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[MUSIC PLAYING] EMCEE: The first of the academic procession has arrived. Leading the procession is the university marshal Professor Poppy McLeod. Following the university marshal is the Vice Provost for International Affairs Wendy Wolford, representing close to 1,300 international members of the class of 2020 from 78 countries and regions around the globe. Wherever you are, whichever time zone you're in at the moment, please know that all of us here in Ithaca celebrate your achievements and send a most heartfelt congratulations to all our remarkable international graduates.
First to arrive behind the class of 2020 banner are the PhD candidates of the graduate school led by Dean of the Graduate School Kathryn J. Boor. And now entering the stadium, the master degree candidates of the graduate school. The candidates from the College of Veterinary Medicine are now led into the stadium by Dean Lorin Warnick.
Next are the candidates from the law school led by Dean Jens Olin. The SC Johnson College of Business, led by Dean Andrew Karolyi, is comprised of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, the School of Hotel Administration, and the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. Dean Mark Nelson is now leading the MBA and MPS degree candidates from the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management.
Once again, the degree candidates from the Johnson School of Management. Now entering the stadium are the first of the college degree candidates. The School of Hotel Administration is led by Dean Kate Walsh. Once again, the candidates from the School of Hotel Administration. Next, the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management is led into the stadium by Dean Jinhua Zhao.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
GRADUATES: --win the game and friends [INAUDIBLE]. Past the big entry. We're the best of the Ivy League. School of [INAUDIBLE] and good sense of money. None can tell you [INAUDIBLE]. One, two, three, four. [INAUDIBLE].
EMCEE: Now entering the stadium led by Dean Benjamin Holton are the candidates of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
[MUSIC PLAYING- "GIVE MY REGARDS TO DAVY"]
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, [INAUDIBLE].
(SINGING) Give my regards to Davy remember me to TV fame.
Yeah, because that's the one thing that's true to tradition over [INAUDIBLE].
(SINGING) That I'll be back again.
SPEAKER 2: Yeah, well, and you and I both [INAUDIBLE] really well.
(SINGING) Lapping up the high highball. We'll all have drinks at Thoedore Zinck's when I get back next fall.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER 3: Once again, the degree candidates from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(SINGING) C-O-R-N-E double L. Win the game and then ring the bell. What's the big intrigue? We're the best in the ivy league. Rah! Rah! Rah!
Score the point that puts us ahead. Knock 'em dead big red. One, two, three, four, who are we for? Can't you tell. Old Cornell! Go red!
[MUSIC PLAYING- "GIVE MY REGARDS TO DAVY"]
(SINGING) Give my regards to Davy, remember me to TV fame. Tell all the pikers on the hill that I'll be back again. Tell them just how I busted lapping up the high highball. We'll all have drinks at Theodore Zinck's when I get back next fall.
[MUSIC PLAYING- "GIVE MY REGARDS TO DAVY"]
The School of Industrial and Labor Relations is now led into the stadium by Dean Alexander Calvin.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Once again, the degree candidates from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The College of Architecture, Art, and Planning is now led into the stadium by Dean J. Meejin Yoon.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Once again, the degree candidates from the College of Architecture, Arts, and Planning.
(SINGING) And thing ring a bell. What's the big intrigue? We're the best in the ivy league. Rah! Rah! Rah! Score the point that puts us ahead. Knock them dead, big red. One, two, three, four, what are we for? Can't you tell? Old Cornell!
Now entering the stadium are the degree candidates from the College of Human Ecology led by Dean Rachel Dunifon.
Go red!
[MUSIC PLAYING- "GIVE MY REGARDS TO DAVY"]
(SINGING) Give my regards to Davy. Remember me to TV fame.
Once again, the degree candidates from the College of Human Ecology.
(SINGING) Just how I busted lapping up the high highballs. We'll all have drinks at Theodore Zinck's when I get back next fall.
[MUSIC PLAYING- "GIVE MY REGARDS TO DAVY"]
The College of Engineering is now led into the stadium by Dean Lynden Archer.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Once again, the degree candidates from the College of Engineering.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(SINGING) C-O-R-N-E double L, win the game and then ring a bell. What's the big intrigue? We're the best in the ivy league. Rah! Rah! Rah! Score the points that puts us ahead. Knock them dead, big red. One, two, three, four, what are we for? Can't you tell? Old Cornell.
Go red!
[MUSIC PLAYING- "GIVE MY REGARDS TO DAVY"]
(SINGING) Give my regards to Davy. Remember me to TV fame. Tell all the pikers on the hill that I'll be back again. Tell them just how I busted lapping up the high highball. We'll all have drinks at Theodore Zinck's when I get back next fall.
[MUSIC PLAYING- "GIVE MY REGARDS TO DAVY"]
The degree candidates from the College of Arts and Sciences are now led into the stadium by Dean Ray Jayawardhana.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Once again, the degree candidates from the College of Arts and Sciences.
(SINGING) C-O-R-N-E double L. Win the game and then ring a bell. What's the big intrigue. We're the best in the ivy league. Rah! Rah! Rah! Score the point that puts us ahead. Knock 'em dead, big red. One, two, three, four, what are we for? Can't you tell? Old Cornell!
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Go red!
[MUSIC PLAYING- "GIVE MY REGARDS TO DAVY"]
Give my regards to Davy. Remember to TV fame. Tell all the pikers on the hill that I'll be back again. Tell them just how I busted lapping up the high highballs. We'll all have drinks at Theodore Zinck's when I get back next fall.
