WEBVTT 00:00:00.536 --> 00:00:04.598 So I'll be talking about the success of my campus, 00:00:04.598 --> 00:00:07.348 the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, UMBC, 00:00:07.348 --> 00:00:10.539 in educating students of all types, 00:00:10.539 --> 00:00:14.666 across the arts and humanities and the science and engineering areas. 00:00:14.666 --> 00:00:18.744 What makes our story especially important 00:00:18.744 --> 00:00:23.952 is that we have learned so much from a group of students 00:00:23.952 --> 00:00:27.299 who are typically not at the top of the academic ladder -- 00:00:27.299 --> 00:00:31.297 students of color, students underrepresented in selected areas. 00:00:31.297 --> 00:00:34.148 And what makes the story especially unique 00:00:34.148 --> 00:00:38.982 is that we have learned how to help African-American students, Latino students, 00:00:38.982 --> 00:00:40.786 students from low-income backgrounds, 00:00:40.786 --> 00:00:44.244 to become some of the best in the world in science and engineering. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:44.244 --> 00:00:47.714 And so I begin with a story about my childhood. 00:00:47.714 --> 00:00:50.786 We all are products of our childhood experiences. 00:00:50.786 --> 00:00:54.964 It's hard for me to believe that it's been 50 years 00:00:54.964 --> 00:01:00.870 since I had the experience of being a ninth grade kid in Birmingham, Alabama, 00:01:00.870 --> 00:01:03.037 a kid who loved getting A's, 00:01:03.037 --> 00:01:05.724 a kid who loved math, who loved to read, 00:01:05.724 --> 00:01:08.453 a kid who would say to the teacher -- 00:01:08.453 --> 00:01:11.709 when the teacher said, "Here are 10 problems," to the class, 00:01:11.709 --> 00:01:15.790 this little fat kid would say, "Give us 10 more." 00:01:15.790 --> 00:01:19.102 And the whole class would say, "Shut up, Freeman." 00:01:19.102 --> 00:01:22.716 And there was a designated kicker every day. 00:01:22.716 --> 00:01:24.597 And so I was always asking this question: 00:01:24.597 --> 00:01:30.554 "Well how could we get more kids to really love to learn?" NOTE Paragraph 00:01:30.554 --> 00:01:33.672 And amazingly, one week in church, 00:01:33.672 --> 00:01:35.754 when I really didn't want to be there 00:01:35.754 --> 00:01:40.855 and I was in the back of the room being placated by doing math problems, 00:01:40.855 --> 00:01:43.291 I heard this man say this: 00:01:43.291 --> 00:01:45.773 "If we can get the children 00:01:45.773 --> 00:01:51.770 to participate in this peaceful demonstration here in Birmingham, 00:01:51.770 --> 00:01:57.171 we can show America that even children know the difference between right and wrong 00:01:57.171 --> 00:02:01.904 and that children really do want to get the best possible education." 00:02:01.904 --> 00:02:03.625 And I looked up and said, "Who is that man?" 00:02:03.625 --> 00:02:06.754 And they said his name was Dr. Martin Luther King. 00:02:06.754 --> 00:02:08.685 And I said to my parents, "I've got to go. 00:02:08.685 --> 00:02:10.254 I want to go. I want to be a part of this." 00:02:10.254 --> 00:02:12.124 And they said, "Absolutely not." NOTE Paragraph 00:02:12.124 --> 00:02:13.337 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:13.337 --> 00:02:15.255 And we had a rough go of it. 00:02:15.255 --> 00:02:18.708 And at that time, quite frankly, you really did not talk back to your parents. 00:02:18.708 --> 00:02:20.995 And somehow I said, "You know, you guys are hypocrites. 00:02:20.995 --> 00:02:22.972 You make me go to this. You make me listen. 00:02:22.972 --> 00:02:25.206 The man wants me to go, and now you say no." 00:02:25.206 --> 00:02:26.954 And they thought about it all night. 00:02:26.954 --> 00:02:29.088 And they came into my room the next morning. 00:02:29.088 --> 00:02:30.588 They had not slept. 00:02:30.588 --> 00:02:33.104 They had been literally crying and praying and thinking, 00:02:33.104 --> 00:02:36.664 "Will we let our 12-year-old 00:02:36.664 --> 00:02:40.816 participate in this march and probably have to go to jail?" 00:02:40.816 --> 00:02:42.505 And they decided to do it. 00:02:42.505 --> 00:02:43.887 And when they came in to tell me, 00:02:43.887 --> 00:02:45.672 I was at first elated. 