- Graduates of the great Dartmouth
Class of 2019, congratulations!
(audience cheers) (audience applauds)
Revel in this moment, it is a milestone.
And to the friends and family members
gathered to share in this happy occasion,
we celebrate you too, for the love and support
you provided to the graduates
during their Dartmouth journey.
In this 250th year of our beloved college,
nostalgia fills our hearts
for our cherished Dartmouth traditions.
First year trips, the Homecoming Bonfire,
Winter Carnival, but today,
with the incomparable Yo-Yo Ma in the house.
(audience cheers) (audience applauds)
I wanna talk about
another storied Dartmouth tradition, the arts.
The arts have been alive at Dartmouth
from the earliest days of the college.
Our very first commencement exercises in 1771
featured an anthem composed, and set to music,
and performed by the graduating class.
Don't worry night teams, composing an original song
is no longer a requirement for earning your degree.
The very next year, 1772, featured the first play
put on by Dartmouth students,
organized by none other than John Ledyard.
Throughout our history, Dartmouth faculty and graduates
have had an outsized impact on the world of the arts.
Frost and Geisel and Orosco, in early times,
Pilobolus, Romero, Kaleen, Rhymes, and Arod
in more recent years, just to name a few.
And as Gail and I have attended your student concerts
and plays, visited your studio art installations,
and enjoyed the work of aspiring authors
and poets on campus,
we actually see the future of Dartmouth's impact
on the art world.
At the end of World War II,
the famed School for American Craftsmen was born right here
on the Dartmouth campus.
And in 1962, Dartmouth pioneered a new model
for performing arts centers
across all of higher education
with the opening at the Hop.
Not long after the Dartmouth theater department
served as the earliest pathway for women
on this campus, some of whom are seated amongst you today
as proudly adopted members of the Class of 1969.
(audience cheers) (audience applauds)
And today the Hop, The Black Family Visual Arts Center,
and our newly reimagined Hood Museum of Art
together serve as the epicenter of artistic creation
and expression on our campus,
and an incredible source of fulfillment for all of us.
But make no mistake, engagement with the Arts
is integral to the experience of every Dartmouth student,
not just those who actively create art.
I grew up in a small mining town
in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains.
A rough-and-tumble place, my town had no shortage of taverns
but not a single movie theater.
So when I arrived at Dartmouth in the fall of 1973,
movies were a magnificent unexplored terrain,
and the Film Society became my obsession.
My freshman fall, the film society ran a series
of John Ford classics, and I marveled at these films,
how they could stir such deep feelings
with their irony and nostalgia.
A year later, the Film Society became yesterday's news
when Springsteen played at the Hop.
(audience laughs)
For me, the arts at Dartmouth
opened my mind to entirely new ways of thinking,
helped me see the world as it is,
and imagine the world as it could be.
Class at '19, you embody Dartmouth's lofty mission,
to prepare our graduates to lead lives
of leadership and impact.
The arts have always been a magnetic presence
in this campus, exactly because they are core
to that mission.
While data, evidence, logic and reason provide one way
to make sense of the world,
the arts provide another,
a distinct yet complementary mode
of understanding oneself and experiencing the world
beyond facts and figures.
Engagement with the arts has been shown
to elevate resilience in the face of change,
empathy and understanding of others,
and capacity to solve problems.
And in today's volatile world
having a well-developed creative capacity
in addition to strong analytic skills is paramount.
In fact, a 2016 World Economic Forum report
placed creativity as one of the three most important
work related skills anticipated for 2020.
So my message to you today is simple,
never relinquish your paintbrush, your pen,
your musical instrument,
or any other creative tool at your disposal.
Because there is always another stroke,
another stanza, another measure, another chapter in the work
that will be forever known as you.
And when you see an opportunity to engage with the arts,
or to support the arts, embrace it with all you've got.
If any one of you has doubts
about your own creative capacity, think again.
Over these last four years you have designed
with the help of our faculty, staff,
and those around you
the greatest masterpiece of all, yourself.
Class of 2019, I have every confidence
that you will let your creativity reign
as you seek to impact the world
and become every bit the person you wish to be.
Congratulations once more to all of you.
May you meet with success and happiness always.
And forever keep Dartmouth
close to your hearts, congratulations.
(audience cheers) (audience applauds)