Class of 2010 Exceptional Graduates
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Benyam Kinde

Benyam Kinde

Valedictorian Address

 

 


Greetings, parents, family, friends, faculty, staff, and distinguished guests, it is indeed my pleasure to greet and welcome you on behalf of the class of 2010.  I offer the most sincere gratitude to Dr. Hrabowski, Provost Hirshman, and all UMBC faculty and staff. If it were not for your care, your compassion, your commitment to excellence, many of us would not be in this arena today.  Let’s give a round of applause to all those who have made and continue to make UMBC what it is today!

As a child, I was once told – “The older you get, the wiser your parents were”. Parents of the 2010 class – thank you not only for your wisdom, but more importantly, thank you for your patience as we came to realize your wisdom. Let’s give a round of BIG round of applause to all parents, guardians, and family members.

Three weeks ago, around 8am I called home to California to notify my parents of my selection as Valedictorian. My mom answered the phone and after I told her the news, she simply said, “I can only hope that you were notified at a more decent time than I was!” And after spending the next few moments kindly reminding me of the three-hour time difference, she proceeded with her motherly advice:

“Make sure to stand tall so people can see you. Speak clearly so people can hear you. But above all please, please be brief so that your father and I will like you.”

Ladies and gentlemen: please be assured – Today, I would like my parents to like me.

As we prepare to complete one more leg of our journey and enter the world as passionate leaders – we cannot forget how we arrived here. Today I’d like to reflect on that journey:  The journey from being simply driven students to passionate leaders.

Recently, I read the book “The Monk and the Riddle” by Randy Komisar.  It describes a fictional entrepreneur named Lenny and his pitch to start “Funerals.com”. Lenny hopes to get rich quick by selling competitively priced caskets on the Internet. After getting thoroughly critiqued by a possible financial supporter, Lenny realizes he must be more than just DRIVEN to make money; he must be PASSIONATE about his cause. The book makes a critical distinction between the two: DRIVE pushes us towards something we feel obligated to do, while PASSION pulls us towards something we cannot resist. Simply put, drive is NOT sufficient – passion must guide our thoughts, our words, our actions, our habits, our character – our destiny.

Over the past few years at UMBC, we have journeyed from DRIVE to PASSION. In making this transition, we have discovered the power of each other. We have discovered the power of synergy. Synergy at UMBC is a prime example of “the whole being greater than the sum of the parts”; illustrating that in fact, the relationship between the parts is a part in and of itself.

The Kurilpa (Kur-ril-pah) Bridge in Australia opened this past October.  It’s the world’s largest bridge based on TENSEGRITY – a design structure that relies on the synergistic relationship of tension and compression. The complementary relationship between the parts of the bridge allows for an incredibly strong and light structure.

 At UMBC, we have worked with each other – complementing differences and compensating weaknesses to enhance our power. As I studied for my final exams, I looked at the faces of my study group. Chino Okoro, from Nigeria. Ah-Sheesh KiKar and Arti Khanna, from Afganistan, Julie Garcia, from Mexico. Satish Mishra, from India. Jinly Kim, from South Korea. AND Neil Haidofer, from Takoma Park, MD,  It became exceptionally clear: our strength is derived from the synergistic relationship of our diverse parts

This synergy at UMBC has meant that WE have been not just DRIVEN to succeed in Organic Chemistry, but PASSIONATE about teaching it to each other. WE were not simply DRIVEN to determine the effect of urban gardens in low income areas; WE were PASSIONATE about its application. WE were not only DRIVEN to learn Spanish, WE were PASSIONATE about building homes and hospitals in Guatemala.

WE are not non-reactive products of UMBC ‘s catalysis, WE are catalytic ourselves. WE are poised to transform the world around us – generating passion in our respective local environments. It has always been an obligation, but now more than ever, sparking passion in others is a necessity, a requirement, a prerequisite to the success of our world!

To illustrate the impact of living a passionate life, I would like to close with the story from a trip to Ethiopia.  At 1400 square miles, Lake Tana is the largest lake in Ethiopia and contains many islands. These islands are home to several ancient monasteries. While visiting one of the monasteries, I ran into a few school children who I had seen crossing the lake earlier in the day. They asked me where I was from and I told them that I was Ethiopian but was born in America. As we talked about various differences between our respective birthplaces, I remembered that I still had a copy of the magazine Scientific American and I gave it to them. Their eyes lit up. Lit up with excitement, with enthusiasm, with eagerness to instantly digest all the information found within those pages…. At that moment, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up... I wanted to be them. Envious of their overwhelming hunger for knowledge, I too, wanted to have a similar unquenchable thirst for expanding my mind.  I wanted to continue my JOURNEY to become a passionate, life-long learner.

Today, we no longer have to wish for that passion, we are that passion – personified. Whether you realize it today OR tomorrow, passion has taken residence in our hearts, our minds, our souls. As some of us may start work, graduate school, or professional school in the coming days and weeks, some may ask us about our background, our previous education, our degrees, but no one need ask us about  our passion, our dedication, or our commitment to excellence.

To the future leaders of classrooms, newsrooms, boardrooms, laboratories, and stages that sit in the audience today, I thank you for your contribution to our journey. Let me be clear: this is not our time to pursue our goals timidly nor with lukewarm enthusiasm.  It is our time to enter this world and live our lives as both products AND producers of passion. This is the only life we have, but if we live with passion, it is the only one we will need. 

In the words of a modern day poet, Sean Carter, better known to others as Jay-Z, “May the best of your todays, be the worst of your tomorrows.”

Thank you.  Again, congratulations. And mom and dad, I still hope you like me.