[MUSIC PLAYING- "GIVE MY REGARDS TO DAVY"]
Now entering are the members of the Cornell University faculty led by the Dean of the University faculty Eve De Rosa.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
At this time, we acknowledge and thank the Cornell University faculty.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The University leadership and trustees led by provost Michael Kotlikoff will now make their way to the platform.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
C-O-R-N-E double L. Win the game and then ring the bell.
At this time the University Marshall, Professor Pippy McLeod will escort the mace bearer, Professor Melissa Hines, and Cornell University's President, Martha E. Pollack, to their places on the platform.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(SINGING) That I'll be back next fall.
[MUSIC PLAYING "GIVE MY REGARDS TO DAVY"]
POPPY MCLEOD: Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogoho, the Cayuga Nation. The Gayogoho are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogoho dispossession and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogoho people, past and present, to these lands and waters. President Pollack, candidates four degrees from Cornell University have gathered for the conferring of degrees and to celebrate the commencement of the 152nd graduating class of Cornell University.
[APPLAUSE]
Members of the Board of Trustees, the faculty, administrative staff, degree candidates, and guests are in their places. The Assembly is hereby called to order. Please rise and join us in singing The Star Spangled banner.
(SINGING) Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming. Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, for the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming. And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner wave for the land of the free and the home of the brave.
[APPLAUSE]
Please be seated. It is my privilege to introduce Michael Kotlikoff, university provost.
MICHAEL KOTLIKOFF: Welcome, everyone. You've waited a long time, but you've got a great glorious Ithaca day.
[APPLAUSE]
Welcome parents, families, friends, supporters, and most of all the accomplished members of the classes of 2020. Cornell class of 2020, we are so pleased to finally-- and I'll say it again, finally-- give you the commencement you so thoroughly earned. We missed celebrating with you and missed seeing you off in the appropriate way, but we salute your resilience and your ability to adapt to the events of the spring of 2020.
You left us suddenly and under difficult circumstances, but you have proven your ability to endure and thrive. It is my great honor to properly recognize your accomplishments and your incredible endurance. So on behalf of the faculty of Cornell University, I congratulate you and wish you continued success in your careers, and I look forward to hearing of all of your future successes.
[APPLAUSE]
And it is now my honor to introduce the 14th President of Cornell University, Professor of Computer Science, Information Science, and Linguistics, Martha E. Pollack.
MARTHA POLLACK: Class of 2020, wow. This is how you remember Ithaca, right, beautiful sunny days. It's always sunny in Ithaca, yes? It is so good to see you.
I know that some of us felt that this day might never come, but here we are. And after so many months and so much waiting, I am just so incredibly glad to have you here today celebrating your Cornell commencement the way a Cornell commencement should be celebrated on [INAUDIBLE] Field in caps and gowns on one of those always sunny Ithaca days.
Now before I say anything else, I want to start out by acknowledging everyone who's helped bring the extraordinary class of 2020 to Cornell through Cornell and now back to Cornell, the parents, grandparents, siblings, the family by birth and family by friends, the teachers and the mentors, everyone who made you who you are today. So graduates before we do anything else, this is what I want you to do.
This is a football stadium, and it's one that hasn't seen nearly enough noise over the past couple of years. Now we made a start yesterday during the football game, but there's a lot more to do. So what I want you to do right now without saying anything yet is everyone stand up class of 2020. Turn around, and if where your parents or your family or your friends are, face them. Otherwise, just face in that general direction.
And in a minute-- don't worry yet about the people who couldn't be here. They'll get their turn in a minute. But on the count of three in whatever language it is you speak at home, whether it's English or Spanish or Hindi or Cayuga, whatever it is, I want you to yell thank you as loudly as you can. Ready one, two, three.
[CROWD CHANT]
Wait. Don't sit down yet. Don't sit down yet. Turn around and face me. It really is amazing. I mean, we didn't know how many people would come back, and it is amazing to see this many people in the stands. But I know that there are many, many more people who would of loved to be here who are here in spirit and watching this on the live stream. So now I'm going to introduce you to someone who can help you say thank you to them.
So I want you to look over my right shoulder, your left. That's Stephen. Stephen, can you wave? Stephen is operating camera number three, and its camera number three that's bringing the live stream out to everyone around the world.
So again, on the count of three, I want you to-- now don't thank, Stephen. I want you to thank all those people around the world who are watching you and who helped you get here. Ready? One, two, three.
[CROWD CHANT]
OK, now you can sit down. We can thank Stephen also. Thank you, Stephen.
[APPLAUSE]
Before we go any further, I want to pause for this next moment and acknowledge people who are with us only in our hearts, the students whose graduation this should have been and everyone we've lost to COVID-19. Thank you. So Class of 2020, wherever we've spent the last year and a half, I think all of us have spent much more time communicating through cameras and screens and much less time being together in person than we would have liked. I have to say, it's really pretty amazing to finally have the chance to communicate with the Class of 2020 in person, not with yet another community email.
Now, I'm not knocking email. Sometimes there's an update to share, and email is the quickest way to do it. But it's a lot nicer to be able to see you in person and have the freedom not to talk about things that, if we had the choice, we'd never think about again. So before I go any further, I want you to know, definitively, that for the rest of my comments today, I will not use any of the following words or phrases-- unprecedented--
[LAUGHTER]
Wait, wait. [LAUGHS] The list is long. Uncertain, challenging, proactive, new normal, physical distancing--
[WHISTLING]
--public health, mask-wearing, Zoom meeting, virtual celebration, virtual event, superspreader event, surveillance testing, contact tracing, quarantine, transmission, mitigation, adaptation, ventilation, isolation, vaccination, or pandemic.
