Class Day 2013: Student Speeches
Mary Byers, senior class president
Wow, we made it! Before I say anything else: Congratulations, Class of 2013!
A few weeks ago I was asked to deliver a welcome speech to the prospective SEAS Class of 2017 during Days on Campus. Due to an unexpected program change, they asked me very last minute, so I played a big “lazy college senior” card and reused a different speech that I had given to this year’s freshman class during Orientation Week. I just changed a few words here and there… added one to the class year… I don’t think that anybody noticed. At that point I was already procrastinating on writing this speech so that got me thinking… could I actually just use that speech AGAIN for Class Day? I know, I know. I obviously couldn’t re-reuse that speech. The graduating class doesn’t need to hear the same things as the incoming class. That speech was about how they are at the start of an incredibly exciting new chapter of their lives and how they should prepare to have their worlds rocked by what they were going to learn and experience at Columbia. Reflecting on this, I began to realize that maybe the things that can be said to a class at the start of their time at Columbia aren’t too different from what can be said to the Class of 2013 at their graduation, except from our vantage point of walking across this stage, our hindsight is 20/20.
So as we’ve spent the last month or so swinging the emotional spectrum between being excited to graduate and face the world to being paralyzed in fear at the uncertainty that lies beyond the Columbia gates, I hope that I can remind all of us of the things that I told the Class of 2017 to prepare for. How over the past 4 years (or 2 if you’re a Combined Plan student) we’ve had our worlds rocked time and time again, simply because we’re here and part of this awe-inspiring intellectual community. We should remember the things that we are bringing with us, the experiences that we have picked up during our time here… from the long all-nighters in Mudd doing Senior Design, to drawing straws to see who was going to be the Timekeeper during Gateway, or reminiscing with your freshman floormates while in line at Lerner Pub, and each and every one of those “only in New York” moments, like when there was a guy breakdancing two feet away from you on the subway. Four years ago, we had none of these experiences under our belts; we were only just bright-eyed teenagers who had arrived here armed with the dream of wanting to be an engineer and change the world. And now here we are.
Of course, we couldn’t have gotten here on our own. I would like to thank the professors… for at times being merciless but at the same time believing in us and our capacity to learn. Thank you alumni, for attending many awkward networking sessions and for welcoming us into the Columbia alumni community with open arms. And where would we be without our families, who have been behind us throughout this whole journey. Mom, Dad: thank you for not holding it against me when I decided to go to college 3,000 miles away and for promising to only be a phone call away when I was homesick… and my brother Alex: for always keeping me grounded. Today, we should also thank each other. Columbia Engineering is great because of you and all of the gifts and passions that you bring and share. On a personal note, I’d also like to thank you for letting me represent you as your Class President for the past 4 years and for putting up with all 51 of my class emails and the dozens of cat videos that came with them. From the bottom of my heart: Thank you.
During our time at Columbia, we’ve grown into bridge-builders, operations wizards, gatekeepers to the future of medicine and chemistry, earth advocates, and prolific coders, who, thanks to the Core Curriculum, can philosophize almost as well as they can problem solve. We are no longer the engineers of tomorrow; we are the engineers of today.
We’ve built up so much positive potential energy and we’ve never been in a better position than right now to go out into the world and release it. If the Law of Conservation of Energy continues to hold true (which I’m pretty sure it will), we’re going to do magnificent things. What I didn’t tell the Class of 2017 is that they certainly have some big shoes to fill. Thank you.
Valedictory Remarks by Joseph DelPreto
Hi everyone, congratulations on finally making it to graduation! These past few weeks have been the final countdown of a long and often bumpy ride, and it’s hard to think of a few words that can summarize the experiences of our last four years.
I’m constantly surprised by the diverse talents and interests of our classmates and their willingness to teach others. Through the classes and clubs that have resulted from this environment, I’ve had the chance to try activities ranging from sailing on the Hudson River or scuba diving in the pool to free running around campus or practicing archery in the gym. Although occasionally resulting in a broken window or two, this unique atmosphere in which you can always find people to share your hobbies and teach you new ones has made college memorable and provided an exciting background for our studies.
I was reminded of how important this context can be when my senior design group and I drove to Florida a few weeks ago for a robotics competition. When we arrived after a long day of driving, we proceeded to convert our hotel room into an impromptu lab and perform a lot of last-minute tweaking on our robotic butler named Alfred. The dedication and collaboration of my teammates demonstrated for me the appeal of studying engineering; it may take a lot of late nights to figure out why your robot butler refuses to follow you, but creating a practical product that people can enjoy makes it all worthwhile. This message was made clearer during our breaks from the competition, which we spent in Disney World. I’ve always admired Disney and its creations because while having feats of modern technology in its own right, a place such as the Magical Kingdom reminds us that engineering shouldn’t take place in a vacuum. Walt Disney himself said that “you can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.” He succeeded in creating a world of wonder that anyone can enjoy, reminding us that the power of engineering often lies in its potential to make the world a better place, or at least to make it a little more interesting.
