[Music] uh um uh now so [Music] bye [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey [Music] hmm [Music] hmm [Music] [Applause] [Music] bye [Music] foreign so [Music] welcome please stand for the national anthem performed by select members of the digipen vocal ensemble twilight's last gleaming who's brought stripes and bright stars brother [Music] streaming and the rocket [Music] through the night that our flag was [Music] oh of thank you to the digipen vocal ensemble you may now all be seated welcome students faculty staff honored guests and families to the commencement ceremony for the class of 2020 my name is angela coogler and i'm the senior vice president of external affairs it's my honor to be your mc today it is our pleasure to celebrate and commemorate this enormous achievement of our students especially as we have all endured and navigated a global pandemic unlike anything we have ever experienced before in most of our lifetime the flexibility and perseverance of this class has been truly remarkable and it's an honor to be celebrating this moment with all of you today the ceremony is about to begin please be aware that a recording of today's ceremony will be available online after the event on our youtube channel please join me in greeting the 2019-2020 student body president bachelor of art and game design student sam jordan as they welcome you all to the ceremony hey everyone it's uh it's been a while if everything went according to plan which we all know might not be a given then it's december 13th 2020. it's been nine months since we all left for our two-week spring break we packed our things on friday the 13th prepare to enjoy this extra vacation as some temporary virtual instruction was installed at digipen at that time asd was working on our spring land and elections career services along with marketing we're working on the career fair posters and our professors were scrambling to make alterations to their already tight learning schedules even then we knew that there was a chance that we wouldn't come back but we had hoped that we would at least see each other again for graduation i wish we could all be in the same room right now i wish that i could tell all of you in person how proud i am of the accomplishments of our graduating class i wish i could tell you to look to your left and look to your rights not all three of you graduated from the insanity that was digipen it's been a long four years give or take but the time has finally come to turn the page end this chapter but before we place that final period let's procrastinate a little bit longer for old time's sake let us look back on who we were when we first entered the halls of digipen when we were bright-eyed excited and a lot less tired we had no idea what was in store for us walking in there was a weight on our shoulders caused by the questions and comments from people who didn't have faith in the path that we carved out for ourselves their belief that what we were chasing was a fringe industry that was impossible to get to but for us it was a march forward into the next frontier technology the uncertainty was definitely astounding back then we didn't know the power that we all had within us our abilities to create to persevere and to never give up i know plenty of you will disagree that you will say you are nothing special that you didn't do anything amazing while i did you pen but that's false 100 a lie each and every one of you has accomplished something amazing you are leaving the school with a highly competitive portfolio of games projects and works of art you made these you put in the hours necessary to make something you agonized over every ounce of it until you're at least satisfied enough to submit it even if you weren't completely happy with the end product you submitted something and that in and of itself is amazing you worked hard to get here but it's imperative that you never forget that you did not get here alone maybe it didn't feel like it after all those all-nighters when the only company you had was your computer and the fifth cup of coffee but people were there for you you had a support network of friends family and professors even when it felt like they were the ones drowning you you were there for others and others were there for you support has many forms sometimes it's working together through an assignment getting fresh eyes on a problem that's been blocking you providing feedback to help make whatever it is you're working on better but it also has more subtlety to it it's grabbing your favorite snack for you from the bookstore because you've been fueled by caffeine and spite for the last few days it's reminding you to drink water because you're dehydrated and it's letting you rants about the ridiculous workload your classes assigned to you even though it's a milestone week we depend on others and it's important to remember and recognize that it is the philosophy of asd that we were only successful through the cooperation unification and engagement of the student body that philosophy extended to the individual student and now extends as we enter the professional industry the only way we can be successful is by working together whether that's making better games or making a better industry the future is far more cloudy and confusing than we expected what a normal workday is has already dramatically changed from what we learned