On May 19, Taylor Swift was honored to receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from New York University.

Speaking to students at Commencement, Swift shared that she had never had a normal college experience. She attended public high school until 10th grade and then completed her education on the airport terminal floor. It is known that the singer-songwriter, producer and director said that she began her music career at the age of 15, touring in different cities across the country.

Taylor Swift sent advice to students at the Graduation Ceremony: “I feel like I’m not qualified to advise you on what you should do. But you have worked, struggled and sacrificed, studied and dreamed until today. So I can only say, never be ashamed for trying.”

Swift ended her speech by telling students at Commencement how mistakes are inevitable but “when hard things happen to us, we recover, we will learn and grow from it”.