This is an inspiring moment.
Let’s all look around to soak this all in.
Let’s rise and stretch, to congratulate those around you, and give everyone here a round of applause to express our gratitude for this special moment, this dynamic community, our greater purpose.
I want to thank each and every one of you for creating it.
Dina and our dedicated student leaders and FYGs, who inspire us every day with their drive to give back, their energy, their generous warmth.
Jenn and our charismatic, insightful admissions group, who attracted and selected you as one from ten applicants.
Sharon and our talented team at the Dean of Students Office, who are dedicated to your personal growth, well-being, and success.
Evan and our industrious facilities and event staff who worked so hard to plan these events and get the campus ready for the first of so many moments here.
Peter and our brilliant faculty and academic leadership who challenge and teach us the joy and power of learning.
David Mgrublian and our Board of Trustees and the invaluable time, professional talent, and generous treasure they contribute to realize the singular vision and responsible leadership of our College.
KK and all of our generous parents, our grandparents, families, and friends who love and believe in us and make the sacrifices to create this opportunity.
For the Class of 2023, this is a big moment for you, but it is huge too for your families. The biggest challenge for parents (and grandparents, and younger siblings) is letting go.
And the greatest pride is watching you get going, happy and fulfilled. So be sure hug them today and to make sure they are doing okay, and then when you get back, call and text your family! Frequently.
Now I know full well how disorienting orientation can be.
The travel logistics of how to get here? The financial stress and pressures? How to navigate the LA archipelago and the shark-infested waters we call traffic?
What will fit in the room? The return trips to Target? Where to get something to eat?
The endless words of advice we can’t remember.
The roommates, what was her mom’s name again?
This is all frenetic and confusing.
And after all of the incredible hard work and stress to get to this point, the tough practices and competitions, the long nights of study, the community service and part-time jobs, the number 2 pencils and bubbles on the multiple-choice tests, the endless drafts of college essays, the financial challenges, the big decision.
In the midst of all of that frenetic activity, leading up to and including today, we all have a tendency to gloss over the moment, to miss the opportunity to pose a meaningful question, a question about our shared purpose, a window into how we unlock our talent, realize our commitments, discover the pure joy of learning hard, having fun in a close community, pursuing our dreams.
So let’s take this opportunity to reflect on the core question.
Why are we here?
This is really 3 questions.
Why are we here?
Why are we here?
Why are we here?
First, the why
Why are we here? What is our calling? What does the world need from us? What role can we play?
To face and address the major forces, the complex, wicked problems and the exciting opportunities we face in the world: globalization and exponential technology; crime and safety, war and peace; economic growth and inequality, the environment and sustainability; poverty and free enterprise, disease and its cures, refugees and immigration, polarization and division and finding our shared purpose, core values, deeper unity.
To grow our ability, in this context, to understand, confront, mitigate, overcome, resolve, reform, innovate, disrupt, survive, thrive – all depends on one human capability:
Our ability to learn, to learn harder, deeper, broader, higher, and put that learning to work.
We can solve each and every one of our problems, seize every single opportunity, if only we figure out what we have to learn and how to learn it.
To unleash the power and creativity of our minds,
To learn through the diversity, compassion, playfulness, love, and social warmth in our community,
To inspire and inculcate the courage and humility we all need for new forms of collaborative, responsive, responsible leadership.
Not telling others what to do, but inspiring them by example to work together to find solutions.
Not just to point out what’s wrong with the world, but to understand and help fix it together.
Not just to serve ourselves, but to put our attention on others and commit to the success of those around us.
Not just the results, but the principles, the values, the qualities of our character, the deeper ethos of our commitments — the compass to the dilemmas we face.
Higher, deeper, broader learning.
To counter ignorance with the search for truth.
To replace the ad hominem attacks and the conclusory opinions with empirics and reason.
To diagnose deeper causes for clues about the solutions.
To integrate diverse bodies of expertise and work through and across our different disciplines.
To speak freely, debate respectfully, listen actively, find common ground, bring people together through effective dialogue.
To put learning to work.