at digipen and will continue to change as we morph it into something better as we do away with the environments and requirements we were told to expect from day one if this pandemic has shown us anything it's that we deserve better i can tell you from experience it's possible you deserve better well everyone was stuck at home and responsibly quarantining to keep each other safe what did they turn to movies tv books art video games within the first week of quarantine gaming went up 75 percent big games like animal crossing and small projects like among us provided people with the means of connection necessary to stay sane in an ever spiraling situation and that would not have been possible without developers without us many companies have already proven that it's possible that they do not need to prey on the passion and dedication of its employees and we are going to make sure that that spreads to the rest of the industry together while the past and present seem dark our future holds the potential to be bright we're entering a new era of inclusion and creativity many in our industry are trying to give seats to those previously excluded from the table to bring in new perspectives and ideas we can continue and grow this not just by inviting them to the table but by giving them a chance to create on their own behalf innovation does not come from the competitive need to be better innovation comes from the creativity to try something you did not think of before and to do that you have to interact with people different from yourself the best stories come from first-hand experience and sometimes the best way to make something great is to let someone else have a turn and support them in their endeavors creativity is as external as it is internal it is an exciting time to see the new stories that will come from us the new experiences the new technology and the new opportunities we are more than the future of the industry we will be the ones leading the way into it i cannot wait to one day see you all again either at gdc in the studio or when we inevitably try to relive these days at alumni events thank you all for joining me have a great rest of your day and of course don't forget to wash your hands [Music] thank you sam i would now like to introduce you all to stanley pierre-louis our esteemed guest speaker mr pierre louis is the president and ceo of the entertainment software association the voice and advocate for the u.s video game industry with more than two decades of entertainment and media experience mr pierre louis leads the esa's public policy efforts to showcase the dynamic impact the video game industry has on businesses entertainment and culture please help me welcome stanley pierre-louis president and founder comer faculty and staff parents and distinguished guests i'm thrilled to join this celebration of the digipen class of 2020. this commencement ceremony is like no other and it comes in a time like no other class of 2020 it took a lot of hard work a lot of late nights and a lot of sacrifice to get here but you have arrived so let's take this moment to celebrate you my name is stanley pierre-louis and i serve as the president and ceo of the entertainment software association also known as the esa we are an organization that advocates for the video game industry on public policy issues which basically means we work to ensure that policymakers understand and appreciate the invaluable contributions made by the video game sector to the nation's economy to entertainment and to our culture we also own and operate e3 the premier event for showcasing new games and innovations given the scores of digipen graduates who enter the video game industry the work you do is very meaningful to the work we do at esa before i became a ceo and even before i started my career i sat where you sit today at commencement in fact i have done it twice since i attended law school after college at each ceremony i mostly recall feeling three emotions relief pride and hope relief may seem self-evident it feels good to be done but when we're talking about something as significant as a graduation ceremony there is more to it than simply being done with completing your courses and getting your diploma it's about learning how to finish and how to finish strong as with every accomplishment in life you have to set a goal you have to develop a plan you have to put in the hard work stay focused and you have to stay motivated and given the strong reputation of the digipen academic programs i have no doubt that each of you has mastered those steps for you that's meant attending riveting lectures at the plato auditorium sharing ideas with your classmates over coffee at bits and bytes staying up all night for the annual lan party while hoarding domino's pizza and showcasing your student projects to each other each of those experiences creates part of the memory of your times together as classmates but they also culminated in getting you to this goal line you see finishing is a skill it builds confidence it builds character and it builds reliability and it's contagious however it's important to remember that you are not at the digipen finishing ceremony it's called a commencement ceremony that's because you've just been trained by one of the nation's finest educational institutions to become a catalyst in the world in whatever you choose to pursue so this is just the