Happy Father's Day to my biggest supporter.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Father's Day Post
This is how I see my father's support of me and this is the support I want to offer my own kids.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Wanna Impress me? ...Change the world
I recently had the honor of being chosen to give the commencement speech for the Parish Episcopal School class of 2012. Below you will find the video of the speech followed by the text (so you can see how many mistakes I made :().
In the text I have included links to some things you may find intertesting.
Let me know what you think.
Thank you, Henri. That was very sweet. You know Henri is the only student I’ve ever had that can turn science essays into works of art --complete with literary allusions and plot twists all while making the relevant scientific points…He’s quite talented. Thanks again Henri.
Before I begin, I would like to thank the board of trustees, the administration and staff, my colleagues, and all of you for supporting this school and this wonderful group of young women and men that we are here to honor today.
(To kids) I was a little surprised you asked me to speak to you one more time…(to crowd) You see… they’ve already spent hours listening to my lectures over the last couple of years… in biology and psychology, on the senior retreat, in chapel, and for some on the soccer field. This year I even found a way to lecture at home on YouTube. Maybe that is it? Maybe they figured I’d just put the speech on YouTube so they could watch it later and get to the parties sooner.
Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you.
I feel a strong bond with many members of this graduating class. It is a bond forged from a shared experience of challenging each other. I did my best to push them out of their comfort zone every day - and they definitely challenged me.
I don’t mean to say they were disrespectful or difficult to work with, quite the opposite… they were a joy to work with. Rather they challenged me each day to be a better teacher.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The difference between talent and genius is talent says things which he has heard but once and genius things which he has never heard.”
Knowing genius was not likely… I looked for a source of inspiration to help me at least get close to talent: …Facebook.
I made a post soliciting the best piece of advice anyone had received upon graduating high school. I also asked if anyone had any advice to help me to write a memorable, inspirational speech.
What I got back were some fairly predictable responses about how to live your life and handle the future, as well as other good suggestions for my speech…none of which I am likely to heed.
A former colleague, from Atlanta, suggested that you would all most appreciate that I begin my address with, “Let me be brief….”
Well… y’all know me better than that.
Oddly enough… I’m not here today to celebrate the fact that you are graduating. You should graduate. 3 million other kids around the country are… and you’ve been afforded just about every advantage imaginable – in a school environment that supported you each step along the way. So just graduating – it’s not that impressive. It is what you do from here that counts… and I challenge you to do something… and to be someone… truly remarkable.
For most of you (I guess all of you), the next step is college…but why?
Is it to get a degree, so you can get a job, so you can make a decent living?
Some would argue that you don’t even need college…
You could question whether many of the classes you take in college will prepare you any better than what you might learn on the job. Some of you could perform the jobs you are going to have with the education you’ve already received. But today’s world demands at least a college degree just to get hired--- for most of the jobs you’ll want. So… you’ll go…
But I challenge you to think about how you will spend your time and energy while you’re there.
Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and early investor in Facebook, was on 60 minutes last week suggesting the benefits of college did not justify the expense and debt incurred. He goes as far as paying select kids $100,000 to NOT go to college. Now, I think there are some serious holes in Mr. Thiel’s arguments, but he makes good points about the rising cost of an education. I want you to go to college – but I also I want you to get your money’s worth.
I greatly benefited from my time at the best University in this country. That said I am certain I could’ve gotten more value from my experience. If I could go back, and do it again, with the benefit of what I know now… I would learn more AND have more fun. I would skip more parties, and I might skip more lectures. I don’t know if I would earn better grades, but I know I would use those four years to pursue every intellectual passion I had. I would be involved with a movement, I would design an experiment, I would start a foundation, I would try to ask questions that had never been asked before and then dig until I had an answer. And that is one thing I am challenging you to do. Maximize your learning opportunities by taking risks - not being passive.
But why go to college? Information is not a commodity held locked away in the ivory towers of universities. Information is available and free. If you are motivated and resourceful enough you can find, with a few keystrokes and mouse clicks most all the information you need, - at your disposal -- on demand.
That doesn’t mean you cannot, or will not learn a great deal in your college courses and from your professors. But, you no longer have to go to college to have access to that information. So you cannot see that as the goal.