[CHEERING]
And best of all, I'm not going to have to say, excuse me, you're muted. When I arrived at Cornell in the spring of 2017, you, the Class of 2020, had already nearly finished your freshman year. Your graduation still seemed really far away, but you'd already absorbed so much about being a Cornellian. You'd already discovered the joys of the Cornell chimes, Cornell ice cream, and Cornell hockey games, at the same time as I was just beginning to discover the joys of getting totally lost on the Cornell campus.
You were this impossibly young, and bright, and promising group of students that I walked alongside on my first day here. When the Dean of the law school taught me the Cornell Alma Mater, as we walk down Hill Plaza on our way to law school graduation, he didn't just teach me the words and the music. But the most important thing I needed to know, when you sing it, you also sway. Week by week, and month by month, experience by experience, for all of us, this place became our place.
With every class, every club meeting, every prelim, and problem set, every early morning coffee, and late night conversation, all of you became part of the rhythm of Cornell. As the season changed, you change too, from nervous freshmen, who wondered if they really belonged here, to confidence sophomores and juniors, who had found their place here. You made friends who are nothing like you, and you learn from them, while they learned from you.
You took classes and subjects you'd previously never heard of, and you discovered interest you never imagined. And when it came time to sing the Cornell Alma Mater in Lynah Rink, or Bailey Hall, or here in [INAUDIBLE], you reached out to whomever was next to you, you put your arms around them, and you swayed. By the time you had become seniors, Cornell had become a family, and it had become home. You were in the middle of your last semester looking ahead to your last spring break, perhaps getting ready for graduate school or professional school, perhaps interviewing for jobs, planning the next stage of your life. You were thinking about all the things you wanted to do in your last month on campus, the people you wanted to spend time with, Slope Day, and Senior Week, and of course, commencement.
But before you got there, the world turned upside down. And instead of leaving for spring break, you just had to leave. Our Cornell community was suddenly at Cornell diaspora, a place that existed as much inside our minds, and memories, and computer screens as it did our paths, and our buildings, and our quads. You finished your degrees at your kitchen tables and in your childhood bedrooms as you talked, and texted, and FaceTimed with your friends. And you never really got to say goodbye.
As the months passed, instead of looking back, you started looking forward. You started jobs and graduate programs from your new apartments or maybe from the homes you grew up in. But Cornell came with you, in what you had learned here, in the skills you had acquired, and the relationships that you had built. And wherever you went, no matter how far you traveled, you knew that, like Odysseus, one day, you would come home again to Ithaca. And you did.
[APPLAUSE]
Homecoming has been a tradition at Cornell for over a century now. Every year, it's been a time for Cornellians to return to the campus, to see the gorges and the waterfalls and, most importantly of all, to see each other and to cheer on the Big Red. This year's homecoming for each of you is a different kind of homecoming, more than just a chance to see familiar places and familiar faces from your time here. It's a time to celebrate everything you achieved at Cornell and everything you've achieved since, a time to come back to this community that will always be your home, a time to sing the Alma Mater one more time with your Cornell family.
But what this homecoming is not and what this commencement is a time to say goodbye. Because wherever you go from here, no matter how long it's been, each of you will always be a Cornellian. And wherever Cornellians are, Cornell will always be with you, and Cornell will always be your home. It's been 16 months since you finished your last papers, turned in your last projects, took your last exams. Your degrees are long-since conferred, and your diplomas-- well, you know, my script says your diplomas are already hanging and framed on the wall, but I bet for a lot of you, they're in the closet, but that's OK.
[LAUGHTER]
I am, nonetheless, so glad to have you here again and to tell you in person what I wanted so long to say to you. Congratulations, Class of 2020. May the educations you begin here never truly end. May they continue on throughout your lives, wherever they may take you. And may the knowledge and the ethos that you gain here always guide your paths. Cornell will always be a part of you, just as you will always be a part of Cornell. So the amazing Class of 2020, congratulations.
[APPLAUSE]
RYAN LOMBARDI: Hey, 2020. I had to have a chance to say goodbye and also to bring you a special treat today. First, I want to echo President Pollack's welcome to all of the 2020 grads, your families, your friends, your loved ones. It's so good to have you back in Ithaca. Last time we said goodbye to each other, some of you will remember, we were doing it in front of the clock tower, we were singing in the arches, or watching the sunset on Libe Slope. As a class, you've been through a truly unique experience and one that we won't want to ever replicate. In that regard, we felt you were deserving of an additional video address from a special guest. And it's my honor today to introduce the guest fitting of that distinction, Leslie Odom Jr.
[APPLAUSE]
Leslie Odom Jr. is a multifaceted, award-winning vocalist, songwriter, author, and actor. His career spans all performance genres, having received recognition with Tony and Grammy Awards as well as Emmy and, most recently, two Academy Award nominations for his excellence and achievements in Broadway, television, film, and music.
Of course, my family knows him best for his breakout role as the original Aaron Burr in the smash Broadway musical, Hamilton, where Odom won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a musical and a Grammy Award as a principal soloist on the original cast recording for his performance. He just wanted to be in the room where it happened, right? I have to say, being able to watch Hamilton repeatedly with my own family on Disney Plus was one of the silver linings of being home for so much time during the last few months of the pandemic.
