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2017 Commencement Address 2017.02.27

February 27, 2017

 

We sincerely congratulate each and every one of you leaving the Yonsei campus with your distinguished degrees in your most-deserving arms. We also express my utmost gratitude to all parents and family members who entrusted their children Yonsei with while supporting them. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. We would also like to express my utmost respect to faculty members for guiding their students to an honorable graduation. If not for their tireless teaching and guidance, all of you would not be standing here today. We hope you will always remain grateful towards your dedicate professors

 

It is the fate of those in the teaching profession, including myself, to send off our students with a bittersweet heart at this time every year. Although we repeatedly witness the empty nests left by our students, commencement always feels new. That is because each and every story carried by those who filled these seats is unique. Today’s commencement indeed feels more special than in previous years because of the challenging reality and the adversities of the future. The world that all of you will face is a new one that is different from the world faced by graduating classes in the past. All of you will have to blaze a trail and overcome harsh realities. Do not feel too hopeful because of a strongstart, and do not feel too concerned because of a slower start. Life is longer than you think.

 

You should be filled with curiosity and be adventurous as you embark on a new journey in an unknown world, but you may also be overwhelmed with anxiety that you cannot overcome easily. However, just as an eagle soars towards the unknown by soaring into the deeper skies, we hope you start off with the audacity to lead the future instead of being led by it. Shed off the confinement of your comfort zones whether in life or in your academic major; pay attention to unfamiliar terrains and let your imagination run wild by connecting things that you previously thought were unrelated.

 

I call the human ability to do this “extelligence.” In contrast to intelligence, “extelligence,” or external intelligence, refers to the ability to create something new by linking or connecting things that already exist around us. Innovation derives not from creating something from scratch but from “extelligence,” and this is a powerful tool for surviving in the world of unknown.

 

Since I took office, the university has been exploring opportunities for changes in education and research based on the three values of “Christian values,” “creativity,” and “connectivity.” Connectivity refers to creating new values by connecting elements that have been existing in solitude. For example, when a university connects with its alumni, they create something totally new. While alumni of the past lost in touch with their school upon graduation, alumni of the future have to stay connected to their school by means of lifelong education.

 

To the graduating class, please do not suspend your ties with Yonsei. We hope you will continue to utilize the bountiful resources of the library and visit the Enterprise Support Foundation if you are keen on start-ups even after graduation. Yonsei will continue to expand support for its alumni and ensure that all of you feel a deep sense of pride as a member of Yonsei for a lifetime. Do not forget that you have Yonsei as an alma mater that supports you and cheers you on.

 

Lastly, I sincerely hope that you will truly be a Yonseian who serves and helps those in need. I hope you will continue to remember the saying that a university is not where a person becomes a carpenter but where a carpenter becomes a person. Dear graduates, once a Yonseian, forever a Yonseian.

 

We hope that your future will be blessed by God. Once again, congratulations on your graduation. Thank you.