I recently watched a TED talk where a technologist compared information to food and it got me thinking – If information were food would you wait around for some to suggest you eat? If information were food would you be satisfied with letting someone else determine when, where, what, and how much you would eat? I’m guessing you would want some say in the menu. If information were food could we discern a healthy diet from junk food? And most importantly, would you know how to cook?
My point is you can’t wait around for information. You must go get it. You must know how to discern good information from bad. And once you have it you need to work with it to understand and create something new.
Don’t spend the next four years just attending passive lectures, taking tests as summative assessments, and churning out papers. We know you can do that. We challenge you to do more.
Simply accumulating information is not an education! I know a ton of useless trivia, which may make me the life of most parties, but does not make me an educated man.
So again I ask: Why go to college?
Some may argue that going to college plays a huge role in your social development and maturity. A rite of passage that allows you to grow up... just not too quickly. It is a rest stop before heading into the real world. People will tell you to “enjoy every minute of this time in your life as you will never again have this unique combination of freedom and relative lack of responsibility. It will be the most fun four years of your life!”
Don’t get me wrong. I want you to enjoy the next few years, but I suggest that your true and lasting enjoyment, comes not from partying but from the pursuit of your passions and knowing you have the potential to make an impact.
If you’re going to college to receive a piece of paper that says you are now qualified to hold some job, and to have some time to grow up while having a good time, then you are grossly missing the point.
You see… research on happiness suggests that people are most happy when they are engaged in meaningful tasks. Heed the words of Nancy Mochel who said, “The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what we want most, for what we want now.”
I am challenging you today to be an active participant in your own education, enjoy it now… it will put you on the path to what you want most.
Actively seek out understandings, pursue interests, design or create something new, engage in something meaningful. Attack every day at college on a mission to improve. Reject passivity. Be relentless in your pursuits. That’s how you’ll maximize your college experience.
What is most exciting about what lies ahead is the endless possibility - the freedom, opportunity, and potential to make meaningful connections and real discoveries.
Which brings me to my next point.
When you listen to college commencement speeches the message is often for the young graduates to “go change the world.” I would argue that charge is given four years too late. After college “life” gets in the way of changing the world. After college you have bills, responsibilities, etc. When do you have time to change the world?
But in college….
In college you are relatively unburdened. You still have your idealistic ignorance…your childhood curiosity -- your natural love of learning ---use them. Change the world now - when you have the time, freedom and intellectual capital. When you have access to resources, guidance and mentoring from professors and thousands of energetic young people on campus who may agree to get on board with your crazy idea. College is the time to at least plant the seeds for change. – In fact, this time may be the most fertile intellectual soil you ever occupy. Do not wait!
When you think about who has changed the world, who do you think of? I think of young people.
Like the group of students from The University of Georgia who helped Darius Weems’ dreams come true. We watched their story “Darius Goes West” on the senior retreat. These young college men who, on the surface, had very little in common with, a poor teenager with muscular dystrophy – decided on their own accord to take Darius on a life changing trip across the country. Along the way they recognized and capitalized on their potential to raise awareness for handicap accessibility and to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy research.
I think of Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre who, as students at Rensselaer University, developed a method of using fungus mycelium to self -assemble into a completely organic, non-polluting, packaging material with the same functionality as Styrofoam-- with a production process that has zero carbon emissions. That means they created a replacement for Styrofoam that’s actually GOOD for the environment.
You know who also impresses me? Duke football’s offensive line. Yeah, I know. I’m not sure the most sacked quarterback in the nation last year is as impressed*, but this spring that offensive line went Ethiopia to dig wells - by hand - so villagers no longer have to travel miles every day for fresh water. (*note - this was a joke and I made it up this factoid)
Tavi Gevison impresses me – she’s a fifteen year old who started her own online magazine called “Rookie” for teenage girls so they could find and discuss strong female role models, putting a new face on modern feminism.
And Taylor Wilson a 17 year old nuclear physicist who at age 14 built a nuclear fusion reactor in his garage. He has since developed a more sensitive radiation detector that replaces the detectors used by homeland security-- and he built them in his garage for hundreds of dollars rather than hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I am telling you all this to show you what you already know. Young people can change the world. I would suggest young people must change the world.
