Thank you, Johan, for that good advice.
Let me begin with my own personal warm welcome to the Class of 2027 and transfers – you and I, in my first month as president, are getting off to a start in a new adventure.
You are a class of far-ranging talents and varied experiences, entering a university that really is second to none in offerings and creativity.
My main advice to you this afternoon, echoing some of the things that have already been said, is to have the self-confidence to seek out the opportunities offered by Stanford that will contribute to your own personal fulfillment.
That fulfillment will take many different paths.
And let me explain, based on my own experience both as a student and as a teacher.
During the Vietnam War era, I entered the University of Illinois as an engineering major.
In the spring of my first year, I took a Roman history course to fulfill an engineering distribution requirement – it was much more interesting than my computer science course and it prompted me to switch majors to classics and history.
That was an impulsive and naive move that turned out, surprisingly, to be extraordinarily fortunate.
I will be forever grateful to my parents and my teachers for the support that they gave me through this unconventional move.