beginning on learning how to finish strong and using that experience to inform new goals and accomplishments i mentioned earlier that i felt three emotions at my graduation ceremonies and we just talked about that feeling of relief the second emotion i felt was one of pride of course there is the pride one feels when one accomplishes a goal but for each of us moments like this can also trigger thoughts far greater than the pride of getting your diploma for me that was about what it meant to my family you see my parents immigrated to the united states from haiti a small caribbean island and they came here with very humble means to them education was the great equalizer so they provided tremendous opportunities for my siblings and me to get ahead through education so whenever i sat in my dorm room feeling anxious or disillusioned or unsure of myself i reminded myself that they had sacrificed a lot for me to have the opportunities that lay before me so for me graduating was an important milestone beyond what i accomplished for myself it meant something more since i was the first to do so in my immediate family or from my aunts or uncles or cousins it marked another step in the journey of my life but also for my entire family even if you don't share my specific biography i am certain that each of you shares the feeling that today is meaningful for a larger reason than simply completing your coursework notwithstanding the rigor of that coursework and you should this is a momentous occasion for you for your family and friends and for the faculty and staff that supported you so take a moment to enjoy that feeling of pride in yourself and in the pride that others had in you today the third feeling i felt at my commencement ceremonies and the one that was the most overwhelming was the feeling of hope and excitement of the possibilities that lie ahead i suspect that my hopes and dreams were not far different than the ones you might be thinking about today some were pretty straightforward and pragmatic going to graduate school getting a job living on my own paying down educational debt financial independence but i had loftier hopes as well like innovating every day making an impact at my workplace or in my community serving a larger purpose and being a force for good i would argue that those larger aspirations are more important than ever and that's no hyperbole we are living at a time where every aspect of life is being disrupted we are seeing this in society at large and i see it in my industry on a number of fronts but no more so than as it relates to covid19 i remember meeting with industry leaders at the beginning of the covet 19 outbreak when crucial decisions had to be made with very little information about the impact of the virus but as an industry one of our first instincts was to share a message of hope to our audiences and to our communities that meant getting out health and safety messages about the importance of social distancing wearing masks and other measures it also meant making philanthropic contributions to global national and community organizations to help fight the pandemic but most importantly it meant continuing to make great games and supporting the networks that helped create connections for people who might have otherwise felt isolated at home and since 65 percent of people playing games play with others games have served a unifying force for many of us during this crisis that sense of hope is where you come in as new graduates you are bringing fresh perspectives and experiences that will benefit the world around you your training here at digipen has uniquely positioned you to address those challenges with top-notch skill but you have to marry those skills with a passion and vision to make the world a better place for those of you familiar with the nicholas cage film national treasure his character benjamin franklin gates shares the following insight during a scene when he is reading a line from the u.s declaration of independence he says if there's something wrong those who have the ability to take action have the responsibility to take action you the digipen dragons were admitted here because of your brilliance and uniqueness you persevered because of your passion for digital art and animation and your prowess in computer science and engineering for what the world needs more than anything else is you using your skills not only to create great works of art and innovation but also to create a world that is more equitable and just a world filled with hope for everyone thank you and congratulations on your achievement thank you mr pierre louis i will now pass things over to dr eric mormon our dean of faculty who will recognize the faculty thank you angela [Music] each year our faculty dig deep into personal experience and expertise to provide the education expected of an elite institution like digipen this year those efforts have gone to the next level to allow us to achieve these outcomes during a worldwide pandemic and to quite literally change to online education over the weekend we continue to be deeply impressed by the quality of research the quality of mentoring and the quality of instruction during these unnormal times let us express our sincere thanks and our deepest appreciation to the faculty next i am honored to present to students who have achieved outstanding academic success we will first recognize our graduate students who have achieved a gpa of 3.7 or higher
