Maxine Umeh, Quantitative & Systems Biology/MS/2013
Good morning professors, staff, family and friends.
How wonderful is it to be here? And to the graduating Class of 2013…Congratulations!! We did it!
Before I continue, I want to take this opportunity to do the most important thing we can do today. (PAUSE) Say THANK YOU. Graduates, think of the people that have helped us get to where we are today. Thank you for all the love, support, encouragement, and motivation. Thank you for believing in us. We honor you for every sacrifice made and every battle fought to make sure we are sitting here today. Class of 2013, on the count of three join me in saying, “Thank you”…ONE, TWO, THREE…“THANK YOU!”
Most of us are ready to throw our textbooks away and burn our old exams, to smile goodbye to our favorite professors, smile even wider at all the others, and dive into an eventful, exciting summer. Let’s spend a moment being excited for what is to come.
When I came to UC Merced, I had no clue what I wanted to be, let alone, who I wanted to become. One thing being here has taught me, something that I will carry into all my future endeavors; it is that opportunities do not make you…YOU MAKE OPPORTUNITIES. You can go to a school with a big name and accomplish nothing or you can see the best at where you are at and accomplish amazing things. This is EXACTLY what we did. At what other university do undergraduates get to co-author scientific publications, or be the founding members of fraternities and sororities, or eat lunch with the chancellor? These things would have never been accomplished unless we seized the opportunities before us. We are DETERMINED. We are RELENTLESS. And we CAN accomplish the impossible.
Our future is before us for the taking. What will you do with it? For some of us, the next step is already set in stone, for others the details are still being worked out, and for some the next step is a blank slate waiting to be written. But, whatever your next step may be, whatever your future plans may hold, consider this one thing: What would you do if you knew you could never fail? (PAUSE) Did you think of one? Well let me tell you a secret: You CAN DO that very thing. You are capable of accomplishing that dream, no matter how immense it may seem. And you only fail when you stop believing that you can. I truly believe that our generation CAN end world hunger and stop human trafficking; we CAN cure AIDS and eradicate cancer. We CAN raise up a better generation in our footsteps. We WILL change the world. But only if we believe in ourselves, if we have hope in our future, and trust that we CANNOT AND WILL NOT fail.
I issue you this CHALLENGE. I know what you are thinking: “Is she really giving us a homework assignment at graduation?” Yes, sort of. I want you to think of what one thing you will accomplish in your lifetime, one thing you will become that will change this world. When you have it, write it down. In your phone, on your wall, on your mirror. Keep it some place you will see every day; some place you will never forget. As Michelle Obama said at our 2009 commencement, “Take the same hope and optimism, the hard work and tenacity that brought you to this point, and carry that with you for the rest of your life in whatever you choose to do.” But know this…our world does not stand a chance at change unless we each do our part. Yes, YOUR part.
Great entrepreneur and inventor Steve Jobs said it best: “Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
Class of 2013, I congratulate you on this amazing accomplishment. And I am excited for what is to come. The future, OUR future, is ours for the taking, AND for the changing. Can we change the world? YES WE CAN…but only if WE WILL.
Thank you.