Odom currently stars in the critically-acclaimed Amazon film adaptation of the play One Night in Miami, earning him nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, Critics' Choice Award, Golden Globe Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards, among others. Odom's 2018 book, Failing Up: How to Take Risks Aim Higher, and Never Stop Learning, taps into universal themes of starting something new, following your passions, discovering your own potential, and surrounding yourself with the right people, incredibly relevant for your class and all recent graduates.
Last, for fans of the HBO series The Sopranos, be on the lookout for its prequel, and the upcoming feature film The Many Saints of Newark, starring Leslie Odom Jr, set to release on October 1. Cornellians, I bring to you Leslie Odom Jr.
[APPLAUSE]
LESLIE ODOM JR: President Pollack, Provost Kotlikoff, campus leadership trustees, Cornell alumni, and Cornell University Class of 2020, my name is Leslie Odom Jr. And for reasons unknown to you or me, I've been given the tremendous honor of delivering your commencement address on this fine morning. I am humbled and grateful for the opportunity. Anyone out there put off by the fact that the duties today have been assigned to an actor, you have my sympathy and my understanding.
[LAUGHTER]
But I hope it assuages your trepidation just a little bit to know that this is not my first commencement address. No, two years ago, I received the honorary doctorate of Fine Arts from my Alma Mater, Carnegie Mellon University, and I was the commencement speaker at that ceremony. It's a good school. It's not an Ivy, but Ivy-adjacent, maybe. So I have some experience. It is because of this experience that I know, without question, that what I've been asked to do today is more difficult than what I was asked to do two years ago in Pittsburgh.
Virtual is more difficult. When it comes to speech-giving, virtually is the unequivocally more difficult assignment. And for this reason, I appeal today to the Dean of College of Science and Letters for extra credit, extra credit. I'd like some extra credit today. I've been asked, like past commencement speakers, to run my mouth today for around 20 minutes, 20 minutes in front of Cornell graduates, no less, OK? And I'm just saying, before you criticize this speech as lame or not better than President Biden's, I just want you to consider the fact that I don't get the benefit of padding this morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Padding, I want to talk about that for a second. Padding, like Tyler Perry in the Madea movie. Padding is normally how you set yourself up to win in 20 minutes. Normally, I step up here and I get two to three minutes minimum of goodwill and pity laughter from an audience full of happy people who are barely listening to what I'm saying anyway. Normally, I stand up here and I say, ladies make some noise, or, if you're done paying kids' tuition and you're fixing to go to Red Lobster tonight, you know, I get applause, laughter, big, sustained padding. I mean, President Biden spent like 4 minutes on the weather. You know, I don't get that.
So I remember the day my baby sister graduated, I was struck by the fact that my sister was the only person that I'd known for her entire life. I'd been a witness to the entire story. Since my parents brought home that bundle, that bundle that kind of felt like a gift for me alone, here she was, this grown-up, in cap and gown, but her eyes, they were the same. There was something of her that was present and knowable on the day my parents brought her home. I was [INAUDIBLE] that bundle, and that thing remained.
I had this profound realization, and it really knocked me out. She was always her. Years later, my children are two more whom I've had the great fortune of witnessing from beginning until present, even longer-- from before the before-- with our sweet Lucille and our precious Able. It is with this knowledge of the pride I felt as a brother and what I've come to know as a relatively new father that I can imagine what your parents must feel on this day, what your siblings feel, what your partners, and grandparents, extended family must feel as they watch you turn the page today.
They'll have a moment when they marvel at your personal history as they witness another milestone in your life, as they behold your perseverance once again, as you complete what you started. No one gets to a day like this without meeting and overcoming some challenge or obstacle. And while I have no idea what your dragging was, your presence on this day is evidence of your triumph over it. You triumphed over your self-doubt, your lack of resources. You triumphed alongside your past trauma, your anxiety, your depression. Give yourselves around of applause. No, no, you can do better than that. Celebrate your wins.
[APPLAUSE]
You see, now, that was going to be, like, 15 seconds, at least, sustained, big applause. It's padding. I want extra credit. Now, my degree from Carnegie Mellon University was in theater. That's right, physics majors, I majored in make believe. But we were serious about our play. And while my diploma says Bachelor of Fine Arts, Theater, I think you could easily substitute that for empathy. I think I majored in empathy. Performing happens to be one of the soft skills I honed in Pittsburgh, but it is my training and experience in empathy that has been the most useful to me as a working professional, as a citizen, as a friend, a business owner, an employer, a dad.
Whether or not we are conscious of it, the earliest and most transformative lessons most of us receive in empathy are imparted through storytelling. Now, I have engaged with this life most often as a storyteller. And as with most of the people in my profession, it began on the other side of the footlights. I was 16, holding a waxy playbill in the audience of Rent in my hometown of Philadelphia. I was rocked for the very first time by the power of storytelling.
Rent, a story about a circle of friends, young artists, living on the Lower East Side, with the comforts and constraints of anything resembling conventionality, blissfully, maddeningly just out of reach. The connections between them urgent and passionate, full of love and yearning, a desperation right below the surface that I recognized. Big themes, art over capitalism, friendship and love in the face of death. There's only us, there's only this. Forget regret, or life is yours to miss. No other path, no other way, no day but today.