and are graduating with distinction [Music] stephen barnett chantinew chauhan dustin truman conley kevin duke cody houston duncan da chow di arnold george albert harley haiti fan jin alexander kumanda rakis shivam kumar holden michael prophet daniel ratzke anna ruth mesendez rodriguez jose antonio rosenblue sid hunt [Music] and cal santiago congratulations please give a round of applause for our graduate students we will now honor our undergraduate students who have achieved the highest gpa of their respective degree programs this past academic year thus qualifying them for the title of valedictorian in the bachelor of fine arts and digital arts and animation program katelyn baird in the bachelor of arts in game design program laurel drusilla pratt in the bachelor of arts in music and sound design program dakota richard estes in the bachelor of science in computer engineering program barrett karstens in the bachelor of science in computer science program garrett michael conte in the bachelor of science in computer science and game design program elliot strait in the bachelor of science in computer science and digital audio matthew takeo yamaguchi rosen and in the bachelor of science in computer science in real time interactive simulation program isaac prescott dugong please join me in congratulating our 2019 2020 valedictorians [Music] congratulations students and thank you dr mormon it is now time for me to introduce our nominated student speaker this student was nominated by digipen staff and faculty for their outstanding achievements and for their incredible attitude both inside and outside of the classroom please welcome bachelor of science and computer science and digital audio student matt rosen congrats class of 2020 you did it now unlike a lot of people at digipen i didn't know what i wanted to do when i grew up when i was a child my dream was that i wanted to be an engineer well that's not entirely true but my younger brother said that he wanted to be an engineer and i didn't really know what that was but it sounded cool so it's i said i also wanted to be one i didn't really have to think about jobs until high school i knew i wanted to do something where i could use my brain every day but that's about it i eventually decided that i wanted to make spaceships because that sounded cool as heck i went along that path for a year and i took a special aerospace course through the university of washington when i was 17. i took it with hundreds of other high school students around the state of washington but i made it into the top to be included into an exclusive aerospace engineering summer boot camp there's a lot of fun but it turns out that i really don't like aerospace engineering or especially the thought of having people's lives in my hands like that so i was at a loss i didn't really know what to do anymore but i just taken a beginning programming course and it seemed pretty fun so the next year i took a more advanced programming course and i knew from them that this is what i want to do for a living every single day so my dreams have changed from engineering to programming i didn't particularly care about video games i enjoyed physics and math but i never really looked into game development i attended a digipen open house with my family and it was pretty convincing i like the idea of being able to program from day one and have a really fundamental understanding of the subject i didn't particularly care that it was video games but did you didn't change that fairly quickly the open house was right day one i had my first programming course with professor matthew mead on the c programming language by the end of the first week i had my first game class with professor justin chambers we talked about games and game history and it was an incredible environment at the end of my first semester i knew more about memory and low-level programming than any of my friends studying computer science at other universities by the end of my second semester i'd written a whole game engine from scratch for cs230 and a recursive quadtree spatial partitioning structure in c for my first real game project i could converse intelligently with cs master students from other universities it was my second semester here when my goals switched from just programming to video games and now i've heard from other software engineers that game development is the most challenging and least well paid of the software engineering world and i would agree with that but it's also the most rewarding it's because of this challenge and the reward that i now say that my dream is to make video games i think i can say with some certainty that this is shared by almost everyone here now digipen hasn't failed to throw a huge number of challenges at us if anything i'd argue that we went through a higher than average amount of challenges we're the last cohort of designers to use the gas system so we had des being implemented around us we were the last set of bscsgds to have the ungodly credit load that you had we were the last cohort of artists that had such strict pass fail requirements we were the last to have projects 300 that the way that it was we have the last set of bscsdas to have to take the full music theory coursework where the last rtis is to have to take cs365 and i'm sure i've missed a few first or last but the