but even more importantly what a beautiful audience and from me today

I'm blushing right now for pink

that thank you I'm honored and I'm

humbled to have the opportunity of representing such a unique and talented

collective students today

I've learned that in a moment that humility it can be helpful to drop on

the words are sewn

was much wiser than yourself I would like to begin today

I really an excerpt from someone who inspired me to think big

from a great thinker in a great doctor

who many of us have spent countless hours studying

doctor seuss I will begin today by reading an excerpt from all the places

you'll go

if you know the words your free sing-alongs congratulations

today's your day your of great places

your of and away your brains in your head

yes feet in your shoes you can steer yourself

any direction you choose you're on your own

and you know what you know you

all the one who'll decide where to go all the places

you'll go for many of us

this is not the first time we have heard these wise words from doctors

whether that be seeded politely on the gymnasium floor next to other widely

four-year-olds

or pack together in an auditorium beloved other key high school seniors

at so many points the transition in my life I have found comfort

in the journey of are nameless hero trying so hard to figure out where they

belong in

finally finding it for many of us

doctor seuss story is simply that a story

however if College has taught as

anything let it be this that we should never be afraid to ask a good question

that there should be no topic

see from critical analysis and that even includes you doctor since

when read it as a dog his work stands out

me in ways that did not reveal itself fifteen years ago

let us examine the title all the places you'll go

notice the fact that's used is not say all the spaces you go to me

there's something very significant and how we should understand the differences

between

a space and a place you see a space is physical

space is objective space is finite let's

try to understand space within the context overall surrounding

at this very moment here we are at a space

we call Maine law 40,000 square feet of grass

a few overarching trees and a couple thousand shares

extend this further here we are at a space recall Hamlin University

sixty acres suburban lawn stretching between many haha

imperious but there are a few dozen breaking concrete buildings

several larger white boy several thousand deaths

what about this space we call our 71 percent if it covered by oceans and

water the other 29 percent it'd

composed almost entirely of mountains and desert

I know right not the most optimistic wave understanding the world that

surrounds

now let's understand this concept

of place together place is like so many other concepts I've had the chance to

learn about these past four years

see plays place is a social construct

this does not mean place does not matter rather it means that place

like our race like a gender like so many of the other identities

we identify with matter because of how we ascribe meaning to it

as individuals and as a society now let's try do you understand

very place that surrounds us at this very moment

let's think about this place we call our how improbable

for us humans to sprout life from a world that is nearly completely

uninhabitable

up the mountains we have moved on broken backbones up the rivers

redirected by calloused hands up the ingenuity that the people displaced

earth are capable of

how about this place we call Hamline University

the first time sitting down your by some wondering if this is where you really

belonged

the first night figure out the location all the buildings on campus

I playing a mean I came a capture the flag

the first time you kissed someone in the blue garden

first time he sat in your dorm room in college her mother

worried and anxious about the future forgetting that she's

almost always the first to call you

in here we are today at this place we call

Old Main lawn remembering that it is not the grass

underneath our feet that makes this moment special

it is not the bleachers that we sit up on it is not even the robes

we wear the tassels that he came from a capsule even the diplomas

we work so hard to receive

place matters to put it simply because we matter

the most important thing I've learned in my four years at Hamline University

has not been calculating dead weight loss or trying to figure out what the

allegory of the cave actually meant

the most important thing i've learned my four years at Hamline University

has been how to negotiate space in place how to make both

the people and the environments in my life matter

here we are at Old Main lawn

celebrating. It is important to remember

we did not simply appear in this place today

no, movement is an essential action when understanding place

as good as the physics department here at Hamline University we have yet to

discover the technology of teleportation

our presence here is the culmination a

journey many decades in the making like the name this hero in Suess' story

Oh the places yo will go, oh the places we have been

for many of us coming to Hamline was

a journey of only a few miles

for many others of us St. Paul was a destination literally

half a world away and of the mental journey

for some we are at the grandchildren of a long line of doctors and lawyers and

maybe even pipers

for others graduation

is a beautiful one hard-fought first with the fam

I think by my own mother and father a story far too common

throughout this world they fled the country that did not allow them to them to belong

spent years in refugee camps along the Thai border

came to the United States of America wide-eyed and unsure how this new place

would greet them learned firsthand how cruel it can be to be a person

with nowhere to call home learned firsthand how important it is

to create place for others

whether that be your mother and father or parents who had to be both

with that be your friend who helped you before you jump what would that be

teacher who believed that you could be something greater

whether that be yourself when there was no one else there

we're all here today because of someone

how beautiful is that all of us

from all different walks of life sharing this place here today

my time here at Hamline has shown me how beautiful this

act of sharing can be. Of interacting with communities in world

views that I may have never even knew existed

finding belonging why these expected

even in moments where I've felt most lost my time here has taught me

how important it is to create a place for others

but with the active creation comes the gigantic responsibility it is not enough

to simply

create a place where others can feel safe no it is the responsibility

all of us to create places where we can feel brave

to voice disagreement to empower one another and to belong

in order to share placements not simply

understand where we are similar or where we agree

we must begin understanding how to share our differences

because you all alone may be wise

you alone strong you artistic

you technical you passionate you romantic

you reflective put together we

all of us together sharing this place we

are powerful beyond measure

on this day of celebration do not simply see today

as the culmination of four years of hard work no

not simply see today as the destination finally reached

or finish line finally cross

see today as a golden opportunity

to set forth to share

and create place for ourselves and others

someone once told me that a moment great discovery

it can be helpful to speak the words of someone who

has travelled a path much farther than yours

on and on you will hike and I know you will hike far

and face up to your problems whatever they are you get mixed up

of course as you already know you'll get mixed up

with many strange birds as you go

so be sure when you step you step with care and great tact and remember that life is

a great balancing act just never forget to be

dextrous and deft never mix up your right foot with your left

and will you succeed

yes you will indeed 98 and three fourths percent guarantee

kid you'll move mountains

be your name Buxbaum or bixby or Brady or more

highly Van Allen Oshie your of great places

today's your day your mountain is waiting

so get on your way.