00:02:45.672 --> 00:02:49.604 And then all of a sudden I began thinking about the dogs and the fire hoses, 00:02:49.604 --> 00:02:52.486 and I got really scared, I really did. 00:02:52.486 --> 00:02:54.588 And one of the points I make to people all the time 00:02:54.588 --> 00:02:57.823 is that sometimes when people do things that are courageous, 00:02:57.823 --> 00:03:00.172 it doesn't really mean that they're that courageous. 00:03:00.172 --> 00:03:03.020 It simply means that they believe it's important to do it. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:03.020 --> 00:03:04.771 I wanted a better education. 00:03:04.771 --> 00:03:08.004 I did not want to have to have hand-me-down books. 00:03:08.004 --> 00:03:10.487 I wanted to know that the school I attended 00:03:10.487 --> 00:03:12.912 not only had good teachers, but the resources we needed. 00:03:12.912 --> 00:03:14.588 And as a result of that experience, 00:03:14.588 --> 00:03:16.922 in the middle of the week, while I was there in jail, 00:03:16.922 --> 00:03:19.472 Dr. King came and said with our parents, 00:03:19.472 --> 00:03:22.437 "What you children do this day 00:03:22.437 --> 00:03:27.021 will have an impact on children who have not been born." NOTE Paragraph 00:03:27.021 --> 00:03:31.956 I recently realized that two-thirds of Americans today 00:03:31.956 --> 00:03:35.470 had not been born at the time of 1963. 00:03:35.470 --> 00:03:38.411 And so for them, when they hear about the Children's Crusade in Birmingham, 00:03:38.411 --> 00:03:40.673 in many ways, if they see it on TV, 00:03:40.673 --> 00:03:44.087 it's like our looking at the 1863 "Lincoln" movie: 00:03:44.087 --> 00:03:45.521 It's history. 00:03:45.521 --> 00:03:48.494 And the real question is, what lessons did we learn? 00:03:48.494 --> 00:03:51.386 Well amazingly, the most important for me was this: 00:03:51.386 --> 00:03:56.686 That children can be empowered to take ownership of their education. 00:03:56.686 --> 00:03:59.037 They can be taught to be passionate 00:03:59.037 --> 00:04:03.578 about wanting to learn and to love the idea of asking questions. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:03.578 --> 00:04:06.373 And so it is especially significant 00:04:06.373 --> 00:04:08.459 that the university I now lead, 00:04:08.459 --> 00:04:11.254 the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, UMBC, 00:04:11.254 --> 00:04:17.040 was founded the very year I went to jail with Dr. King, in 1963. 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:21.210 And what made that institutional founding especially important 00:04:21.210 --> 00:04:25.744 is that Maryland is the South, as you know, 00:04:25.744 --> 00:04:30.326 and, quite frankly, it was the first university in our state 00:04:30.326 --> 00:04:34.402 founded at a time when students of all races could go there. 00:04:34.402 --> 00:04:37.975 And so we had black and white students and others who began to attend. 00:04:37.975 --> 00:04:42.160 And it has been for 50 years an experiment. 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:43.860 The experiment is this: 00:04:43.860 --> 00:04:47.819 Is it possible to have institutions in our country, universities, 00:04:47.819 --> 00:04:50.756 where people from all backgrounds can come and learn 00:04:50.756 --> 00:04:54.339 and learn to work together and learn to become leaders 00:04:54.339 --> 00:04:57.912 and to support each other in that experience? NOTE Paragraph 00:04:57.912 --> 00:05:02.827 Now what is especially important about that experience for me is this: 00:05:02.827 --> 00:05:07.495 We found that we could do a lot in the arts and humanities and social sciences. 00:05:07.495 --> 00:05:10.051 And so we began to work on that, for years in the '60s. 00:05:10.051 --> 00:05:13.834 And we produced a number of people in law, all the way to the humanities. 00:05:13.834 --> 00:05:16.467 We produced great artists. Beckett is our muse. 00:05:16.467 --> 00:05:18.004 A lot of our students get into theater. 00:05:18.004 --> 00:05:19.004 It's great work. 00:05:19.004 --> 00:05:23.036 The problem that we faced was the same problem America continues to face -- 00:05:23.036 --> 00:05:24.883 that students in the sciences and engineering, 00:05:24.883 --> 00:05:26.994 black students were not succeeding. 