It delighted and entertained me, but you know what else? It made me feel less alone. No other path, indeed, not for me. I didn't want to be in show business, or on TV, movies. I want it to be in Rent. It was that specific, that myopic, for me. It was that narrow in scope. I wanted to be connected to it. I wanted to be around it. Honestly, if there was nothing for me on stage, I think I would have been just as happy to hand out the playbills.
The very first time I saw the show was in my hometown, Philadelphia. And the opening of act 2, I had spent the entire intermission in my seat, poring over the playbill, looking at the stories of the cast members, where they went to school, where they were from. Act 2 starts, and somebody enters from stage left, and somebody enters from stage right. And I just happened to catch this moment. He winked at her, and she smiled in recognition and kind of put her head down to keep from laughing, maybe. And then they took their positions at the front of the stage, and the show continued.
And, like, my world changed with a wink. For the very first time, I wasn't just enthralled and enamored with what was unfolding in front of me. I was now conscious of the fact that there was a whole world unfolding before they even took the stage. So I didn't want to just be on stage with them. I wanted to be offstage with them too. I wanted to be on the other side of that wink, that knowing.
Anyway, I auditioned for the show about a week after I saw it in my hometown. I had three follow-up auditions in that summer. Seven days after my 17th birthday, I was hired for the Broadway Company of Rent. I'm a big intention guy. Your intention matters a lot. Everything lines up behind your intention-- the opportunities that coming your way, the people you find surrounding you, where you live, at times, what you eat. Much of your ultimate success is going to lie in just how well your actions line up behind your intentions.
I'm sure I was not fully aware of the power of clear intention 20 years ago, when I made my Broadway debut in Rent. But whether or not I knew it, my life was organizing itself in front of me based on the deepest desires of my heart. My purest and clearest intentions were determining the way my life was unfolding. We are speaking to the world around us all the time, speaking even before we utter a sound. And your clients, your patients, your coworkers, your employers, they're going to respond to the conscientious way in which you prepare for your interactions with them.
Now, listen, you've already begun the humble process already, after all, right at Cornell. You read, and invented, and wrote, and dreamed of the world you will now endeavor to build. You prepared and made your intentions known. May it continue from here. And we all fall short. As hard as we try, there are gaps in our knowledge. We find that there are limits to our stamina and brute strength. Your intention will stand in the gap of your shortfall. My enthusiasm and pure intention was hard to deny when I showed up at that Rent open call audition at 16 years old. Your enthusiasm, your enthusiasm, is going to be a magnet. It's good to remember that.
I remember, years later, after I was a jaded, and heartbroken, professional actor, I had had my share of rejection and was just beaten down. I got in this-- at the urging of a mentor, I started taking this beginning acting class for commercials, where lots of people from all over the country move to LA, and they would take this class to get their start in acting. Now I've been on Broadway. I've done some things. I've been a working professional on and off for, like, 10 years. So I take this class, and I think I know the score, right? I know what's up.
So the very first class, the teacher has us auditioning for a toothpaste commercial. And so the exercises, he's just going to go around. There's nothing to prepare. He's just going to take the camera around, and focus on each person, and ask you a few questions. What's your name? Where you from? What was the last great movie you saw, or what did you have for dessert? What was your last favorite dessert you had, or what's your favorite vacation you've ever taken?
Anyway, so I'm listening to everybody, and I'm keeping score. I think I know what this is, a very simple exercise. So not only am I gauging at how to be successful at the exercise, I'm also pretty good with calculating who's got it and who doesn't, the newbies. You know, they're so green. They don't know much, so none of them. But that guy, that's a pro. She's really got it. She's awesome.
We watched the tapes back after we were finished. And the teacher said, a lot of times we are busy in the casting office. And so we watch these tapes back with the sound off. And it was the most incredible thing. Almost to a person, those newbies, the ones that I thought didn't know what was happening at all, they had a light. And it was plain as day to see. It was a magnet. Their enthusiasm, their happiness to be there was undeniable and so plain to see.
And mine was also plain to see. My lack of all that was plain to see. And I changed my life in that instant. I said, I need to I need to get in touch with that 16-year-old kid again, the kid that went to that Rent audition. I need to get in touch with what these people have again and get out of my own way. We're speaking to the world all the time. Our bodies, the way we prepare for these moments, we're speaking to the world.
Now, I have to say, I was nervous when Lin-Manuel offered me the role of a lifetime in what was the boldest, freshest, most literate piece of original material I'd heard in decades. Who wouldn't have been? Nerves are a tricky thing, aren't they? While they're a sign of our desire and our excitement to be in a given room or to be afforded some wonderful opportunity, they can also be blamed for the tied tongue, the tightness in your jaw or your shoulders, the missed opportunity. I was too nervous.
Within the development of Hamilton, over the span of almost two years, we had these showings, these small performances in the city, where a very small group of powerful agents, and producers, and tastemakers were invited. These audiences, they were tiny, as I said, but they were consequential. I got over my nerves by identifying a pure intention. I said, number one, the piece was already so dear to me. It felt like an old friend. And I said, how do you introduce a dear friend to a room full of strangers? That's what I want to do with this show.
I also remembered that every jaded executive, every bitter director or agent started just like me. They were transformed to at some point in their story by storytelling, by a powerful story. There was a film, or some book series, or some album, that there was some theater they sat in as a kid and had their world rearranged. I was introducing Burr not to the jaded executives that sat in front of me. I was introducing Burr in this show that was so dear to me to those kids. I wanted to remind them of their beginning.