When did Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zukerberg to begin their pursuits that changed the world ? They certainly didn’t wait until after graduation. The may not have had time to conceive of Microsoft,…Apple… or Facebook if they had jobs and responsibilities weighing on them.
Mark Zukerberg probably did not set out to change the world as he wrote a program that allowed students to connect; and the world may not be enriched just because I can instantly update my status - …. (“ @ Meyerson Giving Parish Commencement Address - YOLO”).
While I am certain my status update won’t change the course of history, the global connectivity Facebook inspired has absolutely changed the world. Waleed Rashed, the co-founder of the Egypt’s April 6 Movement came to visit us recently in Chapel, and spoke of the power of Facebook and Twitter as organizational, rallying, and communications tools …Tools so powerful, that with it, Egyptians changed the course of history for their country, the rest of North Africa… and the world. He urged you to “Demand the impossible” He said you all “have a revolution inside of you” and you should “Share it.”
That doesn’t have to mean you have to bring down a dictator or invent the next global computing platform, but you need to think about how you can change your world, impact your community. Use your talents to make a difference.
Never before has it been this easy to impact the world. It doesn’t take money…or political standing. It takes an idea…and the passion to move that idea forward.
But… are there any great ideas left?
I heard on a podcast recently, the assertion that true innovation has died --- all we are seeing now is the, redefining, redesigning, and speeding up of existing technology. Charles Duell the commissioner of the patent office was quoted, saying, “Everything that can be invented has already been invented.” The year was 1899. He clearly had never considered the Pajama Jeans.
So -- Have all of the good ideas already been discovered? I certainly don’t think so. I would argue that we are only limited in what you can imagine. And that we are counting on you to imagine big.
In class, on the stage, in the community, and on the field I hope we have challenged you to be imaginative…to do more than you thought you could… and since today is my last opportunity to do so, I’m going to challenge some more.
I challenge you… to ignore the naysayers. Let them doubt you… and then let them watch as you prove them wrong. There is a Chinese proverb that says, "The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.”
If you do fail, and you will…then I challenge you to be resilient. If you get knocked down 99 times, people need to know that you are going to get up for number 100. As Mary Pickford said, “this thing called failure in not the falling down, but staying down.”
I challenge you to be embrace and value differences … To see that people don’t have to fit in, in order to belong.
I challenge you to be healthy. Make good decisions regarding your indulgences, exercise regularly, eat well and sleep soundly – that’s when you dream.
I challenge you to fight the good fight –for what you believe in and for those who can’t fight for themselves. Thomas Jefferson said, “In matters of style, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock.” So even if you lose, you’ll do so with you honor intact.
From our talk earlier this year, I challenge you to choose the pain of discipline over the pain of regret. Remembering the pain of discipline only last while we are in the midst of the task, but the pain of regret can last a lifetime.
I challenge you to be humble. Recognize that you don’t know everything (though it may seem like it now)…you may not even be aware of what you don’t know. Einstein said "Always listen to people to say they are searching for truth, never those who say they have found it."
I challenge you to take it personally. Your work must matter to you.
I challenge you to be compassionate and forgiving. Because God knows you would want others to be compassionate and forgiving to you.
I challenge you to consider “whatever” …. as in “WHATEVER it takes to live up to the standards you family has instilled in you…As in Whatever your individual talents allow you to do to embody the tenets of Wisdom, Honor, and Service that your school has encouraged in you.
(Pause)
I started out my address by saying I wasn’t impressed by your accomplishment of graduating high school, but that doesn’t mean you haven’t impressed me during your time here. How can I not be impressed by:
A student who accumulated 710 hours of community service mentoring youth, teaching leadership with his work at Project Transformation and the National Hispanic Institute.
Or a student who developed and implemented a math enrichment program for middle school girls to get them excited about and willing to take a leadership roles in mathematics.
Or a student who had two original films screened at local film festivals.
I stand in awe of the astounding professional dramatic and musical performances you have produced, and the budding robotics program you’ve pioneered.
I am impressed by a student … who, to honor his father, at the age of 9 took on a leadership role with the non-profit - Links Fore Leukemia, and personally helped raise over $100,000 dollars for Leukemia research.
And I know that it is through hard work, that one can not only bench press 475lbs, but can also lift a 3.7 GPA, and compete in the Ivy League next year.