To commit ourselves to effective action: both the smallest gestures and boldest aspirations.
Yes, small deeds:
to help someone in need, to resolve a personal conflict, to pose a neutral question, small gestures of kindness and gratitude
to fight the banality of evil with the banality of good.
And yes, big ideas:
to grow new solutions into scalable businesses, to develop effective policy that improves the human condition; to build consensus in a world that often appears not to want it.
That’s why we are here.
But, why are we here, why Claremont McKenna College?
The here of our College, our programs, our campus, our community –all is structured to serve that greater purpose.
Because here, you will work hard to learn from the intellectual power of our liberal arts faculty, how to think, write, compute, code, theorize, gather evidence, add and subtract assumptions, disprove the null hypothesis.
think laterally through our interdisciplinary curriculum, break bread and freely share viewpoints at the Athenaeum, and take on complex problems through the capstone projects, the thesis, and the advanced research opportunities with our faculty and institutes.
You will learn teamwork and collaboration through the competitions, student organizations, competitive sports, recreation, and the fun of residential life.
You will develop close friendships across differences and barriers and borders, learn how to have difficult conversations, how to listen well, debate with respect, solve controversial problems across diverse viewpoints and experiences, through our intimate, active, demanding classrooms, the close relationships in our residential campus experience, the Athenaeum, the CARE Center, College Programming Board, the Open Academy, and many other programs.
You will learn from these experiences and grow your self-confidence that motivate you to learn more.
You will learn how to put this all to work through classroom simulations, advanced research, student enterprises, special summer experiences and internships.
In this CMC cycle of learning and doing, you will learn to learn. So that you can keep ahead of the exponential changes you will face in your lifetime, prepare for what we cannot anticipate, the unknown unknowns, the questions not yet framed.
That’s why we are all here at CMC.
Yet, why are we here?
Peter and Sharon and I and all of the faculty and staff at the College are here to help you find your own purpose, build your own community, help you to take care of yourselves, empower you to remove the obstacles and barriers in your way, help you develop the foundations, qualities, and capabilities that you need to thrive and that the world — that we all — need from you.
And you are here because you chose us, and we chose you.
How is it that out of ten applicants you were the one? You may wonder.
You may experience moments of self-doubt. I know I did when I started college. For the longest time, I was convinced I was failing out, and I still remember the D-plus on my first exam.
Self-doubt is not only understandable, it’s essential. It is a condition for learning and self-improvement. The strongest sign of incompetence is found in those people who have the least clue of their inabilities.
Without self-doubt, we’re probably not challenging ourselves enough.
Without a modest level of insecurity, our standards are probably not sufficiently high.
When you experience those moments, I want you to remember.
We all share that feeling; we are all imperfect; we all make mistakes and have to learn through moments of failure and disappointment.
Remember that leadership and the professions are practiced, never perfected.
We are all here to learn from our mistakes together, support one another with the grace of error, lift ourselves when we’re down or disappointed, sad or lonely, and celebrate one another too when we’re up.
Most importantly to me, I want you to know deep down that you are here because we believe in you and what you can contribute, what we can each learn from you.
We chose you because we saw something special. Not just the hard work.
Not just the objective academic achievements. The GPAs and the test scores.
Not just the leadership roles and community service.
Not just the successful athletic performance or debate competition.
But something more significant: something unique in each of you, a spark, a charm, a spirit, an energy, a drive, a social generosity, an impulse to lead, to step across a barrier, to overcome a challenge, a desire to do more than merely what’s expected, to shape your own path, a commitment:
to contribute to those around you,
to make friends and build community through and across differences in viewpoint and experience,
to follow your own dreams,
to open up to new experiences,
to grow comfort with the discomfort of trying new things,
to turn your weaknesses into strengths.
So, this is why you, all of us together, are here.
Why we all belong here. To learn, together, to lead.
Why we are so fired up.
Why we are so moved, so lucky, to have you all here with us.
So everyone, soak it in.
Savor the moment.
Have a great evening with your families, a fun WOA! Trip this week with your new friends, and a safe return to campus.
Many congratulations to you all.