But according to those who have heard Frank’s speech, there’s no risk of that.“It’s a great speech and it seemed to the committee like a timely and good message,” Thomas says. “It is about making decisions in life and trusting one’s instincts... about figuring out what’s right and following it through.”
Frank’s relatives will be surprised to see him addressing his classmates in Tercentenary Theater today. Just as in 1995, Frank chose to keep them in the dark and surprise them with his oration.
“It was a surprise for my family in ’95,” says Frank. “And no one knows yet except my friends at HLS.”
The Man Behind the Speech
During his time at the College, Frank lived in Lowell House and concentrated in Social Studies. He was an editor of The Harvard Crimson, where he served as editorial chair in 1994.
After graduation, Frank went to Berlin for 9 months on a rotary scholarship and upon his return worked for The Wall Street Journal as a banking reporter.
“My plan was to pursue journalism for two years and then return to school to study law but the detour ended up being a little longer than that,” Frank explains. “It was important for me to spend some time in the real world...to give me a perspective outside the classroom.”
After his time as banking reporter, Frank spent three years covering technology as a reporter for CNBC and The Wall Street Journal.But in spite of his successes as a journalist, Frank wanted to enter law school.
“I had a great opportunity to travel around the world and meet some wonderful people,” he says. “But in the back of my mind was the desire to return to school and study law, which was something about which I had always felt very passionate.”
And after six years of life in the real world, Frank did make his way back to Harvard in 2001. “I love Harvard,” he says. “I had a great time as an undergraduate and I couldn’t think of a place where I’d rather study law.”Frank published a book, Net Worth: Successful Investing in the Companies That Will Prevail Through Internet Booms and Busts, in 2002.
At HLS Frank served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He is also a pre-Law tutor affiliated with Lowell House.
After graduation, Frank is planning to clerk one year for Robert Sack, a judge in the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, and afterwards pursue a career in litigation.
But it won’t be easy for Frank to leave Harvard. After seven years, Cambridge has begun to feel like home. But he says he looks forward to filling his life with the new challenges that await.
“I’ll miss the people the most...and the food the least—and the late nights doing homework,” Frank says. “But I think I will be trading late nights doing homework for late nights doing clients’ work.”
—Staff writer Yailett Fernandez can be reached at yfernand@fas.harvard.edu.