On May 1, Georgia Tech held a virtual celebration for our 2020 graduates. This was my message to them.

Atlanta — May 1, 2020

Ni hao. Annyeong. Bonjour. Guttentag. Marhabaan. Merhaba. Bom dia. Buenos días. 

Greetings to the graduating class of 2020, to your family and friends, from an empty McCamish Pavilion. 

I’ve been thinking about where I should deliver my speech to congratulate our new graduates. I first thought I would do it here, where commencement should have taken place. Then, I quickly changed my mind: too eerie, too sad. No need to remind everyone of what we’re missing. I thought about the Tech Tower, Bobby Dodd Stadium, the Campanile, the roof of Crosland Tower, the Kendeda Building. Maybe I should just do it from home, where I’ve been working for the last six weeks. Or maybe from my office in Carnegie.

Then, I changed my mind. I thought it would be a mistake to try to erase the last couple of months from our memories. It would be an unforgivable waste, really. These are not times to forget, but to remember. It may sound crazy today, but I know one day it won’t. Here’s my message to you, to all of us. Let’s seize the moment. Let’s own it. Let’s cherish it.

And what better place for that than the center of McCamish Pavilion — the very spot where hundreds of students should be walking today and joining the ranks of generations of proud Yellow Jackets.

See, the generation of your great-grandparents was shaped by the Great Depression and by World War II. My grandparents’ generation was shaped by the Spanish Civil War. Your grandparents were shaped by the civil rights movement and by the Vietnam War — mine, by 9/11. These experiences marked us. They defined our fears and our desires. They helped set the price that we were willing to pay for the freedom and the way of life that we enjoy.

I have no doubt that the experience of the last few months, the global fight against this lethal and highly contagious virus, will shape your lives. And the fact that it caught you while you were in college, at a time of personal growth and exploration, will make the effects of this crisis even more lasting. 

Well, as the old adage goes, don’t let a good crisis go to waste. Don’t let this just be an annoying couple of months you had to spend in confinement, a time you would rather forget.

Let’s all make sure that, when we look back, we don’t just remember a scary crisis that we survived, but a challenge that we faced together, that taught us profound lessons, that made us stronger. 

I hope COVID-19 teaches us about happiness, about service to others, about family, about love and friendship, about progress and success. 

That happiness is hugging a grandparent, a child, a friend. It is sharing a meal. It is being able to laugh and cry with people you love. It is a walk in the park. It is a clean blue sky on a sunny day. A conversation with your neighbor. A conversation with a stranger.

I hope we have learned that we’re all in this together, that everyone matters. The nurse, the custodian, the grocery store cashier, the farmer, the truck driver, the Waffle House waiter. That our lives, our destinies are interconnected. That we are all brothers and sisters. That we are one world. That we are the world.

That science is about asking tough and consequential questions. That science must speak truth to power and empower the powerless. That technology matters only if it helps improve the human condition. That business matters only if it helps people live better lives.

That success is not about what we take but what we give. That no matter what we choose to do with our lives, the score that really counts is what we have done to help others, not ourselves.

We are so busy desperately searching for happiness in the most exhausting ways in the most remote places that we don’t realize that happiness was staring us in the face all along. I hope none of us grows old to realize that we were happy all along and didn’t know it.

You, our graduates, have grown immensely over the past four (-ish) years. You have grown academically. You have grown as leaders. You have formed priceless friendships. You have developed talents you didn’t know you had. And then, in the last two months, you took an unexpected crash course in the meaning of life. 

So, let’s not be sad about this empty arena. Let’s remember this day for all that it means. And while we’re not physically together, we have gone through this together.

Oh, and by the way, don’t ever forget that you’re now a Georgia Tech alum — that we want you to stay in touch, to tell us what you’re up to. We count on you to spread the word about this place, to lend a hand to those who come behind. And when you’re rich and famous, know that we’ll make sure to find you and kindly suggest that you put your name on a building or a classroom or a new scholarship program. 

For now, though, stay healthy, work hard and smart, enjoy life. On behalf of your faculty and all of us at Georgia Tech, and on behalf of Georgia Tech alumni all over the world, congratulations, class of 2020 on your accomplishment. We are immensely proud of you.