Before I go any further, I want to thank some very special people.
First, I want to thank the faculty and staff of Bishop Seabury for their dedication to the future, namely their students, who truly are the future. [applause]
Second, I want to thank the trustees and supporters for helping to make a place like this possible. [applause]
And most importantly, I want to thank the parents, family and friends of the students for their love and support, without which their students could not achieve the successes they are achieving here and in life. [applause]
Now, it’s been a long time since I was in your shoes, so I talked to some of the students who work in my office at KU about what they would want to hear from a speaker.
As you can imagine, they had all sorts of advice.
Some of them said they would want to hear about what they should do to get ready for college. I said I could probably do that.
Others said they would want to hear about what kind of jobs they should try and get after they graduated. I could probably do that too.
And few wanted to know how to get that guy or girl in their class to notice them. On that one, I told them they were on their own.
But to a student, all of them emphasized two things: Don’t talk for too long and don’t tell any jokes.
I’ll leave it to you to decide whether I’m successful at following that advice tonight.
It is a great honor for me to be here, because you are all the reason that I have devoted my life to education.
Each one of you is demonstrating the dedication to learning and knowledge that you’ll need to succeed in life, which is important because one day, sooner than you think, you’ll be the ones in charge – of Bishop Seabury, of KU, of Kansas, of the United States and of the world.
And thanks to the great gift you’re receiving here at Bishop Seabury, I have immense confidence that you’ll do a great job.
But as eager as you are to get started in that future, I want to emphasize to you to not be too quick to decide on what classes you’ll take as you move through school, or what college major you’ll choose, let alone what you choose as your career.
The reason I say that is because we are living in a time of remarkable change. I know every generation probably has said that, but it is truer now than ever before.
The main driver of that change is technology.
I remember when every phone had a cord. Now we all carry cell phones – phones that between texting, taking pictures and checking e-mail, we don’t even use for talking most of the time.
I also remember a time before YouTube. Well, you probably remember that too, since YouTube didn’t exist until February of 2005. Last year it was bought by Google for $1.65 billion dollars, turning the three guys who founded it into instant multi-millionaires.
Those three are all in their twenties.
Facebook, meanwhile, is much older – it was created a whole year before YouTube, in February 2004, by a guy in his dorm room. It’s now worth around $15 billion.
Now what am I getting at, other than it pays to make friends with guys and gals in your class who know a thing or two about computers?
What I’m trying to emphasize is that the power to reach out and connect with virtually anyone, anywhere, instantly is something that was unimaginable until your lifetimes.
That ability to communicate opens doors for collaboration and cooperation. It results in the creation and sharing of knowledge, which in turn creates entirely new industries…as well as new ways to waste time online.
That’s why you shouldn’t be too concerned now about what you want to do for a career. The world is changing so fast that many of the jobs that will be available when you graduate from college don’t exist, because they’re in industries nobody has thought of yet.
Now, that can be a scary thought, but it shouldn’t be, because it means that students like you who are receiving the great gift of a first-class education will be in high demand.
If you want to be successful, if you want to create the next Facebook, or solve the energy crisis, or cure cancer, you need to continue to advance down the path that you’re already on.
First, you need to study a wide range of subjects to find out what interests you.
The best part about education is that it often teaches you more about yourself than it does about whatever you’re studying. Maybe you have a special skill for foreign languages, or for music or for math. You’ll never know unless you push your own personal boundaries to find out.
And when you do choose a career, you’ll be that much more prepared for a world that is more interlinked and interconnected than ever before, a world that values people who are well-rounded and well-balanced.
You also need to participate in all sorts of activities – academic, athletic, artistic, and service-oriented – to find out what motivates you.
Again, it is about pushing your own boundaries outward – finding out what drives you, what inspires you. Maybe it is caring for other people, or being a leader of a group, or being active in government and politics.
Activities outside of class help you put what you learn in the classroom to use, they provide context and help you develop the skills that often play a bigger role in getting that good job than does your GPA – though don’t take that as an excuse to slack off in class.
You need to chart your own course, not just go with the flow. Do what you think is cool, not just what everybody else is doing.
That’s not easy, I know, but standing out from the crowd, doing your own thing, blazing a new trail – that’s how you make the great discovery, be it a cure for polio or how to put funny videos on the Internet.
Change is made by the people at the edges, and in a world that is constantly changing, being able to be one of those drivers of change, a creator of new ideas, gives you an incredible advantage.
And most importantly, you must take advantage of the opportunities you’re being given as a result of the education you’re receiving at Bishop Seabury.
That gift will be wasted if you don’t carry on a lifetime of learning and discovery.
I know it is probably the last thing you want to hear, but your education can’t stop when you graduate from Bishop Seabury, or from college, or from graduate school.
In my lifetime we’ve gone from records to MP3s, mapped the human genome, seen the birth of new nations and the discovery of new planets beyond our own. Every field of human endeavor is moving forward and we have to do the same or we’ll be left behind, which is why each of us must continue to learn and grow for the rest of our lives.
The gift you’re being given here will grow and bring you tremendous success if you continue to explore, to question and to seek out opportunities to better yourselves and those around you.
And no matter how much technology and the world change as you continue on this path, and regardless of how much you yourselves change, there are some things that remain constant.
There is always a place for those with inquisitive minds and open hearts.
There is always a place for those who ask “Why?” as well as those who ask “Why not?”
There is always a place for those who share their gifts with those around them.
And there is always a place for beloved family and close friends.
I am so excited for you because I can only begin to imagine the world that you’re going to create.
Thank you for allowing me to share part of that journey with you, and if one of you goes on to create the next YouTube or Facebook, please remember that great convocation speaker you had back in 2007.
Thank you again and best of luck!
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