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RYAN LOMBARDI: Welcome, new Cornellians. My name is Ryan Lombardi, and I am the vice president for Student and Campus Life. I am so pleased you have chosen to continue your education at one of the world's great universities, and to become a part of the Big Red family. It goes without saying that your first semester at Cornell is not how you imagined it would be. Believe me, it's not how we imagined it would be, either.
This year will come with unique challenges. And in the short time I have with you today, I want to give you some advice and words of encouragement. One of the most important and rewarding aspects of being at Cornell is the connections you will make. Now, you may be thinking that you're always connected in the predominantly virtual world we have been living in for these past months.
And while those connections are important, I'm talking about deep, meaningful, and personal connections with your new community. Of all the connections you will have the opportunity to make in the coming years, the most important are with your faculty. Cornell faculty are spectacular and are among the very best minds in the world.
I still learn something new every time I'm in the presence of one of our great professors. With much of our instruction online this fall, and as we continue to practice physical distancing, it will be critically important for you to initiate these relationships. Participate in virtual office hours. Introduce yourself over email. Ask them about their research or other areas of study. But get to know your faculty. Doing so will make a positive impact on your Cornell education, and more importantly, probably on your life too.
The other connection point I'll emphasize is your classmates. Now, you'll be very hard-pressed at any other point in your life to have access to such a vibrant, intelligent, and diverse collection of individuals as your classmates at Cornell. It is an incredible opportunity and privilege that is in front of you. For the next few years, you have the opportunity to learn about and understand the perspective of all those around you. Lift each other up and help each other become your best selves.
Now, college campuses are known as places where connections also happen in large groups, at sporting events, concerts, parties, and celebrations. These obviously won't be possible this fall given our need to prioritize public health, so I encourage you to really focus on and prioritize the small, yet meaningful connections.
From the late night conversations with those with whom you live to the personal debate you have with a close friend that causes you to see another perspective, these are the moments that will be most special this year. We have worked hard to provide you with opportunities to engage with your peers during orientation and throughout the semester. Please look for these and take advantage of them.
It might be tempting, this year especially, to keep to yourself and just focus on your academic work. But now more than ever, you need to find that small, yet meaningful way to get out of your comfort zone and take on this semester in the best manner possible. New Cornellians, welcome. I wish you all the best as you begin this incredible journey. Now, I would like to introduce you to Cornell President Martha Pollack.
MARTHA POLLACK: Hello, everyone, and welcome to Cornell. I'm talking to you from Schoellkopf Field, home of our Big Red athletes, our Big Red marching band, and of course, our annual convocation and graduation ceremonies. If this were an ordinary year, I'd be standing at a podium on a grandstand that would be set up right on the 50-yard line, and you'd all be up in the bleachers listening to me welcome you to the extraordinary community that is Cornell and telling you that you all belong here.
None of us need to be reminded, though, that this is not an ordinary year. But of all the things that are different about this new student convocation, some things haven't changed. All of you, wherever you may be as you watch this, are now part of this extraordinary community. All of you from this moment are Cornellians, and Cornell is exactly where you belong.
So whether you're participating in this convocation from your residence hall here on campus, from one of our study-away locations around the world, from your bedroom at home, or from quarantine, I want to welcome all of you to Cornell and tell you how glad we are to have you. From its founding more than 150 years ago, Cornell has always been a community that has overcome obstacles and moved past barriers, whether they're barriers to learning, barriers between disciplines, or barriers between people.
And as this pandemic has reminded us, Cornell has always been more than just a place. It's a community, it's a tradition, and it's an ethos that transcends space and time. All of you have a lot on your minds right now. You're starting an entirely new period of your lives, taking on ambitious new challenges in the middle of events that have turned the world upside down. So I'm not going to take too much of your time giving you lots of advice that you probably wouldn't remember later anyway.
What I am going to tell you is that whatever barriers there might be between you right now and the you that will be sitting on this field just a few years from now wearing a cap and gown, you have it within you to overcome every single one. And that is true despite the pandemic. Indeed, it might even be more true because of it. None of us would have chosen this way for you to arrive at Cornell. It certainly isn't what you imagined when you dreamed about heading off to college or what you thought you'd find here when you first applied.
For many of you, the last few months have been some of the hardest in your lives. But despite all of it, you have made it to this point because you are Cornellians, and that's what Cornellians do. We look at whatever lies between our environments and our goals, between our situations and our aspirations, and we get to work mapping a path. So my challenge to you is to do just what Cornellians have been doing for the past 155 years that we've been here on this hilltop in Ithaca.
Find new ways to learn, new ways to grow, and new ways to bring forward the ethos of Cornell. I want all of you look for your own ways to define your first year at Cornell rather than letting the pandemic define it for you. Study subjects that fascinate you. If you here in Ithaca, go outside and enjoy the amazing region we live in. Find new ways to interact with all of the people you've been meeting, and be sure to live smarter by doing it safely.
Whatever obstacles you might be facing, wherever you might be physically as you listen to this, you are here at Cornell, and you are a part of Cornell. And you are a part of a class that is amazingly talented, amazingly diverse, and amazingly resilient. Some of you are the first in your family to attend college or are military veterans or have transferred here from other colleges or universities.
Most of you completed your senior year of high school in a way that no one has ever done before as the world changed around you in ways you never could have imagined. And yet, the fact that you're listening to me today is testament to the fact that you found ways to rise above all of it, to keep moving forward and to keep learning and growing. That is exactly what we do at Cornell.
So wherever you are as you begin your first semester as a Cornellian, whatever challenges lie ahead, you belong here, and we're glad to have you with us. Welcome to Cornell, and welcome to the Big Red family.
CHORUS: (SINGING) 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, loud her praises tell. Hail to thee, our Alma Mater. Hail, all hail, Cornell.
President Martha Pollack and Ryan Lombardi offer their virtual welcome remarks to the Class of 2024.
