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Student Leadership Recognition
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STUDENT LEADERSHIP RECOGNITION |
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Neil Richard Ursic, USG President Convocation Address 2006
Thank you Vice President Nicholls, and thank you all for allowing me the honor of speaking to you. Today we gather to celebrate this new academic year, to look ahead, and also to remember our past. It is not only the university that is shaped by its past, so too are the people who make it up.
In 1826 in Hudson, Ohio what was then the Western Reserve College welcomed its first class. Unlike today, they had no history to look back upon. No former accomplishments to celebrate, no Welcome Days or Orientation, and they most certainly didn’t convene in a location as magnificent as Severance Hall. The class was four students in all, unlike the 1031 of this year’s Class of 2010.
The dissimilarities between the Class of 2010 and that of 1826 are many, but one commonality they share is the caliber of students. Throughout the history of Case Western Reserve University, through the changes in the university’s location (from Hudson to Cleveland), name, facilities, and so much more, what has remained constant is the gifted, bright, and talented students who make up this university.
Such past gifted students have gone on to be Nobel Prize winners, CEOs of major corporations, film writers, and even a coach of the Miami Dolphins. Each one of these notable alumns sat where you are at Convocation, and afterwards, at some point in their four years they decided to seize a chance that granted them the opportunity to become who they are today.
But unlike all of us, these individuals didn’t have the access to the resources we have. So what will be said about the Class of 2010? Will the person to the right or left of you become a Nobel Prize winner? Will he or she discover a cure for cancer? Or help make major advancements in fuel cell research? The answer is likely “yes”.
You see, by becoming a part of the Case community we have all been granted access to opportunities and experiences to achieve great things. But it is up to us to actively seek out and involve ourselves in the community around us to attain such accomplishments.
If you wish to be great at all, you must begin where you are and with what you are. If you want to be great anywhere you must first be great in your own here at Case. So get involved, get excited, and get ready for great things! Thank you and welcome to a new year and a new Case! |
