It has been a distinct honor to serve the student body this year as President of the Union. After a year of working with students, faculty, and staff, I believe the most indelible impression left with me is that of the personalities and achievements of our students.
I stand at the end of my term in awe. In awe of your talent, your leadership, and your excellence. I stand here in awe of the potential, the sheer potential of each and every student at Rensselaer.
Think for a moment about the students two generations before ours, the generation of Rensselaer leaders that passed through our halls and classrooms, who went on to accomplish tremendous feats. They created the transistor that led to the electronic age, integrated circuits, and ultimately led to the entire digital world. They gave us the cathode ray, allowing for visual media to change our very culture. They pioneered NASA, taking us to the moon and the depths of space. They truly changed the world.
So now back to us, the current students; think of the challenges that we will overcome, the culture that we will change, and the new frontiers that we will settle. Think of the diseases we will cure, the new markets we will create, and the innovations that we will develop, changing our lives.
It seems that with every day come new challenges and uncertainty. The world becomes closer and more interdependent as every year passes. Asia is emerging in world markets for the first time, as companies outsource, and Americans are competing globally for highly technical jobs. Fear grips the geopolitical climate in which tyrants and terrorists lurch in the shadows of peace and prosperity. It is now, however, that we must remember that we are the very essence, and the very arm of mankind’s will for progress. We face problems that not only have no definitive solution, but have yet to be discovered.
We have diseases without a cure, children who are starving, and citizens of our own country in the depths of poverty. With all of this I remain more than optimistic.
For I take comfort, and solace in the fact that my generation has students such as yourselves. Students that realize that their accomplishments will change our world for the better, students who understand that their actions are most noble because they are for the benefit of others, and students that will change the world as we know it.
Now you can see why your potential should truly amaze us all. Together, we will make the decisions that will shape our futures and the futures of those yet to come. So I leave my term posing a challenge to you, look deep inside yourselves and seek out where your opportunities for greatness lie.
