These are not news headlines,
these are your stories.
It's a story of introduction,
it's a collective biography of '23
drawn from your own words.
It's a story about you.
You're a dynamic collection of 1193 people
drawn from 952 high schools around the world.
66 different languages are spoken in your homes,
and at least 35 faith traditions guide you.
15% of you are the first in your families to go to college,
and that's a record high for Dartmouth.
You geek out over cryptozoology, lucid dreaming, John Adams,
Broadway musical cast recordings, food chemistry.
There you go.
Food chemistry, Nietzsche's Philosophy of Eternal Return,
transit planning in Canada,
web privacy, Japanese horror movies,
dams, restoration ecology, Chinese folk tales,
environmental messaging in Disney films,
indigenous feminism, and roller coaster design.
As I stood on the Dartmouth Green for the first time,
I imagined this is what heaven must feel like.
I am a woman who refuses to lower her voice.
I'm a city boy who's tired of the city.
Playing trombone is my form of rebellion.
I'm a girl with one foot in the 18th century
and one foot in 2040.
I'm a transgender kid in the rural Midwest.
I'm a mix of Puerto Rican and New England clergy.
I've birthed some goats.
I'm a black girl born to a single mother in the Deep South.
I come from a tradition of Southern soul,
but I also come from a tradition of breaking traditions.
I've penned hundreds of sonnets
and raced thousands of miles and I spend my lunches
discussing Dante, Queen, and Caravaggio.
My joy is that I have no one story, I have many stories,
constantly redefining who I am.
My wobbly accent is too North American for the Brits
and too English for the Americans.
My home is a constant state of self-discovery
between India and Singapore.
My heart and my home are in the streets,
sand, and beaches of Dubai.
I am tumbleweed, drifting and exploring new places as I go.
I grew up in a suburban oasis
molded by Norwegian complacency.
I will be the revolutionary point in my family tree in which
the ladies no longer settle for a high school diploma.
I am a nerd of the highest order.
Some people bring flowers or a box of chocolates
when they're invited over for dinner,
I bring an air vent filter.
I am passionately curious about poop.
I didn't grow up with a father,
I grew up knowing Donor 1689.
My curiosity carries me to the oddest places.
I've always aspired to write a novel
that survived the test of time,
one that questions our station on Earth.
I am a proponent of laughing it out.
I come from a long line of those who refused to give up.
I step up boldly to closed doors, I knock firmly,
and I enter for the benefit of whomever I find there.
As you begin your journey through this hallowed place
with so many noteworthy, energetic peers,
don't worry about how you got in
or whether you're good enough to be here.
You are, you each are.
Be excited as you gather on this historic campus
in the north woods of New Hampshire.
Welcome to heaven, go make some magic.