Lester Holt To Pepperdine: NBC Reconsidered My Application 23 Years After Rejecting Me

Lester Holt, anchor of the weekend editions of NBC's Today and Nightly News said it took gall to apply to NBC as an 18-year-old in a commencement address to Pepperdine University this weekend.

NBC rejected his application but reconsidered 23 years later. Holt said he still reads the letter for a laugh.

He is quoted on the Nightly News's website saying:

What I've come to know is that in life, it's not always the questions we ask, but rather our ability to hear the answers that truly enriches our understanding. Never, never stop learning. You'll graduate from here today, but in life, class is never really dismissed.

Pepperdine awarded Holt an honorary doctorate degree and asked his son Stefan, a 2009 graduate and morning anchor at NBC5 Chicago, to present him with it. The two were all smiles in an Instagram photo Stefan posted.

When not picking up honorary degrees or anchoring the news, Holt plays the bass. Watch him play with Luke Bryan below.

Also on HuffPost: 2012 Commencement Speakers

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• Walter Isaacson

  Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson will speak at<a href="http://cooper.edu/about/news/2012-commencement-speakers-announced" target="_hplink"> Cooper Union's </a> commencement.

• Ira Glass

  The producer and host of This American Life will be the commencement speaker at <a href="http://towson.patch.com/articles/radio-host-baltimore-native-ira-glass-to-deliver-goucher-commencement" target="_hplink">Goucher College</a>.

• Steve Carell

  Steve Carell will speak at <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/commencement/" target="_hplink">Princeton University</a>'s commencement. We're really hoping he'll say "<a href="http://www.theofficequotes.com/season-3/business-school" target="_hplink">May your hats fly</a> as high as your dreams." I don't know if you can tell we are excited about this.

• Condoleezza Rice

  Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will speak at<a href="http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2012/03/condoleezza-rice-will-speak-at.html" target="_hplink"> Southern Methodist University</a>, where the George W. Bush library is being built.

• Cory Booker

  Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, will give commencement addresses at both Hampton University in Hampton, Virg. (May 13) and Stanford University, in Palo Alto, Calif. (June 16-17).

• Soledad O'Brien

  CNN's Soledad O'Brien will speak at the <a href="http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2012/mar/Commencement031312.html" target="_hplink">University of Delaware</a>.

• Geoffrey Canada

  Geoffrey Canada will speak at the <a href="http://thedp.com/index.php/article/2012/03/geoffrey_canada_chosen_as_commencement_speaker" target="_hplink">University of Pennsylvania</a>. Canada is the founder of the Harlem Children's Zone, a comprehensive education and health program that aims to end the cycle of poverty for families in Central Harlem.

• Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.)

  U.S. Sen. Mark Warner will speak at <a href="http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/first-lady-michelle-obama-address-2012-graduating-seniors" target="_hplink">Virginia Tech University</a>.

• Barbara Walters

  TV personality and journalist Barbara Walters will speak at <a href="http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2012/apr/02/barbara-walters-speak-class-day/" target="_hplink">Yale University.</a>

• Lisa Jackson

  Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson will speak at <a href="http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2012/03/epa_administrator_lisa_jackson.html" target="_hplink">Tulane University</a> and the <a href="http://www.washington.edu/graduation/" target="_hplink">University of Washington</a>.

• Jamaica Kincaid

  Novelist Jamaica Kincaid will speak at <a href="http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/confops/commencement/speaker" target="_hplink">Grinnell College</a>.

• Athol Fugard

  Playwright Athol Fugard will receive an honorary degree at <a href="http://www.juilliard.edu/newsroom/releases/current/2012-May_Commencement.php" target="_hplink">The Juilliard School's commencement</a>.

• James Earl Jones

  James Earl Jones will also receive an honorary degree at <a href="http://www.juilliard.edu/newsroom/releases/current/2012-May_Commencement.php" target="_hplink">The Juilliard School's commencement.</a>

• Adam Savage

  Mythbuster Adam Savage will speak at <a href="http://www.slc.edu/news-events/news/2012-03-14-commencement-speaker-adam-savage-nr.html" target="_hplink">Sarah Lawrence College.</a>

• Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)

  U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal will speak at the <a href="http://www.hartford.edu/arts-events/commencement/" target="_hplink">University of Hartford.</a>

• Soledad O'Brien

  CNN's Starting Point anchor will speak at the University of Delaware.

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Comments

[mira chancleta]

03:13 PM on 04/30/2012

I hardly recognized Lester.
He's usually bent-over, or on his knees interviewing constipated Toy Poodles in Central Park, wearing designer rain-gear.