And these are just a few examples of the greatness this class has demonstrated. So yes…I’ve been impressed.
Now, I challenge you… impress me again.
Class of 2012, I am proud of you, I know you are ready, I wish you all the best.
Now “go change your world.”
Thank you.
Thank you, Henri. That was very sweet. You know Henri is the only student I’ve ever had that can turn science essays into works of art --complete with literary allusions and plot twists all while making the relevant scientific points…He’s quite talented. Thanks again Henri.
Before I begin, I would like to thank the board of trustees, the administration and staff, my colleagues, and all of you for supporting this school and this wonderful group of young women and men that we are here to honor today.
(To kids) I was a little surprised you asked me to speak to you one more time…(to crowd) You see… they’ve already spent hours listening to my lectures over the last couple of years… in biology and psychology, on the senior retreat, in chapel, and for some on the soccer field. This year I even found a way to lecture at home on YouTube. Maybe that is it? Maybe they figured I’d just put the speech on YouTube so they could watch it later and get to the parties sooner.
Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you.
I feel a strong bond with many members of this graduating class. It is a bond forged from a shared experience of challenging each other. I did my best to push them out of their comfort zone every day - and they definitely challenged me.
I don’t mean to say they were disrespectful or difficult to work with, quite the opposite… they were a joy to work with. Rather they challenged me each day to be a better teacher.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The difference between talent and genius is talent says things which he has heard but once and genius things which he has never heard.”
Knowing genius was not likely… I looked for a source of inspiration to help me at least get close to talent: …Facebook.
I made a post soliciting the best piece of advice anyone had received upon graduating high school. I also asked if anyone had any advice to help me to write a memorable, inspirational speech.
What I got back were some fairly predictable responses about how to live your life and handle the future, as well as other good suggestions for my speech…none of which I am likely to heed.
A former colleague, from Atlanta, suggested that you would all most appreciate that I begin my address with, “Let me be brief….”
Well… y’all know me better than that.
Oddly enough… I’m not here today to celebrate the fact that you are graduating. You should graduate. 3 million other kids around the country are… and you’ve been afforded just about every advantage imaginable – in a school environment that supported you each step along the way. So just graduating – it’s not that impressive. It is what you do from here that counts… and I challenge you to do something… and to be someone… truly remarkable.
For most of you (I guess all of you), the next step is college…but why?
Is it to get a degree, so you can get a job, so you can make a decent living?
Some would argue that you don’t even need college…
You could question whether many of the classes you take in college will prepare you any better than what you might learn on the job. Some of you could perform the jobs you are going to have with the education you’ve already received. But today’s world demands at least a college degree just to get hired--- for most of the jobs you’ll want. So… you’ll go…
But I challenge you to think about how you will spend your time and energy while you’re there.
Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and early investor in Facebook, was on 60 minutes last week suggesting the benefits of college did not justify the expense and debt incurred. He goes as far as paying select kids $100,000 to NOT go to college. Now, I think there are some serious holes in Mr. Thiel’s arguments, but he makes good points about the rising cost of an education. I want you to go to college – but I also I want you to get your money’s worth.
I greatly benefited from my time at the best University in this country. That said I am certain I could’ve gotten more value from my experience. If I could go back, and do it again, with the benefit of what I know now… I would learn more AND have more fun. I would skip more parties, and I might skip more lectures. I don’t know if I would earn better grades, but I know I would use those four years to pursue every intellectual passion I had. I would be involved with a movement, I would design an experiment, I would start a foundation, I would try to ask questions that had never been asked before and then dig until I had an answer. And that is one thing I am challenging you to do. Maximize your learning opportunities by taking risks - not being passive.
But why go to college? Information is not a commodity held locked away in the ivory towers of universities. Information is available and free. If you are motivated and resourceful enough you can find, with a few keystrokes and mouse clicks most all the information you need, - at your disposal -- on demand.
That doesn’t mean you cannot, or will not learn a great deal in your college courses and from your professors. But, you no longer have to go to college to have access to that information. So you cannot see that as the goal.
I recently watched a TED talk where a technologist compared information to food and it got me thinking – If information were food would you wait around for some to suggest you eat? If information were food would you be satisfied with letting someone else determine when, where, what, and how much you would eat? I’m guessing you would want some say in the menu. If information were food could we discern a healthy diet from junk food? And most importantly, would you know how to cook?