biggest one i haven't mentioned yet is covid we to finish our capstone projects and find jobs at the very beginning of a lockdown and a global pandemic i'm sure that some of us have lost friends or family members because of the virus and i know for certain that many of us lost job offers and opportunities at a new life not being able to see our friends or family made dealing with the stress of digipen even more difficult this is a weird time one might even say unprecedented because of kovid it's been eight months since most of us graduated i worked at amazon doing normal software engineering work for six of those and now i'm living in quebec working at larian a game studio on my dream game project baldur's gate 3. while at amazon i polish my senior project into a research paper for the symposium on computer animation it's been a while since we've graduated and we've all done amazing things but one of those amazing things is recovering from digipen if you don't feel like you've recovered or like you don't have a sense of closure i want you to take a break it can be just for an evening or like a few days but here's your excuse to do it even though it was only four years which in the grand scheme of things isn't very long it may very well be four of the most difficult years we'll have to go through for most of our lives recovering from the stress is important taking a break is important if you have taken time for yourself since turning in your last project i'm proud of you if you haven't give yourself a break you deserve it at the end of the day we all came to the school to follow our dreams for some people that means working as a software engineer at a large company for some of us that means making movies or comic books or writing stories or making music for most of us that means making video games for a living we went through so many challenges along the way but when it comes down to it you made it through digipen your dreams and goals will change with time mine definitely did but nothing is going to stop you from reaching your dreams whatever they may be it might take months or years to reach your goal but you will to make it because you've already shown that you can your digipen i'm proud of each and every one of you for being here with me today thank you for your presence in my journey and i'm honored to have been part of yours stay safe thank you matt for such great words to your class we are now ready to confer degrees to our graduates the names will be read alphabetically alongside any photos that the graduates have submitted matthew adams benjamin admin prioa aka wanet benjamin albers andrew aldwell ray on [Music] kate anderson [Music] susan anderson christian ayson caitlin baird [Music] weston baker anna baltzo [Music] stephen barnett olivia barrel [Music] ilio benvenuti haley birkencotter ruchi botwal ryan booth samuel bueno jonah campbell chanel garrett kanles [Music] cody cannell joseph cannon [Music] jun chan shantanu shahan [Music] kevin chen [Music] raymond chen sun chang chen chachu [Music] christine conger dustin conley garrett conti samuel cook pierce cram thomas cushman aaron damian zachary davies [Music] shay davis nicole davis [Music] talanua darapop james dirks bryce dixon zachary dolph [Music] jose dominguez perez [Music] nolan dost kevin dew isaac duga cody duncan bahi jeremakion kyle ellen [Music] andre paul alenzano hunter elephant [Music] selena eng dakota estes [Music] ifei fang justin fleming rachel fraser peyton froming [Music] zade gaudette pratyush gawai jordan gazette dashao g arnold george ellie gulley seth glazer [Music] sachin gobon georgette go [Music] mark gonzalez sawyer good cell [Music] timothy goodwin sarah graves [Music] joshua green riley guzza [Music] albert haiti daniel hamilton ally hammond j hahn william harlein trevor herron riley hazelrigg [Music] russell higgins [Music] connie hilardis [Music] isaac hill shawn hill staff hinonsen [Music] harry humphries [Music] morgan hyde muhammad zohab highness sai sindu janali ju young zhang jonathan jerome [Music] van ginn coleman jonas [Music] sam jordan charlie jung [Music] wong jae-jung candace kang [Music] barrett carstens louise kenji cato jr young jin kill caroline kim [Music] christine kim [Music] songhaq kim kelly king michael kenyon lynn klein [Music] miranda kula george alex kumandarakis [Music] alexander kudabay siobham kumar he jay kwon tyhoon kwan bristol lakshik anna lance cara lowman gregory lee [Music] mitchell lee [Music] jacob lewandowski chunyan lee ka chong li james lao ching yen lin daryn lin [Music] jasmine ling zachary logsdon [Music] terry lovely sean laurens [Music] dustin markle joshua marlow kimberly marsing dylan martino chase matson rebecca mayfield grace mcclintock kai mcdonald brady menendez [Music] alejandro meneses vincent messina jacob michaelis [Music] saeed mirpor [Music] matthew mixon michael paul moore [Music] nicki moore [Music] ramsey mortada nathaniel mueller kento moralski [Music] catherine murphy [Music] lou o'connor pandy harmonson park naye park jacques parks [Music] supre thrall peshawar alexey perfolev [Music] spencer peterson david pedica laurel pratt [Music] varun premchandran ryan price holden prophet [Music] aurelie quinones aaron raven daniel rasky max ralpher anna resendez-rodriguez victoria riddener tyler robbins [Music] riley roberts matthew rosen [Music] jose rosenbluth dylan ross [Music] gian