I had originally submitted the following speech to the Baccalaureate Speaker Contest for Stanford's Graduating Class of 2024. While my speech was not ultimately selected, I wanted to publish it to offer some parting words, advice, and reflections to the people whom I had the fortune of spending the last 4 years with.
Welcome aboard Flight Stanford, and what a exhilarating ride it’s been! Our time at Stanford has been nothing short of a turbulent flight, marked by unexpected delays as to when we would actually get here, occasional bouts of turbulence where we get shaken up by a never-ending stream of PSets and Exams, but also moments of breathtaking clarity and soaring heights.
Cast your memories back to four years ago, when we embarked on this adventure as 1,697 computer screens tuned into an hour-long recording of NSO. Now look at the person next to you and marvel at the distance we’ve traveled from being avatars in a virtual landscape.
We knew each other initially as pixels on a Zoom meeting, blurbs in a Facebook Group, and posts on Instagram. We found ways to come together: whether that’s through games of Among Us, late-night study sessions across every timezone, or heartfelt five-hour long FaceTime calls. We defined new operating procedures, such as looping a video of ourselves on the Zoom camera, surviving on Arillaga donuts for a week, or mastering the art of procrastination simply disguised as strategic time management.
The flight over was marked by patches of rough air, much like that time we thought we aced a midterm only to realize we studied the wrong chapter. Being isolated from our support networks and thrust into uncertainty and anxiety, we wrestled with feelings of loneliness, unsure when we’d first get to marvel at this beautiful home that we call Stanford.
But here’s the secret: turbulence is just nature’s way of reminding us to buckle up and enjoy the ride. We served as each other’s copilots, helping us finding solace in community and strength in solidarity.
Soon enough, it was time to take flight once again. The world reopened it’s doors, and we no longer were forced to know each other by our social media handles. Each step began feeling unfamiliar and uncertain, but we quickly learned to define the rhythms of campus life. And through that, we emerged stronger, more resilient, and more united than ever before.
Let us not lose sight of the destination. The path to it may be filled with blue skies and tailwinds, but the occasional storm clouds and fog might block the path. We proved once that even in the face of unprecedented global challenges, we’d always find a way to land. And as we stand on the threshold of our next great adventure, let us carry with us the lessons we’ve learned, the grit we’ve cultivated, and the friendships we’ve nurtured.
I feel incredibly honored to have had you all as fellow passengers along on this journey because every day, I’m reminded of the invaluable lessons that you’ve taught me. You showed me that life is not simply about what altitude we’re able to reach, but the ideas we choose to value and the opportunities we choose to explore. Curiosity, resilience, and compassion are ultimately what will keep us centered on our course because our shared experiences prove that navigating through the storms of uncertainty is ultimately about a shared sense of humanity.
As we bid farewell to the palm trees of Palm Drive and the comforting glow of the Quad for the last time as students, let us begin to spread our wings, chase the things that we find meaning and purpose in, and never forget the journey that brought us here together in one small corner of the world for a brief period of time.
Stanford Class of 2024, you are now cleared for takeoff. Bon Voyage!
Brian Wu is from New York City and will graduate this year with a Bachelor’s in Computer Science with a concentration in Artificial Intelligence. While at Stanford, he leaned further into his obsession into Aerospace and launched several ventures to help bridge the gap between AI and Robotics. Stanford was also the place where he learned how to fly at the nearby Palo Alto Airport with the Stanford Flight Club and discovered a new passion he didn’t realize he had before. Brian hopes to dedicate his life towards making humankind a multi-planetary species, and outside of Aerospace you can find him playing for the Men’s Club Squash Team, searching for the best Japanese food in the Bay Area, or plotting some unbelievable adventure to another city far away.