00:05:26.994 --> 00:05:28.745 But when I looked at the data, 00:05:28.745 --> 00:05:32.077 what I found was that, quite frankly, students in general, 00:05:32.077 --> 00:05:33.700 large numbers were not making it. 00:05:33.700 --> 00:05:35.618 And as a result of that, 00:05:35.618 --> 00:05:38.952 we decided to do something that would help, first of all, 00:05:38.952 --> 00:05:43.169 the group at the bottom, African-American students, and then Hispanic students. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:43.169 --> 00:05:47.500 And Robert and Jane Meyerhoff, philanthropists, said, "We'd like to help." 00:05:47.500 --> 00:05:50.953 Robert Meyerhoff said, "Why is it that everything I see on TV about black boys, 00:05:50.953 --> 00:05:53.751 if it's not about basketball, is not positive? 00:05:53.751 --> 00:05:56.383 I'd like to make a difference, to do something that's positive." 00:05:56.383 --> 00:06:00.050 We married those ideas, and we created this Meyerhoff Scholars program. 00:06:00.050 --> 00:06:02.119 And what is significant about the program 00:06:02.119 --> 00:06:04.600 is that we learned a number of things. 00:06:04.600 --> 00:06:05.952 And the question is this: 00:06:05.952 --> 00:06:10.417 How is it that now we lead the country in producing African-Americans 00:06:10.417 --> 00:06:15.267 who go on to complete Ph.D.'s in science and engineering and M.D./Ph.D.'s? 00:06:15.267 --> 00:06:17.916 That's a big deal. Give me a hand for that. That's a big deal. 00:06:17.916 --> 00:06:20.151 That's a big deal. It really is. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:20.151 --> 00:06:22.727 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:06:22.727 --> 00:06:24.671 You see, most people don't realize 00:06:24.671 --> 00:06:28.721 that it's not just minorities who don't do well in science and engineering. 00:06:28.721 --> 00:06:32.338 Quite frankly, you're talking about Americans. 00:06:32.338 --> 00:06:35.786 If you don't know it, while 20 percent of blacks and Hispanics 00:06:35.786 --> 00:06:38.121 who begin with a major in science and engineering 00:06:38.121 --> 00:06:40.273 will actually graduate in science and engineering, 00:06:40.273 --> 00:06:43.827 only 32 percent of whites who begin with majors in those areas 00:06:43.827 --> 00:06:46.485 actually succeed and graduate in those areas, 00:06:46.485 --> 00:06:48.590 and only 42 percent of Asian-Americans. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:48.590 --> 00:06:51.201 And so, the real question is, what is the challenge? 00:06:51.201 --> 00:06:53.588 Well a part of it, of course, is K-12. 00:06:53.588 --> 00:06:55.537 We need to strengthen K-12. 00:06:55.537 --> 00:06:57.833 But the other part has to do with the culture 00:06:57.833 --> 00:07:00.493 of science and engineering on our campuses. 00:07:00.493 --> 00:07:04.338 Whether you know it or not, large numbers of students with high SAT's 00:07:04.338 --> 00:07:05.803 and large numbers of A.P. credits 00:07:05.803 --> 00:07:08.505 who go to the most prestigious universities in our country 00:07:08.505 --> 00:07:13.336 begin in pre-med or pre-engineering and engineering, and they end up changing their majors. 00:07:13.336 --> 00:07:15.802 And the number one reason, we find, quite frankly, 00:07:15.802 --> 00:07:18.752 is they did not do well in first year science courses. 00:07:18.752 --> 00:07:22.535 In fact, we call first year science and engineering, typically around America, 00:07:22.535 --> 00:07:24.669 weed-out courses or barrier courses. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:24.669 --> 00:07:26.437 How many of you in this audience know somebody 00:07:26.437 --> 00:07:28.252 who started off in pre-med or engineering 00:07:28.252 --> 00:07:30.137 and changed their major within a year or two? 00:07:30.137 --> 00:07:31.935 It's an American challenge. Half of you in the room. 00:07:31.935 --> 00:07:33.336 I know. I know. I know. 00:07:33.336 --> 00:07:34.994 And what is interesting about that 00:07:34.994 --> 00:07:37.704 is that so many students are smart and can do it. 00:07:37.704 --> 00:07:39.970 We need to find ways of making it happen. