Daunte Pean reflected on what he’s learned at Northeastern from his three co-ops and experience with student orgs like Dream.
Chase the uncomfortable.
That’s been Daunte Pean’s motto since coming to Northeastern University, a mindset he has embraced fully in the five years he’s been here.
The mechanical engineering major has done three co-ops in different cities across the country, explored the jungles of Panama through a Dialogues of Civilization course, built an off-road vehicle with Baja Saem and worked with a local youth to help them get to college.
“I like to chase the uncomfortable,” he said before the ceremony. “I don’t like being too stagnant. I love pushing myself, seeing where I can go, what I can do, and my potential.”
Pean spoke of this and how his time at Northeastern embodied the university’s motto of light, truth, and courage at his undergraduate commencement ceremony at Fenway Park on Sunday, alongside fellow graduates Luke Brothers and Jizelle Dorego.
“To me, light means the fire within — the motivation to try new things, push past my comfort zones, and be my best self,” Pean said in his address.
This is a mindset he embraced, traveling everywhere from Tennessee for Baja Sae to the jungles of Panama for a Dialogues of Civilizations course.
Pean told his fellow graduates and guests about how this light helped him become a member of the Black Engineering Student Society, join the Caribbean Dance Team to connect to his roots as a Haitian American, design an offroad vehicle through Baja SAE and volunteer at Dream, a club where students mentor underprivileged youths in the Roxbury neighborhood.
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Through Dream, Pean mentored a young student who eventually went on to college, something he touched upon in his commencement address.
“My proudest achievement was mentoring a gamer with a heart of gold named Jeremiah who doubted college was possible — and now he’s studying computer science. It proved that our light has to be shared,” he said in his address. “I also sought truth — about what I value, what I’m passionate about and where I thrive.”
Pean had the same mindset when it came to his co-ops. His first co-op was for the manufacturing company DuPont, where he participated in maintenance and project management work. He was drawn to the latter, so he did a second co-op focused on engineering consulting at a company called Jacobs in Greenville, South Carolina, that allowed him to tap more into the skills he’d developed through his business minor.
“I absolutely knew no one” in Greenville, Pean said before his address. “But following my gut, I was like, this will be a good experience for me, and it was in a field that I was highly interested in. Going down there, I had the opportunity to not just learn more about myself, but learn from other people by just having that Southern hospitality in which people are always so nice. I already loved volleyball, but I got to really pursue it and build a community around me in South Carolina. I had exposure to line dancing, and I never thought I would like line dancing at all. But now it’s one of my main interests.”
His co-speakers also touched upon how Northeastern helped them find their footing in the world, whether it was on co-op, within a student organization or within their respective college.
Pean’s exploration continued with his third co-op in business technology at Deloitte’s Austin office.
“I set out to explore as much as possible and use Northeastern resources to get exposure to as many different kinds of people as possible,” Pean said.
While Pean and his fellow speakers ended their address by declaring they’re “Huskies for life,” new ventures await them.
Upon graduating, Pean will continue working for Deloitte out of its Charlotte office, though he’ll be based in Raleigh. But in the future, he hopes to launch his own business and has already begun taking the steps to do so.
“Northeastern has taught me as a whole to chase the uncomfortable,” Pean said. “Not everything is going to be handed to you. You have to actually take the steps and actually make those mistakes and learn from them. That’s something that is key in a business.”