Now, through Hamilton, my deep belief and intention in the power of storytelling was affirmed. The same intention that had led me to Broadway, with my Broadway beginnings in Rent, they had led me to this room, with these artists, doing a very similar type of work, thank goodness. And collectively, we watched as the power of storytelling shook up the world.
Now, it's not just the creative writing majors among you that will benefit from the teachings of Joseph Campbell, or Toni Morrison, or Shakespeare, when it comes to a story told well. In the name of empathy, in the past week, I've seen brave women share the stories of what led them and their doctors to make painful decisions for their health and their families, in regard to pregnancies terminated after a six-week cut. Pulitzer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones saw her petition for tenure denied and the passage of laws, in some instances, to challenge the legitimacy of her reframing the story of America. Where does the story of America begin?
Our biology and psychology majors would probably tell us that reckoning with the beginning is a pretty effective way to get to the heart of some of the problems that plague us today. Journalists strap up PPE and enter the hospitals all around the country. They're entering these rooms to cover the regret in the ICUs. I scoured the internet, looking for the most impactful and well-told stories to share with loved ones still somehow choosing to take their chances against the virus, unvaccinated.
I told you about my kids. You know, I think you get five things to teach your kids. You got to pick them well. I used to think that, like, an hour a week, I would sit my kids down with my pipe in front of the fireplace, and I would start to just impart to them all the lessons I'd learned in my life. And hour by hour, they would learn everything that I know. I don't think it's quite like that. I think you get five things, and I think that you are figuring out all the different ways, all the different perspectives that you can use to impart that short list of things to these kids. You hope they can get a few of them in 18 years.
Anyway, I don't have all five, but I think I've got three. The first one is, I am enough. So many times, so much of the trouble I found myself into over the years were just in little moments that I didn't think I was enough, what I was willing to do and-- anyway, you get the picture. That's the first thing. The second thing, I hope that they really know how to make a friend. I hope that they know how to be in a relationship with other human beings. Because beyond your talent, or your brilliance, or how cute you are, you can have a really good life if you know how to make and keep a friend.
The third and last thing that I have, for now, is that I want them to know that the only thing that they will ever be ashamed of, really, is any moment of unkindness. I hope they're never ashamed of their story, and I hope you aren't either. Learn to tell it, and tell it well to win hearts and minds, to educate your community, to make people feel less alone. Thanks for listening to my story. Now, give yourselves around of applause.
[APPLAUSE]
3, 2, 1. Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: We will now proceed to the conferral of degrees. Will the Dean of the Graduate School, Kathryn Boor, please come forward? Will the candidates for the doctoral degree from the Graduate School please rise?
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
KATHRYN BOOR: That's right. President Pollack, I have the honor to present these unstoppable candidates, who have fulfilled the requirements and who are duly recommended by the faculty of the graduate school for the appropriate degree of Doctor of Philosophy or Doctor of Science of Law. Thank you, Dean Boor.
[APPLAUSE]
MARTHA POLLACK: Upon the recommendation of the faculty and by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the doctoral degree appropriate to your field of advanced study and research, with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto.
[APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Cornell University welcomes the new Doctors of Philosophy and Doctors of Science of Law to the ancient and universal company of scholars. Will the doctors please be seated?
[APPLAUSE]
Will the Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, Lorin Warnick, please come forward? Will the candidates for the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine please rise?
[APPLAUSE]
LORIN WARNICK President Pollack, I have the honor to present these candidates, who fulfilled the requirements and who are duly recommended by the faculty of the College of Veterinary Medicine for the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine.
MARTHA POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Warnick. Upon the recommendation of the faculty and by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto.
[APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the Doctors of Veterinary Medicine please be seated? Will the Dean of the Law School, Jens Ohlin, please come forward? Will the candidates for the degree of Doctor of Law, doctor of Law and Master of Laws in International and Comparative Law, and Master of Laws please rise?
[APPLAUSE]
JENS OHLIN: President Pollack, I have the honor to present these broad-minded and judicious candidates, who have fulfilled the requirements and who are duly recommended by the faculty of the Law School for the degrees of Doctor of Law, Doctor of Law and Masters of Laws in International and Comparative Law, and Master of Laws.
MARTHA POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Ohlin. Upon the recommendation of the faculty and by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the degree of Doctor of Law, Doctor of Law and Master of Laws in International and Comparative Law, or Master of laws, with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto.
[APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the graduates please be seated? Will the Dean of the Graduate School, Kathryn Boor, please come forward? Will the candidates for the master's degree in studies that have been directed by the Graduate School please rise?
[APPLAUSE]
KATHRYN BOOR: President Pollack, I have the honor to present these intrepid candidates, who have fulfilled the requirements and are duly recommended by the faculty of the Graduate School for the master degree, be it Master of Arts, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Health Administration--
[CHEERING]
[LAUGHS]
--Executive Master of Health Administration, Master of Industrial [INAUDIBLE] Relations, Master of Landscape Architecture, Master of Professional Studies, Master of Public Administration, Master of Public Health, Master of Regional Planning, or Master of Science.
MARTHA POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Boor.
[APPLAUSE]
Upon the recommendation of the faculty by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the master degree to which you are entitled, with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto.
[APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the graduates please be seated? Will the Dean of the SC Johnson College of Business, Andrew Karolyi, please come forward?
ANDREW KAROLYI: Will the Dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Mark Nelson, please come forward?
