New Students Encouraged to Reach Beyond the Stars
In August, Carnegie Mellon welcomed 1,565 first-year students to the campus community as they moved into undergraduate housing and took part in orientation activities.
At this year’s Convocation, CMU President Farnam Jahanian welcomed the Class of 2022+ to the official start of their college experience.
“The next four years will undoubtedly be some of the most transformative of your young lives,” Jahanian said. “CMU will change you, and you will change CMU.”
The Class of 2022+ consists of students from 45 states and 30 nations around the world. Women make up half of the incoming class, and under-represented minorities are 15 percent of the first-year Carnegie Mellon students.
“You are joining an exceptionally multicultural and multinational community here at CMU — we are a true microcosm of our interconnected world,” Jahanian said. “Our 1,400 faculty come from 48 nations, and 110,000 alumni live and work in 130 countries around the globe.”
Interim Provost Laurie Weingart reminded the students that, while they likely were drawn to CMU for its academic excellence in the arts, science, technology or business, CMU is more than a collection of classes, academic majors and departments.
“This convocation is special because it welcomes each and every one of you into our community, for your entire time on campus, and forever once you graduate,” Weingart said.
First-year students created a class photo reflecting the orientation theme, “Dare to Discover.”
Gina Casalegno, vice president for student affairs and dean of students, welcomed students and their parents to campus.
“You are here because we see in you the talent, the intellect, the passion necessary to thrive in your chosen field,” Casalegno said.
Student Body President Roshni Mehta offered advice to not let a fear of failure stand in the way of trying something new.
A third-year student with a double major in economics and ethics, history and public policy at the Tepper School of Business and Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Mehta originally planned to study biology. At CMU, she discovered a passion for public policy, and she combines it with economics, which provides a foundation for public policy work.
“Even though I don’t know quite what I want to do after college, I know that CMU has given me the skills and support to figure it out,” Mehta said.
President Jahanian told first-year students their work will impact the world, and encouraged them to branch outside of their academic boundaries and take advantage of CMU’s extraordinary intellectual and creative community.
“This generation — your generation — will write the story of this century,” Jahanian said. “You will advance human knowledge, drive our economy with your ideas and shape our culture with your creativity.”