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:39.970 --> 00:07:42.577 So what are the four things we did to help minority students 00:07:42.577 --> 00:07:44.386 that now are helping students in general? 00:07:44.386 --> 00:07:46.253 Number one: high expectations. 00:07:46.253 --> 00:07:50.758 It takes an understanding of the academic preparation of students -- 00:07:50.758 --> 00:07:53.102 their grades, the rigor of the course work, 00:07:53.102 --> 00:07:55.553 their test-taking skills, their attitude, 00:07:55.553 --> 00:07:58.278 the fire in their belly, the passion for the work, to make it. 00:07:58.278 --> 00:08:02.519 And so doing things to help students prepare to be in that position, very important. 00:08:02.519 --> 00:08:07.618 But equally important, it takes an understanding that it's hard work that makes the difference. 00:08:07.618 --> 00:08:10.136 I don't care how smart you are or how smart you think you are. 00:08:10.136 --> 00:08:12.503 Smart simply means you're ready to learn. 00:08:12.503 --> 00:08:15.745 You're excited about learning and you want to ask good questions. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:15.745 --> 00:08:20.032 I. I. Rabi, a Nobel laureate, said that when he was growing up in New York, 00:08:20.032 --> 00:08:22.578 all of his friends' parents would ask them 00:08:22.578 --> 00:08:25.220 "What did you learn in school?" at the end of a day. 00:08:25.220 --> 00:08:28.757 And he said, in contrast, his Jewish mother would say, 00:08:28.757 --> 00:08:31.819 "Izzy, did you ask a good question today?" 00:08:31.819 --> 00:08:34.518 And so high expectations have to do with curiosity 00:08:34.518 --> 00:08:37.036 and encouraging young people to be curious. 00:08:37.036 --> 00:08:38.552 And as a result of those high expectations, 00:08:38.552 --> 00:08:41.219 we began to find students we wanted to work with 00:08:41.219 --> 00:08:42.912 to see what could we do to help them, 00:08:42.912 --> 00:08:45.452 not simply to survive in science and engineering, 00:08:45.452 --> 00:08:48.386 but to become the very best, to excel. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:48.386 --> 00:08:50.203 Interestingly enough, an example: 00:08:50.203 --> 00:08:55.105 One young man who earned a C in the first course and wanted to go on to med school, 00:08:55.105 --> 00:08:57.220 we said, "We need to have you retake the course, 00:08:57.220 --> 00:09:01.004 because you need a strong foundation if you're going to move to the next level." 00:09:01.004 --> 00:09:04.035 Every foundation makes the difference in the next level. 00:09:04.035 --> 00:09:05.176 He retook the course. 00:09:05.176 --> 00:09:07.605 That young man went on to graduate from UMBC, 00:09:07.605 --> 00:09:11.802 to become the first black to get the M.D./Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. 00:09:11.802 --> 00:09:13.008 He now works at Harvard. 00:09:13.008 --> 00:09:15.455 Nice story. Give him a hand for that too. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:15.455 --> 00:09:17.885 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:09:17.886 --> 00:09:20.381 Secondly, it's not about test scores only. 00:09:20.381 --> 00:09:22.370 Test scores are important, but they're not the most important thing. 00:09:22.370 --> 00:09:25.415 One young woman had great grades, but test scores were not as high. 00:09:25.415 --> 00:09:27.464 But she had a factor that was very important. 00:09:27.464 --> 00:09:30.712 She never missed a day of school, K-12. 00:09:30.712 --> 00:09:32.133 There was fire in that belly. 00:09:32.133 --> 00:09:36.257 That young woman went on, and she is today with an M.D./Ph.D. from Hopkins. 00:09:36.257 --> 00:09:40.444 She's on the faculty, tenure track in psychiatry, Ph.D. in neuroscience. 00:09:40.475 --> 00:09:45.286 She and her adviser have a patent on a second use of Viagra for diabetes patients. 00:09:45.286 --> 00:09:47.771 Big hand for her. Big hand for her. 00:09:47.771 --> 00:09:49.157 (Applause) 00:09:49.157 --> 00:09:51.677 And so high expectations, very important. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:51.677 --> 00:09:54.536 Secondly, the idea of building community among the students. 00:09:54.536 --> 00:09:57.303 You all know that so often in science and engineering 00:09:57.303 --> 00:09:58.994 we tend to think cutthroat. 