Two weeks ago, coronavirus was a concern, but MIT students' biggest worries were whether
or not we would be able to have senior ball or senior week activities.
Events and classes that had over 150 people were cancelled, and panic and worry set in
because of the prospects of missing annual dance shows, concerts, and other larger occasions.
But then it got much worse.
Then
on Tuesday, March 10th, after Harvard received their news, we received word that MIT will
be moving all classes online and that we'd have to leave MIT campus by noon the following
Tuesday.
We thought we'd have two more months to say goodbye.
But now those goodbyes had to be hurried into this 6 and a half day timeframe.
Then on Thursday night, things got even worse.
Massachusetts had gone into a state of emergency and we were now told to pack up all of our
things, say our goodbyes, and leave MIT campus by Sunday.
Two months of good byes turned to 6 days turned to just 4.
There was increasing worry that coronavirus will cause the US to go into a state of national
emergency.
This meant that students may not be able to go home if they left after Sunday.
Despite the feelings of sadness and disbelief, we all knew that we had to go.
It's one thing to have to say goodbye in an unexpected and expedited manner.
But it's a lot sadder when you cannot go out and go to a club or party or even have larger
get-togethers.
Because of social distancing, we had to say goodbye from a distance.
We could not shake hands with or hug the professors that helped us get into graduate school, and
we had to say bye to smaller groups of friends at a time.
It was honestly a surreal experience that I still have not fully grasped.
But in that time of crisis and intense pressure to leave, there wasn't any time to dwell on
what was happening, and it was heartwarming to see everyone, especially the graduating
seniors, come together during
this time.
We all knew that this was going to be it.
We knew that we would probably not be walking down the aisle to receive our diplomas, and
we probably will not be able to do graduation pictures either.
So some of my friends and I bought some graduation caps, and on the day before we were supposed
to leave Boston for the foreseeable future, we got dressed up and took graduation photos
in the spot where we would have been graduating in about two months.
This all just felt so surreal.
Since then, all classes shifted online and will resume at the end of this month.
Timmy and I road-tripped down to Alabama while dropping off some of my fraternity brothers
along the way.
We will be starting at the startup I mentioned in my last video, and will actually start
getting to work now that we're already off campus.
We are now both living in this very nice apartment, and have just gotten settled in.
I have also just officially committed to Stanford, and will be attending Stanford to start my
graduate school career starting this fall.
This was one heck of a way to end my time at MIT, but I'm still very excited for what
the future holds.
During my quarantining, I have had plenty of time to think and reflect on my time at
MIT, and want the rest of this video to be an open letter to MIT because if I were to
decide where I was to spend my undergraduate career, I would choose MIT every single time.
Dear MIT,
You were the best decision of my life.
Yes you were challenging at times, and yes I did have low points where I thought I wasn't
good enough to succeed; but through the adversity and challenges that you presented me, I developed
into the confident and resilient man that I am today.
You made me work with my hands and work in teams on some very challenging problems.
You made me become comfortable talking in front of larger groups of people.
You enabled me to think outside of the box to find new ways of solving familiar challenges.
Now matter how insurmountable a challenge may seem, you have taught me how to take things
a step at a time to ultimately navigate and tackle any challenge that comes my way.
Thank you for being the home to some of the people I will cherish the most in my life.
Because of you, I have made connections that will hopefully last a lifetime.
On your campus, almost 4 years ago, when I was convinced that I'd just want to live alone,
I met Sebastian, who has been my roommate and best friend ever since.
Thanks to your AeroAstro department, I have made great friends in Sam, Kevin and Timmy,
who have been there through many of the academic and personal challenges I have encountered
over the years.
Because of Nu Delta, I now have a second family of brothers that I know I'd be able to go
to for absolutely anything.
They're a great group of highly-motivated and intelligent young men who never fail to
shower me with love and support.
And most recently, it was on your campus where I have developed a strong relationship with
my girlfriend Michelle, who always seems to keep a smile on my face.
Thank you for also opening doors and instilling a level of confidence in me to walk right
through those doors and take on new challenges.
You allowed me to get my hands dirty in various research areas and you allowed me to secure
internship positions at a large aerospace corporation.
But most of all, you allowed me to be me.
Through all of these challenges and opportunities, you still allowed me to continue to play basketball
and lift and stay healthy.
You allowed me to cultivate these relationships that I mentioned before.
And you allowed me to continue to tell my story and continue to inspire others around
the world through this YouTube channel.
Heck, because of you, I am now on the founding team of an up and coming tech startup Deuce
Drone.
And frankly, I could not have asked for anything more.
Dear MIT, unfortunately my time with you has come to an end.
I will continue online classes for the next two months, but we both know that it won't
be the same.
Know that even when I decided to go to you four years ago, I could not have imagined
the magnitude of the positive impact you have had on my life.
I definitely hated you at moments, but honestly didn't know how much I loved you until you
were ripped away from me so suddenly.
Thank you for everything and hopefully our paths cross some time in the future.
Best, KJ Hardrict
MIT AeroAstro Class of 2020
Hey everyone, as you all know, there's just a lot going on right now.
I hope you all are doing well and are safe.
Right now, I'm in quarantine here in Mobile, AL, so it will be
safe to assume that I will be able to post more videos from here.
Let me know in the comments what types of videos you want to see.
I have been posting a lot more on my Instagram stories, so make sure to follow me on there
and Twitter to see what I'm up.
As for this channel, subscribe and have the notification bell clicked to stay up to date
on my latest videos.
As always, thanks for watching, and I will see you in the next video.