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I am delighted to see you here today. We are proud
to have you join us as new members of the KAIST family.
Your parents are here today to congratulate you and
to share the joy and happiness with you. They are very
proud of what you have achieved, especially for becoming
a member of the Class of 2008 here at KAIST. They deserve
to be proud. I think it is your parents who deserve
compliments and congratulations as much as you do.
They have given you their love and support so that
you can sit here in this ceremony today. Congratulations
to the proud parents of our students! You have done
a great job.
The members of Class 2008 were selected to be a part
of the KAIST family not only because you are intelligent
and capable but also because you have demonstrated
that you are independent, creative, outgoing, personable,
ethical, and considerate of others. In selecting our
freshmen class this year, we were looking for people
who can become leaders in the 21st century in all walks
of life. We think we got the right people by accepting
you. You have what it takes to be future leaders.
Some of you will become industrial leaders who create
jobs for thousands of people. Others will become scholars
who change the world with their new ideas and theories,
scientists who help the humanity through their discoveries,
and innovators who create new paradigms, industries
and products. Some of you may even become political
leaders who can improve the quality of life for all
Korean people.
Leaders are not born. People become leaders as a result
of hard work, cultivation of distinct personal characteristics,
determination to succeed, persistence when faced with
difficulties, and adherence to ethical and moral conduct.
Leaders are also those who sacrifice themselves for
others and do the things that they expect others to
do. Leaders also listen carefully to contrary opinions
of others. We -- the students, professors, and the
staff of KAIST -- will work together to enable everyone
here to have an opportunity to become future leaders
of Korea and the world. Your path for leadership and
success is not going to be easy or guaranteed, but
I know you have what it takes ? you have the ability
to learn and cultivate the important characteristics
a leader must have. KAIST is a great place to acquire
these leadership qualities.
Some of you may ask why you should become leaders.
The World needs leaders because we have so many problems
we must solve in the 21st century. At KAIST, we call
these problems by the acronym ¡°EEWS¡±. The first E represents
energy; the second E stands for environment; W for
water; and S for the sustainability of nature and natural
resources. These are challenging problems that must
be solved during your lifetime. KAIST is investing
in ideas and devoting its scarce resources to make
critical contributions toward solving these challenging
problems of the 21st century. We want to cooperate
with other institutions of the world in solving the
problems associated with EEWS. Some of you will have
opportunities to make contributions to solving these
EEWS problems through your involvement in research
and development at KAIST. We want you to come up with
your own ideas and to work with professors on their
ideas.
KAIST is a wonderful university, one of the best of
its kind in the world. KAIST has outstanding professors,
hard working staff, and above of all, the most intelligent
students. Since its founding 37 years ago, the alumni,
alumnae, and professors of KAIST have achieved a great
deal as scientists, engineers, managers, and scholars.
They contributed to the rapid industrialization of
Korea. Your job is to make KAIST to be an even better
university using your creativity, by being responsible
members of KAIST, by studying hard, and by cultivating
your god given innate capability.
Now that you are students of KAIST, I want to declare
that you are grown-up people who have to take care
of yourself. You should not expect your parents to
solve your personal problems. You should not run to
them whenever you have difficulties at KAIST before
you try to solve them on your own. You should be independent
of your parents as much as you can. When your parents
begin to depend on you rather than you depending on
them, you know that you are truly independent. You
must act independently and be responsible for what
you do. I would like to ask your parents, who are here
with us or at home, to treat you as an independent
and responsible person. That is one of the best things
they can do for you from now on.
The purpose of the KAIST education is not to train
you but to educate you. KAIST education would have
failed if you can only do things you have been taught
to do in the classroom. KAIST education is to enable
you to define what the problem is, learn what you need
to know to solve the problem, and develop creative
solutions. In other words, we want you to be ¡°thinking
people,¡± who have the ability to solve problems even
when you do not know anything about the problem at
the beginning and even when you do not have the knowledge
related to the problem. Leaders must know how to think,
how to learn new things on their own. Leaders often
plough new paths for others to follow and find new
solutions that have stymied others.
I am indeed very proud of each one of you in the Class
of 2008.
Welcome to KAIST, your new home away from home. KAIST
will forever be a part of you, a very important part
of your life. Make best use of it. Have fun, study
hard, make new friends and enjoy friendship with your
fellow students.
We will work together to make KAIST one of the best
research universities in the world.
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