(musical chord)
- Greetings to all new Syracuse University students
and welcome to the Orange family.
We are delighted to welcome you to Syracuse University
and all of the new classes, new professors,
new academic challenges, and new friends
you will encounter here.
Welcome to your new Orange home.
It has been a long journey for all of us,
students, faculty, and staff, to get you here.
Hundreds of faculty and staff have worked so hard
to help you be here, and I thank them.
Many of you have traveled far to get here,
and all of you have endured hardships over a long summer
with the world around us in flux, and challenges everywhere.
A global pandemic continues to disrupt all of our lives.
This adversity has affected us all,
but some of us more deeply, personally, and painfully.
At the same time, we are also hearing voices raised
across the country with renewed calls
for justice and an end to hate.
This resolve to make the future better is a source of hope.
These things are, and will be present in our lives.
Let's take this semester as an opportunity to work together,
to overcome challenges, and to learn from new people
in a new environment.
Your first semester here will be very different
from that of any students who have come before you.
Different does not mean
that it will be any less rich and rewarding.
If any class is up to the challenges of this year,
it is you.
You succeeded despite an unprecedented end
to your high school years, and you are ready
for this unique fall term.
This year, we are asking different things of you
as part of our Orange family.
We all need to take responsibility for ourselves,
and to take care of each other.
We all own the health and safety of our whole community.
That means practicing social distancing,
socializing in small groups only, and wearing our masks.
I know you've all seen the Stay Safe pledge.
I asked that you live by that pledge.
We all want to be here.
Our ability to continue here together
is dependent on you and your classmates.
The fall semester is in your hands.
I believe you can and will rise to this occasion,
and we'll have a great semester together here.
The Syracuse University motto is,
"Knowledge crowns those who seek her."
That suggests a challenge to us all.
I hope you will embrace it.
You are now part of an engaged, thriving,
and diverse international research university.
Even though we aren't physically as close
as we normally would be, you are not alone.
This is a university where you will develop
a network of friends and colleagues,
they will support you, and they will make you better.
These friends and classmates and colleagues
often look very different from each other.
They come from an incredible variety
of backgrounds and experiences,
each has unique abilities and points of view.
That is what makes Syracuse University
a place rich with ideas and experiences.
Each of you has the potential to do incredible things here.
Syracuse University now belongs to you.
Being Orange carries with it great responsibility,
perhaps now more than ever before.
You are going to ask things here, build things here,
prove things here, and leave things behind here.
Your legacy at Syracuse University begins now.
Welcome to Syracuse, and always go Orange.
- My name is Sameeha Saied, Class of 2021,
and I'm excited to welcome you to the Orange family.
This is a historic year.
Your graduating class has faced hardship
and confronted change in a way that no other class has,
and it has brought you here.
So on behalf of all of us here,
welcome to Syracuse University.
Your first year on campus will be undoubtedly different
from previous years, but I can promise you
it will be worth it.
If this year has taught me anything,
it's that people will go to great creative lengths
to make the best of any situation.
Think of the car parades, the Zoom classes,
the virtual graduations,
your farewell to high school was a far cry from typical,
but it was, and will always be uniquely yours.
This time, students, faculty, and staff
gain in operating virtually is being used
to improve our systems and structures from the inside.
So what you experience will be even better versions
of what they already are.
My time at Syracuse is largely defined by what I've done.
In my three years here, I've been an orientation leader,
the Student Association vice president,
a research assistant, a Remembrance Scholar,
an elementary tutor in the city,
and on the executive board for Syracuse's dance marathon.
Having been introduced to all of that
through a leadership development program
I joined my freshman year.
The friends I've made, the experiences I've had,
have all been shaped by the things I pushed myself to do
when I first came to Syracuse.
Sometimes I even pushed myself too hard to compensate
for what started as an entirely new environment,
and that resulted in a social and mental burnout.
That's where your unique position comes in.
Being introduced to campus in a more or less virtual way,
it gives you the opportunity
to simultaneously put yourself out there
and practice adequate self-care.
You can create lasting relationships and memories,
while also being able, even expected, to take a step back,
and focus on recharging.
Use that because when you come back next year,
we hope that things will be the best kind of different,
and you'll wanna be healthy and present for it.
Well everyone's experience here will be different.
There are so many things Syracuse students look forward to,
so many traditions you'll undoubtedly pass forward.
So while you attend a virtual lecture,
or walk across the quad in a face mask,
think of the opening of the new stadium,
of sledding down the Crouse Hill
during the first snow storm of the year,
of spending late nights at Bird Library with friends,
of our MLK celebration, the largest in the country,
the Pride Union Drag Show, also the largest in the country,
of countless exciting concerts and performances,
and of endless opportunities.
Use your next three years as motivation
to take this first one in stride,
because as promised it will be worth it.
- Hello to the Class of 2024 and 2025.
My name is Justine Hastings,
and I am SU Student Association President.
On behalf of the Student Association,
I would love to welcome you to the Orange family.
You are now a part of an amazing group of SU students,
faculty, staff, and alumni.
My piece of advice to you is take advantage
of all the resources available to you,
but also be sure not to take on too much
so you don't burn out.
Balance and self-awareness is key.
I'm excited to introduce you
to one of our greatest traditions,
the singing of the Syracuse University Alma Mater.
It is sung at university ceremonies, games, and events.
Now, while we aren't altogether in the stadium
to sing it just yet, we hope that you will learn the words
and sing with Orange pride.
("Syracuse University Alma Mater")
♪ Where the vale of Onondaga ♪
♪ Meets the eastern sky ♪
♪ Proudly stands our Alma Mater ♪
♪ On her hilltop high ♪
♪ Flag we love ♪
♪ Orange ♪
♪ Float for aye ♪
♪ Old Syracuse, o'er thee ♪
♪ Loyal be thy sons and daughters ♪
♪ To thy memory ♪