This has been a common theme in our Columbia experience as well; even if you avoided CC and LitHum like the plague, Columbia has still managed to infuse your education of science and technology with some liberal arts and a broader understanding of the world in which we work. It has not only taught us how to build things, it’s taught us how to decide what to build and how to influence other people with the results.
Over the years, I’ve tried to do this through class and personal projects that ranged from amphibious bicycles and elaborate Christmas decorations to automating our EC suite so we would never again have to worry about flipping a light switch or being locked out. On these smaller scales, I’ve tried to accomplish what Walt Disney did remarkably well: using the scientific tools available to make fantasies come to life and remind people of what they once believed was impossible. Although over time our hopes and dreams may evolve to fit our circumstances, it is important to not lose sight of where we started. Each of us had a reason for choosing to study engineering and applied science at Columbia, and hopefully it wasn’t because we thought it would be easy. We came here knowing it would be a challenge, but that we would come out stronger because of it and be able to make an impact on the world. Now we are faced with the end of that challenge and the start of a new one, armed with the knowledge of how to wield the tools we’ve been given to make our dreams a reality. As Dr. Seuss explained, “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the one who'll decide where to go...”
Congratulations class of 2013; now let’s make the future a good one.
Graduate Student Remarks by Keenan Bashour
Thank you, Dean Kachani. And I would also like to extend my thanks to the faculty and staff here at SEAS that have made our time at Columbia so meaningful. To the class of 2013, congratulations. We’re all here to celebrate. Hopefully with a bit more decorum than the last time we graduated. After all, we have matured in many ways. For one, joining SEAS was a decision that all of us have made, though we look to accomplish different things afterwards.
Some of us have had our minds set on entering academia and are now able to further immerse ourselves in the academic community. Others entered graduate school with the intention of honing their skills and are now ready to apply these skills towards industry. And there are probably more than a few of us here who, after seeing the market tank five years ago, decided that hiding out in graduate school while the economy recovered wasn’t such a bad idea.
Regardless of your reasons for coming, we all have learned—we have learned new material and have developed a more extensive network of friends. We’ve made new discoveries, published in reputed journals, maybe even filed a patent or two. But I would like to take a moment to reflect on the nature of the Columbia community and what it means to me to be one of its members. We’re located in New York. It’s a city which, according to many, does not have a reputation for being friendly. Last year, for example, New York was voted by the Huffington Post, which is based here in NY, as the rudest, dirtiest, and loudest city in the United States. And there are dozens of other newspapers, blogs, and magazines that said the exact same thing. But that’s an analysis that I disagree with. Because what I saw last year painted a different picture of this city.
Last October, while many of us were busy preparing for Halloween, Hurricane Sandy struck the east coast. The damage caused to the city by Sandy was far worse than was anticipated. Some people in the outer boroughs were left without electricity and water for weeks. In Manhattan, everything south of 34th street was without power for days. The lifeline for the city, our beloved subway, was closed for days.
Here at Columbia, though we were left relatively unscathed by the hurricane, many of us did our best to help out. Some of us had less fortunate friends stay with us in our apartments, which as you parents have already seen, are not exactly spacious. Others found different ways to help with the relief effort: volunteering at the overwhelmed city shelters, donating blood to the Red Cross, and finding other ways to make a difference. This picture, where the remarkable members of the Columbia community reached out to others, is one of the things that I will take with me as I leave this place. Regardless of what the Huffington Post or any other blog might say, New Yorkers and Columbians do look out for each other.
Looking forward, there are many things we can expect after graduate school. For starters, finding new ways to make a difference in the world. I’m also looking forward to not having to pay a $500 facilities fee, which frankly, I still have no clue where it all goes to. We also get to read, not what we have to for a class, but what we want to for our own pleasure. Or for us engineers, program code for our own pleasure? I’m not sure when that’s going to happen. But I am sure that we are moving forward. Like out time here at Columbia, we will continue to challenge ourselves, doing work that we consider to be worthwhile.
I’d like to close with an Italian saying: Chi fa falla, e chi no fa sfarfalla—Those who try make mistakes. But those who don’t try don’t do anything. That’s my advice for you all, even though you probably all already know it. For those of you who are staying in academia, keep at it. For those of you who are moving to industry, keep honing your skills. And finally, for those of you who, like me, were dodging a shaky economy, it’s time for us to use what we’ve learned to help build the economy. Thank you all and congratulations once again to the class of 2013!