Congratulations to you on your graduation and to your family and friends who have supported you during this long journey.
It is a pleasure for me to be here today and share with you some of my thoughts on the next phase of your life.
The mission of a university is to prepare the next generation of talent to lead a happy and productive life. You have the tools now to launch yourself. Watch for opportunities to do something that you really enjoy. You will be rewarded with energy and a feeling of well-being. Your enthusiasms can translate into creative ideas and productive projects, all the while you are having fun. It is contagious to be around happy people and you might even change the whole environment for everyone.
You are fortunate that you are graduating at a time of fundamental change brought about by advances in biology, computing, and communication. Think about positioning yourselves for the next 40 years not the last 40 years. Think about a new or expanding field.
If you factor in your work hours and the time it takes to eat and sleep and do laundry, you will end up with only 15 discretionary hours a week. What if your work life was something you so enjoyed that you no longer viewed it as work, how rich your life would become.
People watch what you do and how you treat others whether it be a colleague or the janitor. How you treat others will be a major factor in opportunities that come your way. When people are looking for individuals for important positions, they want someone who treats others fairly. Maybe some act of kindness you do will have a major impact somewhere surprising. Don’t underestimate the effect that you will have on others in your life.
Be your best selves whether you go on for graduate studies, enter business or industry, become teachers or caretakers of others or whatever you choose to enjoy. Bring all your talent and goodwill to help China flourish.
Finally, you get only one life to live. Forty or fifty years from now when you will retire, it is not the money you have earned but the satisfaction that you will get from having made the world a better place for others in some small way, and that you had fun doing, that you will find most rewarding.
Congratulations on your achievements at Shanghai Tech. And best wishes as you find your place in an exciting world.
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