[APPLAUSE]
And will the candidates for the degree of Masters of Business Administration and Master of Professional Studies from the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management please rise?
[APPLAUSE]
MARK NELSON: President Pollack, I have the honor to present these extraordinary and extraordinarily dedicated candidates, who fulfilled the requirements and who are duly recommended by the faculty of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management for the degree of Master of Business Administration and Master of Professional Studies.
MARTHA POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Nelson. Upon the recommendation of the faculty and by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer on each of you the degrees of Master of Business Administration or Master of Professional Studies, with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto.
[APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the graduates please be seated? And will Dean Karolyi please return to the microphone?
ANDREW KAROLYI: Will the Dean of the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration, Kate Walsh, please come forward?
[APPLAUSE]
And will the candidates for degrees of Masters of Management and Hospitality and Bachelor of Science from the Johnson College of Business and the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration please rise?
[APPLAUSE]
KATE WALSH: President Pollack, I have the distinct honor to present these spectacular candidates, who have fulfilled the requirements and are duly recommended by the faculty of the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration for the degrees of Bachelor of Management and Hospitality and Bachelor of Science.
MARTHA POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Walsh. Upon the recommendation of the faculty and by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the degree of Master of Management and Hospitality or Bachelor of Science, with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto.
[APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the graduates please be seated? Will the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Benjamin Houlton, please come forward and join Dean Karolyi in recognizing the graduates of the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management? The Dyson School is a shared program of the SC Johnson College of Business and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
ANDREW KAROLYI: Will the Dean of the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Jinhua Zhao, please come forward? And will the candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Science from the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management please rise?
[APPLAUSE]
JINHUA ZHAO: President Pollack, I have the honor to present stellar candidates, who have fulfilled the requirements and who are duly recommended by the faculty of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, and the SC Johnson College business for the degree of Bachelor of Science.
MARTHA POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Zhao.
[APPLAUSE]
Upon the recommendation of the faculty and by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the degree of Bachelor of Science, with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto.
[APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the graduates please be seated? Will Kavita Bala, Dean of the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science please come forward?
[APPLAUSE]
KAVITA BALA: On behalf of the faculty of the newly named Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, I congratulate the Bower CIS graduates, whose degrees are being conferred today by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Engineering, and College of Arts and Sciences. Bowers CIS graduates, we are proud of you. Congratulations.
MARTHA POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Bala.
[APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Benjamin Houlton, please come forward?
[APPLAUSE]
Will the candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Science from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences please rise?
[APPLAUSE]
BENJAMIN HOULTON: President Pollack, I have the honor to present these life-changing, leaving-the-world-a-better-place-than-they-found-it candidates, who have fulfilled the requirements and who are duly recommended by the world-leading faculty of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences for the degree of Bachelor of unsilenced Science.
[APPLAUSE]
MARTHA POLLACK: Can I have a pennant?
[LAUGHTER]
[CHEERING]
Thank you, Dean Houlton. Upon the recommendation of the faculty and by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the degree Bachelor of Science, with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto.
[APPLAUSE]
[AIRHORN HONKING]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the graduates please be seated? Will the Dean of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Alexander Colvin, please come forward?
[APPLAUSE]
Will the candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Science from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations please rise?
[APPLAUSE]
ALEXANDER COLVIN: President Pollack, I have the honor to present these spirited and inspiring candidates, who have fulfilled the requirements and are duly recommended by the faculty of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations for the degree of Bachelor of Science.
MARTHA POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Colvin.
[APPLAUSE]
Upon the recommendation of the faculty and by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the degree of Bachelor of Science, with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto.
[APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the graduates please be seated? Will the Dean of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, Meejin Yoon, please come forward?
[APPLAUSE]
Will the candidates for the degrees of Master of Architecture, Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Bachelor of Science from the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning please rise?
[APPLAUSE]
J MEEJIN YOON: President Pollack, I have the honor of presenting these candidates and change agents, who are duly recommended by the faculty of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, having fulfilled the requirements for the degrees of Master of Architecture, Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Bachelor of Science.
MARTHA POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Yoon.
[APPLAUSE]
Upon the recommendation of the faculty and by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the degree of Master of Architecture, Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Fine Arts, or Bachelor of Science, with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto.
[APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the graduates please be seated? Will the Dean of the College of Human Ecology, Rachel Dunifon, please come forward?
[APPLAUSE]
Will the candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Science from the College of Human Ecology please rise?
[APPLAUSE]
RACHEL DUNIFON: President Pollack, I have the great honor to present these fabulous candidates, who fulfilled the requirements and are duly recommended by the faculty of the College of Human Ecology for the degree of Bachelor of Science.
MARTHA POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Dunifon.
[APPLAUSE]
Upon the recommendation of the faculty and by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the degree of Bachelor of Science, with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto.
[APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the candidates please be seated? Will the Dean of the College of Engineering, Lyndon Archer, please come forward?
[APPLAUSE]
Will the candidates for the degrees of Master of Engineering and Bachelor of Science from the College of Engineering please rise?
[APPLAUSE]
LYNDEN ARCHER: President Pollack, I have the honor of presenting these amazing candidates, who fulfilled the requirements and are duly recommended by the faculty the College of Engineering for the degrees of Master of Engineering and Bachelor of Science.
MARTHA POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Archer.
[APPLAUSE]
Upon the recommendation of the faculty and by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the degree of Master of Engineering or Bachelor of Science, with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto.
[APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Will the candidates please be seated? Will the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Ray Jayawardhana, please come forward?
[APPLAUSE]
Will the candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Arts from the College of Arts and Sciences please rise?
[APPLAUSE]
RAY JAYAWARDHANA: President Pollack, as per our tradition, saving the best for last--
[CHEERING]
--I have the distinct honor to present these tremendously resilient and positively splendid candidates, who have fulfilled the rigorous requirements and who are ideally recommended by the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences for the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
[APPLAUSE]
MARTHA POLLACK: Thank you, Dean Jayawardhana. Upon the recommendation of the faculty and by the authority vested in me by the trustees of Cornell University, I hereby confer upon each of you the degree Bachelor of Arts, with all the rights, privileges, honors, and responsibilities pertaining thereto.
[APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: It is now my pleasure to welcome Michele [INAUDIBLE] Class of 1998, Associate Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Development.
MICHELLE J VAETH: Congratulations, Class of 2020. What an amazing sight all of you are in the stands today. As the marshal just said, I'm Michelle Vaeth, Class of '98, from CALs.
[CHEERING]
And I have the honor of being the Associate Vice President for Alumni Affairs here at Cornell. Now, I normally would not have a speaking role at commencement, but this is a very unique commencement, amongst the history of Cornell commencements. You already are alumni. [LAUGHS] You have already been out in the world forging new paths, pioneering ideas, solutions, and creativity.
You are building, actively, your careers, your families, and your futures. And like so many of your fellow Cornell alumni, almost 300,000 strong, you individually and collectively are a force to be reckoned with, working hard to do good in this world. I'm so glad that you have come back together again here in Ithaca, and I hope this is the first of many, many returns that you make back to campus. And for those of you who are watching on the Livestream, we see you, we miss you, and we cannot wait to connect with you often as alumni.
Now, there is a very special shoutout that I must do, and it is to the Class of 2020 officers. These are the folks who have been working with our Alumni Affairs staff to plan this commencement. Thank you, thank you, thank you again.
[APPLAUSE]
And I must do a shameless plug. Because if more of you would like to get involved with volunteering, well, Class of 2020, you are only three years, eight months, and 18 days away from your fifth reunion-- [LAUGHS] --which, of course, is your very first reunion. And we would love, and I know your class officers would love, to have more of you involved in helping to plan what I'm sure will be a record-breaking celebration.
I hope you continue to deepen your relationship with Cornell and with Cornellians, by coming back to visit, yes, attending events, mentoring current students, volunteering, and cheering on the Big Red, but also by finding and connecting with Cornellians out in the world. The chances are pretty good that a Cornellian you may meet, whether or not you spend time together on campus, could have a profound impact upon you, your career, and your life. I know that I have found this to be true over, over, and over again. So we are all, forever, Cornellians. Congratulations, and join me in this one, OK? Go Big Red.
[APPLAUSE]
MARTHA POLLACK: Well, Class of 2020, there are a lot of days when I thought, oh no, the numbers are coming up again. And if we have to cancel this again, I don't know, we'll never live it down. But here you are, on an absolutely amazing day, 16 months after your first graduation. It's so wonderful to have you here. Congratulations. Please, come back off, and come back for reunions. Remember, it's always sunny in Ithaca. And join me in singing our Alma Mater. And remember, sway.
[MUSIC - "CORNELL ALMA MATER"]
Far above Cayuga's waters, with its waves of blue, stands our noble Alma Mater. Glorious to view. Lift the chorus, speed it onward. Loud her praises tell. Hail to thee, our Alma Mater. Hail, all hail Cornell. Far above the busy humming of the bustling town, reared against the arch of heaven, looks she proudly down.
Lift the chorus, speed it onward on. Loud her praises tell. Hail to thee, our Alma Mater. Hail, all hail Cornell.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
POPPY MCLEOD: Well, this concludes the commencement ceremony for the 152nd graduating class of Cornell University, the remarkable Class of 2020. Congratulations.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Please remain standing until the platform party has left the field. And for everyone's safety, please exit the Crescent as directed by the ushers. We thank you for joining us today, and we wish you all safe journeys forward.
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC - "CORNELL FIGHT SONG"]
C-O-R-N-E double L. Win the game and then ring the bell. What's the big intrigue? We're the best in the Ivy League. Rah! Rah! Rah! Score the point that puts them ahead. Knock'em dead, Big Red. One! Two! Three! Four! Who are we for? Can't you tell? Ooo-ooold Cornell!
[INAUDIBLE].
[MUSIC - "GIVE MY REGARDS TO DAVY"]
Give my regards to Davy. Remember me to Tee Fee Crane. [INAUDIBLE] Tell all the pikers on the hill that I'll be back again. [INAUDIBLE] Tell them of how I busted, lapping up the high high ball. We'll all have drinks at Theodore Zinck's when I get back next fall.
[MUSIC - "MY OLD CORNELL"]
Oh, I want to go back to the old days. Those good old days on the hill. [INAUDIBLE] Back to my Cornell, for that's where they all yell, Cornell, I yell, Cornell. Cornell! Far above Cayuga's waters, I hear those chiming bells. Oh, I'm longing and yearning and always returning to my old Cornell.
[MARCHING BAND PLAYING]
The Commencement ceremony for the class of 2020 at Schoellkopf Field
Cornell Chronicle article: Class of 2020 returns for joyful Commencement
