remarkable milestones such as celebrating 50 years of women this year;
• And finally, being the best student section tenaciously covering Taylor Swift “You Belong With Me” even better than the game before after Nate Watson posterized any defender who dared to step into the paint.
On that note I’ll wrap up with five more letters: U, W, T, F, F (again, not a Wordle hint!).
These five letters embody something much bigger than the five I began with and bigger than only the Class of 2022. They represent having the genuine support of a loving, caring community that encourages us to continue to get better each and every day in our pursuits and discovery of God’s Providence in our lives.
As you leave PC, I challenge you to be a better analyst, student, accountant, doctor, friend, son, daughter, “brotender,” teacher, serviceman or woman than you were the day before by intentionally applying the MAMBA mentality.
And during the moments when you feel tested, remember all that you have been blessed with and all that you have accomplished at PC. You earned this and you deserve success, so welcome challenges, and chase your passions without an ounce of quit.
Getting back to those 5 letters, in my best Ed Cooley impression:
Us. We. Together. Family. Friars.
I extend my sincere congratulations to you all, and God bless and Go Friars!