00:09:58.994 --> 00:10:01.310 Students are not taught to work in groups. 00:10:01.310 --> 00:10:03.202 And that's what we work to do with that group 00:10:03.202 --> 00:10:04.705 to get them to understand each other, 00:10:04.705 --> 00:10:07.328 to build trust among them, to support each other, 00:10:07.328 --> 00:10:09.037 to learn how to ask good questions, 00:10:09.037 --> 00:10:12.524 but also to learn how to explain concepts with clarity. 00:10:12.524 --> 00:10:14.787 As you know, it's one thing to earn an A yourself, 00:10:14.787 --> 00:10:16.912 it's another thing to help someone else do well. 00:10:16.912 --> 00:10:20.827 And so to feel that sense of responsibility makes all the difference in the world. 00:10:20.827 --> 00:10:23.774 So building community among those students, very important. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:23.774 --> 00:10:28.578 Third, the idea of, it takes researchers to produce researchers. 00:10:28.578 --> 00:10:31.107 Whether you're talking about artists producing artists 00:10:31.107 --> 00:10:34.022 or you're talking about people getting into the social sciences, 00:10:34.022 --> 00:10:38.869 whatever the discipline -- and especially in science and engineering, as in art, for example -- 00:10:38.869 --> 00:10:41.672 you need scientists to pull the students into the work. 00:10:41.672 --> 00:10:44.412 And so our students are working in labs regularly. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:44.412 --> 00:10:46.786 And one great example that you'll appreciate: 00:10:46.786 --> 00:10:49.846 During a snowstorm in Baltimore several years ago, 00:10:49.846 --> 00:10:53.466 the guy on our campus with this Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant 00:10:53.466 --> 00:10:57.890 literally came back to work in his lab after several days, 00:10:57.890 --> 00:11:01.183 and all these students had refused to leave the lab. 00:11:01.183 --> 00:11:03.267 They had food they had packed out. 00:11:03.267 --> 00:11:04.582 They were in the lab working, 00:11:04.582 --> 00:11:08.583 and they saw the work, not as schoolwork, but as their lives. 00:11:08.583 --> 00:11:10.495 They knew they were working on AIDS research. 00:11:10.495 --> 00:11:13.703 They were looking at this amazing protein design. 00:11:13.703 --> 00:11:18.036 And what was interesting was each one of them focused on that work. 00:11:18.036 --> 00:11:20.202 And he said, "It doesn't get any better than that." NOTE Paragraph 00:11:20.202 --> 00:11:22.287 And then finally, if you've got the community 00:11:22.287 --> 00:11:25.900 and you've got the high expectations and you've got researchers producing researchers, 00:11:25.900 --> 00:11:28.788 you have to have people who are willing as faculty 00:11:28.788 --> 00:11:31.851 to get involved with those students, even in the classroom. 00:11:31.851 --> 00:11:34.299 I'll never forget a faculty member calling the staff and saying, 00:11:34.299 --> 00:11:36.744 "I've got this young man in class, a young black guy, 00:11:36.744 --> 00:11:39.784 and he seems like he's just not excited about the work. 00:11:39.784 --> 00:11:42.019 He's not taking notes. We need to talk to him." 00:11:42.019 --> 00:11:45.891 What was significant was that the faculty member was observing every student 00:11:45.891 --> 00:11:48.807 to understand who was really involved and who was not 00:11:48.807 --> 00:11:51.174 and was saying, "Let me see how I can work with them. 00:11:51.174 --> 00:11:52.411 Let me get the staff to help me out." 00:11:52.411 --> 00:11:53.563 It was that connecting. 00:11:53.563 --> 00:11:58.495 That young man today is actually a faculty member M.D./Ph.D. in neuroengineering at Duke. 00:11:58.495 --> 00:11:59.707 Give him a big hand for that. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:59.707 --> 00:12:01.703 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:12:01.703 --> 00:12:06.523 And so the significance is that we have now developed this model 00:12:06.523 --> 00:12:10.688 that is helping us, not only finally with evaluation, assessing what works. 00:12:10.688 --> 00:12:14.120 And what we learned was that we needed to think about redesigning courses. 