Convocation Address

My staff and I had the pleasure of participating in move-in activities yesterday, and we first want to say "Thank you" to the staff and undergraduates who made it such a success; I know that at least one car was timed as being unpacked in only 30 seconds.

Each year, I have the privilege of presenting the entering class to the President and to the faculty at Convocation. You represent the culmination of by far the most rigorous selection process Duke has ever faced. We received almost 27,000 first-year applications this year, and over 800 transfer applications almost 3000 more than last year, and over 6000 more than just two years ago. And of this exceptional group we admitted fewer than one in six first year applicants and fewer than one in 10 transfer applicants. To make the cut this year took something special. So I'd like to talk about what it took to be admitted this year.

You're all smart; you know it, I know it, your parents know it, and the people behind me know it. But we were looking for more than just smarts.

For starters, we like a class with some variety. We're pleased that you come to us from 48 states and 49 nations; that 193 of you come outside the US; that 45% of you are students of color; that you come from almost a thousand cities and towns. And we like the variety of places you're from and the different worlds they evoke -- . You're here from Abu Dhabi and Ankara; from Antelope and Advance; from Dar Es Salaam, and Fargo, and Waco; from Johannesburg and Johnstown; from Kapa'au, Kolkata and Kuala Lumpur, and from Monaco, and Pymble, and Quito, and Riga.

And there's variety not just in where you're from, but in how you've spent your time. You've been lifeguards and salespeople and babysitters and tutors; but you've also raised beef cattle in Pennsylvania, and served as a deck hand on a ferry in Maine, and bussed and washed dishes at the Winking Lizard Tavern in Ohio, and herded yaks in Tibet.

But even more important than variety, there are personal qualities we look for that will matter while you're here and long after you leave.

We value courage. Among you is a cancer survivor, who then raised $5000 for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society; a refugee from the Sudanese Civil War, who has already been a program speaker at Duke; and a young man studying to be a Buddhist monk who has had to overcome extensive surgery repairing a spinal defect and now is a documentary filmmaker.

And we value talent. Like being a javelin thrower who is also published in the Journal of Neurosurgery -- or playing 5 instruments and selling your compositions on iTunes; or by sharing the record for the youngest male ever to bowl a 299 at the age of 11; or winning the nation's top equestrian prize, by beating 237 other riders at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show; or being the Gatorade National Player of the Year in Girls Soccer, or the Parade Co-National Player of the year in girl's basketball and along with four other players, three of them Gatorade state players of the year, comprising the #1 ranked women's basketball recruiting class in the country. And talent is being able to use a Caterpillar D 6 N bulldozer and a John Deere 310 backhoe to build a two-acre retention pond.

Finally, we value a sense of engagement, of being part of a community. Among you is the only teenager on staff at a crisis hotline in Detroit; and two students who raised almost $70,000 for financial assistance for students at a local university; or and the co-author of a book titled the American Muslim Teenager's Handbook, already once included as required reading in a Duke course.

I can imagine you might wonder, after hearing all this, whether we might have made a mistake in admitting you. So let me be very clear with you. Whether your parents are CEO's or nomads, whether you represent just the most recent generation of your family at Duke or are the first in your family to attend college, we chose each of you carefully, thoughtfully, and individually, as people not as applications. As long as you're true to yourself you'll be a great member of the Duke community.

Along those lines, I'd like to share with you part of an essay one of your classmates wrote about growing up on a small family farm :

"As high school commenced, I found myself getting caught up in the superficiality it takes to fit in with the popular crowd. They disparaged my "country roots," and without realizing it, I had drifted away from what I really loved. It was just like the feeling of running barefoot through the pastures, and suddenly squishing through a warm pile of dung, and realizing only too late that the pungent odor was coming from where my feet were currently standing. I learned my next life lesson: if you're not careful and don't watch where you're going, you could find yourself ankle-deep in a fresh pile of trouble." Be true to yourself, and try to stay out of trouble.

President Brodhead, I am terrifically pleased to present to you, to the faculty, and to the community, a particularly talented and probably the most interesting class we've had at Duke, the Class of 2014. Thank you.