My point is you can’t wait around for information. You must go get it. You must know how to discern good information from bad. And once you have it you need to work with it to understand and create something new.
Don’t spend the next four years just attending passive lectures, taking tests as summative assessments, and churning out papers. We know you can do that. We challenge you to do more.
Simply accumulating information is not an education! I know a ton of useless trivia, which may make me the life of most parties, but does not make me an educated man.
So again I ask: Why go to college?
Some may argue that going to college plays a huge role in your social development and maturity. A rite of passage that allows you to grow up... just not too quickly. It is a rest stop before heading into the real world. People will tell you to “enjoy every minute of this time in your life as you will never again have this unique combination of freedom and relative lack of responsibility. It will be the most fun four years of your life!”
Don’t get me wrong. I want you to enjoy the next few years, but I suggest that your true and lasting enjoyment, comes not from partying but from the pursuit of your passions and knowing you have the potential to make an impact.
If you’re going to college to receive a piece of paper that says you are now qualified to hold some job, and to have some time to grow up while having a good time, then you are grossly missing the point.
You see… research on happiness suggests that people are most happy when they are engaged in meaningful tasks. Heed the words of Nancy Mochel who said, “The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what we want most, for what we want now.”
I am challenging you today to be an active participant in your own education, enjoy it now… it will put you on the path to what you want most.
Actively seek out understandings, pursue interests, design or create something new, engage in something meaningful. Attack every day at college on a mission to improve. Reject passivity. Be relentless in your pursuits. That’s how you’ll maximize your college experience.
What is most exciting about what lies ahead is the endless possibility - the freedom, opportunity, and potential to make meaningful connections and real discoveries.
Which brings me to my next point.
When you listen to college commencement speeches the message is often for the young graduates to “go change the world.” I would argue that charge is given four years too late. After college “life” gets in the way of changing the world. After college you have bills, responsibilities, etc. When do you have time to change the world?
But in college….
In college you are relatively unburdened. You still have your idealistic ignorance…your childhood curiosity -- your natural love of learning ---use them. Change the world now - when you have the time, freedom and intellectual capital. When you have access to resources, guidance and mentoring from professors and thousands of energetic young people on campus who may agree to get on board with your crazy idea. College is the time to at least plant the seeds for change. – In fact, this time may be the most fertile intellectual soil you ever occupy. Do not wait!
When you think about who has changed the world, who do you think of? I think of young people.
Like the group of students from The University of Georgia who helped Darius Weems’ dreams come true. We watched their story “Darius Goes West” on the senior retreat. These young college men who, on the surface, had very little in common with, a poor teenager with muscular dystrophy – decided on their own accord to take Darius on a life changing trip across the country. Along the way they recognized and capitalized on their potential to raise awareness for handicap accessibility and to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy research.
I think of Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre who, as students at Rensselaer University, developed a method of using fungus mycelium to self -assemble into a completely organic, non-polluting, packaging material with the same functionality as Styrofoam-- with a production process that has zero carbon emissions. That means they created a replacement for Styrofoam that’s actually GOOD for the environment.
You know who also impresses me? Duke football’s offensive line. Yeah, I know. I’m not sure the most sacked quarterback in the nation last year is as impressed*, but this spring that offensive line went Ethiopia to dig wells - by hand - so villagers no longer have to travel miles every day for fresh water. (*note - this was a joke and I made it up this factoid)
Tavi Gevison impresses me – she’s a fifteen year old who started her own online magazine called “Rookie” for teenage girls so they could find and discuss strong female role models, putting a new face on modern feminism.
And Taylor Wilson a 17 year old nuclear physicist who at age 14 built a nuclear fusion reactor in his garage. He has since developed a more sensitive radiation detector that replaces the detectors used by homeland security-- and he built them in his garage for hundreds of dollars rather than hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I am telling you all this to show you what you already know. Young people can change the world. I would suggest young people must change the world.
When did Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zukerberg to begin their pursuits that changed the world ? They certainly didn’t wait until after graduation. The may not have had time to conceive of Microsoft,…Apple… or Facebook if they had jobs and responsibilities weighing on them.
