As the spring semester classes come to a close today, most of you will be engaged in intense preparation for your final exams or in work on your culminating projects. But as you devote countless hours to your work, take time to reflect on this past academic year and how you have responded to the challenges–both personal and global–this remarkable year has presented.
As a campus community, we celebrate achievements in a myriad of awards ceremonies and recognition events that lead to Commencement on May 18. We take time to recognize the accomplishments of those who have contributed to the success of the Institute, who have raised the level of academic, social, and community life on campus, and who have done important work in the governance of our student body. This is an important exercise that strengthens our dedication to excellence.
I am very pleased that Commencement has returned to campus this year. It is more important than ever that we gather as a community to launch our graduates into life. Having this event on campus certainly reinforces our pride in Rensselaer and our hopes for the future of the Institute.
When I reflect on this year, I look back with immense pride on how you responded to the horrible events of September 11 and its aftermath. You kept the community spirit strong on our campus and focused on ways to help those in need. You proved that taking positive action–whether through a Student Senate resolution, a blood drive, or a fundraiser–is the most effective way to combat the understandable feelings of anger and despair in the wake of terrorist attacks and to instead build hope.
When you leave campus for the summer you will enter a changed world. For those of you who are graduating in several weeks the change will be most evident. You began your senior years during a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity. Today it may seem to you that expectations of what the “real world” has to offer in regard to your careers have dimmed from that time. But your Rensselaer education is more relevant than ever to the challenges we face. Science and technology continue to be our hope for the future. What you do with your technological education will put you on the front lines of the drive to ensure that we can look forward to a safer and more prosperous world for everyone–a future of hope.
As Rensselaer graduates, this year and in the years to come, you always will be in demand by business, industry and government. More than ever, the world’s needs are changing. More than ever–as individuals and as a campus–we need to heed our own call: “Why not change the world?”
