During the Navigating Rensselaer and Beyond program this past week I had the opportunity to meet with many of the first year students, and their enthusiasm and talent meet and even exceed those of current classes. I am excited to see what they will do next and how they will further improve and impact campus. During my convocation speech I noted that the tides have begun to change at RPI and instead of looking to your left and right to see who won’t be here at graduation, I encouraged them to look to their left and to look to their right and appreciate that for the first time, they had a 30 percent chance of sitting next to a female student.

Before school started, I also had the opportunity to hold a Senate training seminar with the returning Senate members. The event was very successful and only further proves the potential we have to accomplish numerous goals this year.