Barbadian-born singer, Rihanna, was honored Harvard University’s 2017 Humanitarian of the Year award with a moving but often comical speech at the school’s Sanders Theatre on Tuesday.
The Barbadian pop star opened her speech with a cheeky hair flip and the remark, “So I made it to Harvard,” before discussing how her humanitarian instincts developed over the years. Rihanna recalled the commercials she saw as a kid that asked people to donate 25 cents to help children in need. “I would say to myself, ‘When I grow up, and I can get rich, I’m gonna save kids all over the world,” Rihanna said. “I just didn’t know I would be in the position to do that by the time I was a teenager.”
The Harvard Foundation annually honors prominent public-spirited leaders and named Rihanna as the recipient of the Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award for her charitable work which promotes healthcare and education in the Caribbean. In addition to funding a state-of-the-art center for oncology and nuclear medicine in her home country of Barbados, the singer has set up the Clara Lionel Foundation Scholarship Program to help Caribbean students attending universities in the U.S. succeed.
“All you need to do is help one person, expecting nothing in return,” Rihanna continued. “To me, that is a humanitarian, to help somebody”.