Mark Zukerberg probably did not set out to change the world as he wrote a program that allowed students to connect; and the world may not be enriched just because I can instantly update my status - …. (“ @ Meyerson Giving Parish Commencement Address - YOLO”).
While I am certain my status update won’t change the course of history, the global connectivity Facebook inspired has absolutely changed the world. Waleed Rashed, the co-founder of the Egypt’s April 6 Movement came to visit us recently in Chapel, and spoke of the power of Facebook and Twitter as organizational, rallying, and communications tools …Tools so powerful, that with it, Egyptians changed the course of history for their country, the rest of North Africa… and the world. He urged you to “Demand the impossible” He said you all “have a revolution inside of you” and you should “Share it.”
That doesn’t have to mean you have to bring down a dictator or invent the next global computing platform, but you need to think about how you can change your world, impact your community. Use your talents to make a difference.
Never before has it been this easy to impact the world. It doesn’t take money…or political standing. It takes an idea…and the passion to move that idea forward.
But… are there any great ideas left?
I heard on a podcast recently, the assertion that true innovation has died --- all we are seeing now is the, redefining, redesigning, and speeding up of existing technology. Charles Duell the commissioner of the patent office was quoted, saying, “Everything that can be invented has already been invented.” The year was 1899. He clearly had never considered the Pajama Jeans.
So -- Have all of the good ideas already been discovered? I certainly don’t think so. I would argue that we are only limited in what you can imagine. And that we are counting on you to imagine big.
In class, on the stage, in the community, and on the field I hope we have challenged you to be imaginative…to do more than you thought you could… and since today is my last opportunity to do so, I’m going to challenge some more.
I challenge you… to ignore the naysayers. Let them doubt you… and then let them watch as you prove them wrong. There is a Chinese proverb that says, "The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.”
If you do fail, and you will…then I challenge you to be resilient. If you get knocked down 99 times, people need to know that you are going to get up for number 100. As Mary Pickford said, “this thing called failure in not the falling down, but staying down.”
I challenge you to be embrace and value differences … To see that people don’t have to fit in, in order to belong.
I challenge you to be healthy. Make good decisions regarding your indulgences, exercise regularly, eat well and sleep soundly – that’s when you dream.
I challenge you to fight the good fight –for what you believe in and for those who can’t fight for themselves. Thomas Jefferson said, “In matters of style, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock.” So even if you lose, you’ll do so with you honor intact.
From our talk earlier this year, I challenge you to choose the pain of discipline over the pain of regret. Remembering the pain of discipline only last while we are in the midst of the task, but the pain of regret can last a lifetime.
I challenge you to be humble. Recognize that you don’t know everything (though it may seem like it now)…you may not even be aware of what you don’t know. Einstein said "Always listen to people to say they are searching for truth, never those who say they have found it."
I challenge you to take it personally. Your work must matter to you.
I challenge you to be compassionate and forgiving. Because God knows you would want others to be compassionate and forgiving to you.
I challenge you to consider “whatever” …. as in “WHATEVER it takes to live up to the standards you family has instilled in you…As in Whatever your individual talents allow you to do to embody the tenets of Wisdom, Honor, and Service that your school has encouraged in you.
(Pause)
I started out my address by saying I wasn’t impressed by your accomplishment of graduating high school, but that doesn’t mean you haven’t impressed me during your time here. How can I not be impressed by:
A student who accumulated 710 hours of community service mentoring youth, teaching leadership with his work at Project Transformation and the National Hispanic Institute.
Or a student who developed and implemented a math enrichment program for middle school girls to get them excited about and willing to take a leadership roles in mathematics.
Or a student who had two original films screened at local film festivals.
I stand in awe of the astounding professional dramatic and musical performances you have produced, and the budding robotics program you’ve pioneered.
I am impressed by a student … who, to honor his father, at the age of 9 took on a leadership role with the non-profit - Links Fore Leukemia, and personally helped raise over $100,000 dollars for Leukemia research.
And I know that it is through hard work, that one can not only bench press 475lbs, but can also lift a 3.7 GPA, and compete in the Ivy League next year.
And these are just a few examples of the greatness this class has demonstrated. So yes…I’ve been impressed.
Now, I challenge you… impress me again.
Class of 2012, I am proud of you, I know you are ready, I wish you all the best.
Now “go change your world.”
Thank you.
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