00:12:14.120 --> 00:12:16.661 And so we redesigned chemistry, we redesigned physics. 00:12:16.661 --> 00:12:20.322 But now we are looking at redesigning the humanities and social sciences. 00:12:20.322 --> 00:12:22.869 Because so many students are bored in class. 00:12:22.869 --> 00:12:24.049 Do you know that? 00:12:24.049 --> 00:12:25.995 Many students, K-12 and in universities, 00:12:25.995 --> 00:12:28.500 don't want to just sit there and listen to somebody talk. 00:12:28.500 --> 00:12:29.870 They need to be engaged. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:29.870 --> 00:12:33.320 And so we have done -- if you look at our website at the Chemistry Discovery Center, 00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:35.285 you'll see people coming from all over the country 00:12:35.285 --> 00:12:37.864 to look at how we are redesigning courses, 00:12:37.864 --> 00:12:41.355 having an emphasis on collaboration, use of technology, 00:12:41.355 --> 00:12:44.585 using problems out of our biotech companies on our campus, 00:12:44.585 --> 00:12:46.615 and not giving students the theories, 00:12:46.615 --> 00:12:48.847 but having them struggle with those theories. 00:12:48.847 --> 00:12:52.506 And it's working so well that throughout our university system in Maryland, 00:12:52.506 --> 00:12:54.547 more and more courses are being redesigned. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:54.547 --> 00:12:56.381 It's called academic innovation. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:56.381 --> 00:12:57.586 And what does all of that mean? 00:12:57.586 --> 00:13:00.429 It means that now, not just in science and engineering, 00:13:00.429 --> 00:13:04.537 we now have programs in the arts, in the humanities, in the social sciences, 00:13:04.537 --> 00:13:09.129 in teacher education, even particularly for women in I.T. 00:13:09.129 --> 00:13:13.216 If you don't know it, there's been a 79-percent decline 00:13:13.216 --> 00:13:17.334 in the number of women majoring in computer science just since 2000. 00:13:17.334 --> 00:13:20.647 And what I'm saying is that what will make the difference 00:13:20.647 --> 00:13:23.202 will be building community among students, 00:13:23.202 --> 00:13:26.198 telling young women, young minority students and students in general, 00:13:26.198 --> 00:13:27.447 you can do this work. 00:13:27.447 --> 00:13:30.717 And most important, giving them a chance to build that community 00:13:30.717 --> 00:13:32.880 with faculty pulling them into the work 00:13:32.880 --> 00:13:35.398 and our assessing what works and what does not work. 00:13:35.398 --> 00:13:39.246 Most important, if a student has a sense of self, 00:13:39.246 --> 00:13:42.130 it is amazing how the dreams and the values 00:13:42.130 --> 00:13:44.119 can make all the difference in the world. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:44.119 --> 00:13:47.749 When I was a 12-year-old child in the jail in Birmingham, 00:13:47.749 --> 00:13:51.013 I kept thinking, "I wonder what my future could be." 00:13:51.013 --> 00:13:56.798 I had no idea that it was possible for this little black boy in Birmingham 00:13:56.798 --> 00:14:01.763 to one day be president of a university that has students from 150 countries, 00:14:01.763 --> 00:14:04.119 where students are not there just to survive, 00:14:04.119 --> 00:14:08.120 where they love learning, where they enjoy being the best, 00:14:08.120 --> 00:14:10.661 where they will one day change the world. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:10.661 --> 00:14:14.036 Aristotle said, "Excellence is never an accident. 00:14:14.036 --> 00:14:20.031 It is the result of high intention, sincere effort and intelligent execution. 00:14:20.031 --> 00:14:23.963 It represents the wisest option among many alternatives." 00:14:23.963 --> 00:14:26.297 And then he said something that gives me goosebumps. 00:14:26.297 --> 00:14:31.944 He said, "Choice, not chance, determines your destiny." 00:14:31.944 --> 00:14:39.506 Choice, not chance, determines your destiny, dreams and values. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:39.506 --> 00:14:41.440 Thank you all very much. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:52.342 (Applause)