Tufts' Boryana Damyanova made a brief appearance in Goddard Chapel Jan. 25 -upbeat, smiling in her cap and gown - giving a speech for a special graduation.
Damyanova's voice echoed over the crowd, speaking on ambition, spirit and creativity - three qualities she found essential in a school. "Look around," she said to her assembled classmates. "Can't you feel them?"
"Be what you are and look forward to what you will become," she said to the audience.
As the audience fixed on Damyanova - known as "Bory" to her friends - and her remarks, one could almost forget that this was not a graduation audience. Small waves of laughter rippled through the crowd throughout the in-jokes of the speech, and tears streamed from many an eye. The audience had assembled to celebrate an abundant and successful life, as well as the awarding of a diploma.
But the somber coats, the drained faces, and the vase of red roses at the front of the sanctuary told a different story - of that same life having been cut short.
The speech that friends, family, professors and supporters heard as part of yesterday's service celebrating Damyanova's life and mourning her death was a recording of Damyanova's address at her graduation from the American College of Sofia, a private English-language school in Bulgaria.
A native of Sofia, Bulgaria, Damyanova was struck and killed by two cars while crossing Broadway, a street near Davis Square, on the night of Nov. 22.
The Damyanova family - still based in Bulgaria - had sent the video along with a letter to the Tufts community, as they were unable to attend the service due to family illness. The service was recorded for the family.
Following the showing of the video, University Chaplain the Reverend David O' Leary read a letter to the community from Damyanova's parents.
"Look around," he read. "Bory's spirit must be here with you."
Her parents thanked the Male family (who sponsored Damyanova), the Institute of Global Leadership, her professors, her friends, her employers, and all who had sent cards of sympathy, for everything they had done for Bory and her family.
"[You] made her feel at home, accepted her as one of [your] own, praised her for [her talents] and loved her," their letter read.
Members shared, laughed, and cried over memories of Damyanova.
Vice President of External Affairs and former Dean of Undergraduate Admissions David Cuttino began by talking about his decision to find a way to get Damyanova into Tufts.
She had a "rigorous interest in the world around her," he said. "Her spirit stood out."
What she did not have was enough tuition assistance to get into Tufts. But Cuttino felt so strongly about bringing Damyanova to Tufts that he asked University Trustee Bruce Male to be her sponsor. After hearing about her, he and his wife Leslie quickly agreed.
What followed, Male said, was an unusually deep and fruitful mentor-student relationship: Damyanova referred to Male as as her "local dad."
Male said that Damyanova showed an exceptional vigor and excitement for taking on new experiences and challenges, whether serious or mundane.
Bory's first experience of New England - sports events and Maine lobster - was no exception. "The lobster never stood a chance," he said.
University Provost Jamshed Bharucha spoke next, touching on his experience working with Damyanova when she helped advance the cause of financial aid for international students at Tufts.
Bharucha said that Damyanova turned Tufts into a more enriched community. "There's nothing like having a student do what she's doing and be who she is to represent what is special about this place," he said.
Director of the Institute of Global Leadership Sherman Teichman spoke highly of Damyanova's academic talents and personality. Damyanova had studied under Teichman in the Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) class.
"This was a kid who understood what global citizenship was all about," he said. "[She] looked beyond every possible horizon one could possibly imagine."
Teichman said she had hoped to harness the possibilities of microfinance to help out in developing nations.
"What really mattered would have been the void to not have Bory in our midst," he said. "Not the void we feel now."
Classmate Mauricio Artinano expressed his and his peers' appreciation of Damyanova, especially her smile.
"She knew how to smile [and] made you smile," he said. "Keep smiling for Bory."
Artinano remembered that Damyanova often spoke of a "revolution of love" that would make the world a better place. "She always had time to give me a hug," he said. "[I'm] privileged to have loved her and been loved by her."
Yet the raw emotion of the event demonstrated opportunities cut short.
Bharucha presented Damyanova with a magna cum laude degree in international relations and economics.
Male accepted the diploma on behalf of Damyanova's parents.
"I would rather hand out global leadership to Bory than, frankly, to many of the leaders we have in place," Bharucha said.
Senior Negar Razavi read a poem by Lisa Senecal, a recent graduate of Tufts and a close friend of Damyanova. Senecal was not able to attend the ceremony. One line from the poem read, "I'm just as worried about my heart, because you see, it hurts."
Elena Chardakliyska, an American College of Sofia classmate of Damyanova's who is currently a student at Harvard University, attended the service.
"I was sitting next to Bory at our high school graduation, and her college 'graduation' tonight broke my heart," she said. "The wheel of life is not always round, I guess."
After all the speakers finished, audience members stepped outside for a special vigil: a version of the second half of the Light on the Hill ceremony. All Tufts students begin their freshman experience with the ceremony, in which they gather on the Hill while holding lighted candles. They reassemble at the end of their senior year for another candle-lighting as they are inducted into the Tufts Alumni association - an honor granted to Damyanova as her supporters stood outdoors.
The gathered crowd stood in silence for several minutes, but even after an improvised toast - "Here's to Bory" - no one seemed willing to extinguish the lights, which were left twinkling in the snow as the crowd dispersed.
"She'll always be a light on the Hill," Bharucha said.
A scholarship fund for financial aid for international students is being created in Damyanova's honor.
