First Collection


Jess Engebretson '09, an Honors English literature major from Washington, D.C., is a senior producer at War News Radio and co-founder of the Darfur Radio Project who worked this summer for the ENOUGH Project, which works to end genocide and crimes against humanity. Write to her at jess.engebretson@gmail.com

But, like all of you, I showed up at the end of August for orientation, met my CAs, saw The Graduate for the first time. And, again and again, people would ask me why I had transferred. So pretty soon I got it down to a quick little four-sentence story. It went like this:
Well, in the spring of my senior year I ended up choosing between Swarthmore and College X. And I had good reasons to like both of them, but in the end I went with College X because it seemed like the more practical choice. But as it turned out, I wasn't very happy there, so I applied to transfer in the spring. And I was lucky enough to get a second chance to come to Swat, and that time I made the right choice.

Listen to Jess' welcome to the Class of 2012, in which she encouraged the students to reach out to each other and search out their different gifts.
But that's not quite the story I want to tell tonight. Because two years on, I can't dismiss that first choice - the choice not to come to Swarthmore - as just bad judgment or lousy decision-making. It's true that when I first came here I kind of wanted to forget my freshman year. (Probably some of you transfers feel the same way.) I wanted to move on, to brush off that past year as an awkward little gap between high school and my real college experience.
But the longer I've been here, the more I've realized that life doesn't work that way. Though I couldn't see it at the time, a lot of good came out of what was, for me, a difficult first year. I built friendships with people whose religious and political opinions were very different from my own, and from the prevailing wisdom here at Swat. I got a chance to travel abroad for the first time, to Bosnia - an experience continues to shape how I think about the world. And, most painfully, I learned to see some of my own weaknesses more clearly than I ever wanted to.

"I am delighted and proud that each of you is a Swarthmore student," said President Bloom, "and I look forward to seeing the impact this College will have on each of you, and you on it."
Those of you who are new to Swarthmore probably came here to learn from your peers and your professors, to have your opinions challenged, and your thoughts hammered into better shape. I hope you have all of these experiences. But keep in mind that the rest of us will also be learning from you. You are going to enrich this campus with your humor, your compassion, your curiosity. We are so glad that each of you is here.

Listen: political scientist Rick Valelly '75 shared the prophecy, and caution, he brought with him to Swarthmore when he transferred to the College, why he was - and remains - so happy here, and his top 10 list of things to do that he says will guarantee the happiness of undergraduates.
So reach out to the people around you; search out their different gifts. Listen. Talk. Argue. Laugh. You are all here because you're thoughtful and intelligent and determined, but - no matter how good you are - there will come a time when you can't do it all, when the strongest thing you can do is ask for help. And when that time comes, when it's four in the morning and you have bronchitis, and a broken heart, and two papers to write, know that there will be someone - probably several someone's - to remind you that you don't have to be perfect, you only have to be you.

CAs volunteered to hand out candles before the event...

... which culminated when students passed the flame to each other one by one.
So whether you have four years here, or three, or two - or like me, just one - recognize that you have a rare opportunity ahead of you. Whatever the paths that have brought you here, whatever the worries, the struggles: you're here now. You have days and months and years ahead of you - choices to make, and questions to ask. You have so much to learn here, and - remember this most of all - you have so much to give. Welcome!