To my LEAD class of 2008:
I'd like to first start out by saying congratulations, you all have made it. Five years ago, I too arrived at LEAD Northwestern and was pleasantly greeted by a long list of rules and punishments which made me question my decision to leave home for a month. I'm sure that many of you felt the same way after our first meeting. However, I hope that you can now understand the method to our madness: punctuality, proper attire, and etiquette are no strangers to success. While I admit that the counselors did receive some pleasure in making lights out at 9 pm, it was solely done for your benefit. As you enter the next phase in your life, it will be up to you to apply everything you have learned during this intensive four-week program. Every individual that you have encountered is more than willing to contribute to the success story that you all are constantly crafting. Reach out to professors, counselors, mentors, corporations, and each other following your departure tomorrow: We are all anxious to hear about what path you choose to take upon graduation from high school.
I'll be the first to tell you that college is an amazing experience, perhaps only second to the time you spend at LEAD. I encourage you all to aim high and choose wisely. The world is filled with opportunity and disappointment and it is up to you to decide which you will have more of in your life. Please do not limit yourself when submitting college applications: though you may not think you qualify for a certain institution, you might be just what they are looking for at the time. Once on campus, make your presence known. You've worked hard during your pre-college years and you deserve to shine. However, you must not rest on your laurels: college is a challenging as it is rewarding.
This challenge comes not only in the academic arena, but in being sure to uplift others as you rise. To do so, you must also make your presence known in your neighborhoods: you all did not get to this point on your own and neither will the youth at home. Though you all are still relatively young, there is already another generation in need of positive role models who look like them. I'm sure you all have heard this many times before, but to whom much is given, much is expected. You all have been afforded many opportunities and you now carry the noble burden of ensuring that the next generation is given the same. I strongly believe that it is the duty of older generations to pave a smoother path for the oncoming generation. When the newer generation has reached the end of this paved road, it is their responsibility to pick up the tools and continue paving until they can no longer march onward and upward. This is progress.
Dr. King understood the importance of progress and the necessity of accountability. As a true visionary would, King left us with a solution to ensure that his dreams would be made into realities long after he was gone. In one of his many powerful speeches King stated,
"In a real sense all life is interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality."
In closing, I challenge you all to ensure that every affect you have on another person is a positive one. I would like to thank you for allowing me to spend these four weeks with you. I have enjoyed watching you all learn and grow into businessmen and women. I am extremely proud of each of you and I wish you the best of luck.
I'd like to first start out by saying congratulations, you all have made it. Five years ago, I too arrived at LEAD Northwestern and was pleasantly greeted by a long list of rules and punishments which made me question my decision to leave home for a month. I'm sure that many of you felt the same way after our first meeting. However, I hope that you can now understand the method to our madness: punctuality, proper attire, and etiquette are no strangers to success. While I admit that the counselors did receive some pleasure in making lights out at 9 pm, it was solely done for your benefit. As you enter the next phase in your life, it will be up to you to apply everything you have learned during this intensive four-week program. Every individual that you have encountered is more than willing to contribute to the success story that you all are constantly crafting. Reach out to professors, counselors, mentors, corporations, and each other following your departure tomorrow: We are all anxious to hear about what path you choose to take upon graduation from high school.
I'll be the first to tell you that college is an amazing experience, perhaps only second to the time you spend at LEAD. I encourage you all to aim high and choose wisely. The world is filled with opportunity and disappointment and it is up to you to decide which you will have more of in your life. Please do not limit yourself when submitting college applications: though you may not think you qualify for a certain institution, you might be just what they are looking for at the time. Once on campus, make your presence known. You've worked hard during your pre-college years and you deserve to shine. However, you must not rest on your laurels: college is a challenging as it is rewarding.
This challenge comes not only in the academic arena, but in being sure to uplift others as you rise. To do so, you must also make your presence known in your neighborhoods: you all did not get to this point on your own and neither will the youth at home. Though you all are still relatively young, there is already another generation in need of positive role models who look like them. I'm sure you all have heard this many times before, but to whom much is given, much is expected. You all have been afforded many opportunities and you now carry the noble burden of ensuring that the next generation is given the same. I strongly believe that it is the duty of older generations to pave a smoother path for the oncoming generation. When the newer generation has reached the end of this paved road, it is their responsibility to pick up the tools and continue paving until they can no longer march onward and upward. This is progress.
Dr. King understood the importance of progress and the necessity of accountability. As a true visionary would, King left us with a solution to ensure that his dreams would be made into realities long after he was gone. In one of his many powerful speeches King stated,
"In a real sense all life is interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality."
In closing, I challenge you all to ensure that every affect you have on another person is a positive one. I would like to thank you for allowing me to spend these four weeks with you. I have enjoyed watching you all learn and grow into businessmen and women. I am extremely proud of each of you and I wish you the best of luck.
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