Brooke Shields addresses Princeton grads, recalls atypical college years

While Harvard University kept their Class Day light with a funny and heartwarming speech from Amy Poehler, Princeton opted for a more serious route.

The graduating seniors invited 1987 alumna Brooke Shields to speak at their Class Day celebration on Monday (May 30). Shields, wearing her very own class jacket, was named an honorary Class of 2011 member. The students then sang "Happy Birthday" in recognition of her 46th on Tuesday.

"Twenty-four years ago I was sitting where you are today, and I was wearing this exact jacket signed, decorated orange and black jacket. It had the Class of '87 painted all over it," she said. "I'm having some of those same feelings I had on that very day -- excitement, nausea, looking forward to the future and just wanting to say something smart."

She joked about her experiences as a student, from being told she'd never get in to Princeton in the first place (she graduated with honors), to being rejected by the all-female a cappella group once she got there (she's now set to star in her fifth Broadway musical). Shields also recalled the Nude Olympics, which have since been banned from campus.

The model/actress/author made light of her not-so-normal college experience, as well. Having her grades published in Life, being excused from a midterm in order to meet the emperor of Japan and avoiding a National Enquirer photographer attempting to catch her in the shower among the highlights.

"I was gaining the most important footing of my life," she explained of those years. "I would have never survived my industry, a business that predicates itself on eating its young."

"Once you graduate there will be no guarantees, and even if you work your ass off you will rarely get what you think you want are deserve" she continued. "You will, however, get what you were meant to."