It gives me great pleasure to welcome you, our entering students, and your family members to campus, and to mark officially the start of your undergraduate education.
This is a big moment for you and for Yale.
I'm glad this day has arrived, and I'm so glad you are here.
It is evident why you belong at Yale.
Your academic distinction, leadership savvy, and outstanding motivation solidify your standing among students who have sat for centuries where you are sitting today.
What is more, the richness of your diversity, across every dimension, reflects Yale's commitment to creating an inclusive educational environment.
Now, as you prepare to enter Yale and leave your unique imprint on it, allow me to alert you to a perennial observation among our alumni.
Many of your predecessors, I must caution, have marveled at the breakneck clip at which today's festivities give way to your graduation.
It's a hard truth, codified in one of Yale's most celebrated traditions, the singing of our unofficial alma mater, "Bright College Years".
Your time here is described as "the shortest, gladdest years of life," and as "gliding by," "swiftly," in fact.