rouen cal santiago [Music] rathanan santiwira yakarn leland satell [Music] brett schiff [Music] cameron scott claire selvogg andrew sentman jessie shapiro connor shea [Music] jay shearson fanil shingala [Music] christopher smith gabrielle smith vidi sony natalie spitzel senna sprague elliot straight [Music] louis tan [Music] brady tangeman christopher taylor jacob taylor ramil tendulkar min tom [Music] tabitha tipton [Music] rohit tolletti ari trejo [Music] sedan tuma [Music] ronald vann denny van winkle jessie vancillo laia vera [Music] jongchu wang [Music] trevor warren charles wells william wells wing yi wang zuriel wilburn white kieran williams [Music] matthew winter samuel wartley sage yi hong woo zinyu yang [Music] salvatore yazi nolan you ethan you brandon yuen [Music] alessandro zaire [Music] tyler's weirs before our founder mr claude kamir bids you all farewell we have one more important step to all of our viewers around the world please give a huge round of applause to our 2020 graduates if you are wearing your graduation cap you may now turn your tassel if you are not feel free to celebrate in whatever manner you wish you did it [Music] [Applause] [Music] please join me in giving one more round of applause for our graduates [Music] each year as new cohorts join digipen our president mr khmer greets them during new student orientation now let me introduce him as he bids you goodbye for now and good luck please welcome mr claude comer hello everyone well it is this time of the year again when we have to say goodbye to some of you and it is always with great pleasure to attend such an event but also it is also sad for me to see you going away well this year we had a an unbelievable different year a painful year uh you know not just on us but on the entire world and it is with deep regret that we cannot be together you know as usual but hopefully this time around you are allowing me to visit you in your homes and instead of you coming to the hall in order to receive the honors that we owe you you are allowing me to go to your home via this technology and visit you and congratulate you one single grad graduate at a time it is very emotional for me always this time and it is also not the time for me to speak and give long speeches usually and obviously you never attended a graduation previously unless you were a you know a uh an invited person to it usually i do not give a long speech i give a very short speech just a farewell speech because at this point in time it is time for you to stop listening to us and actually start act you know acting like to wait or doing something and you should tell us what to do from now on i expect that you would go and you would succeed and you would come back to us and you would help teaching here like we taught you like we shared with you after a long life of experiences and so on we decided to share this knowledge with you so sharing with other people is very important and learning from other people is very important as a matter of fact you have learned here from the other student body and much more than you have learned probably probably in the classroom being part of a group that is working and striving towards one single goal is actually extremely important for one's future and we have provided that for you despite the distance in the last the portion of your education we have attempted to keep you all together as one group and we hope that after graduation you would remain one single group and one humongous group because you are going to actually be part of the digipen family digipen alumni family and this is very important for us and i am sure that you now understand the gauntlet that you went through in order to actually achieve that result and the graduation that you have earned and join this big group at large that will receive you with open arms and respect because they know exactly what you have gone through so this said i always try to give you a couple of advice and the simple advice that i would give you is that you have been very well taught and we are very sure that you will do very well however you should never become boastful about all of this you should keep being humble being humble would allow you to listen much more than talk and that is very important in life to listen and then when it comes to talk to say the few words that you need to say that are in their place and actually meaning meaningful and lead to results so you listen a lot and you say a little but you say something very useful and very appropriate being humble would allow you to do that being humble would allow you to actually listen to other people their needs understand what needs to be done and that is much more important than any anything else one great person have ever have said that to actually reach the solution you have to understand the problem first and once you understand the problem you have actually solved the greatest majority of the problem already so being humble is very important the second advice that i would be giving you today would be to keep you know educating yourself and i believe in that so much that i actually allowed digipen to give you 10 years of further education at no charge you can come back and take classes with us at absolutely no charge and it will be our you know pleasure to help you in your future uh endeavors and future adventures and keep you you know with us and make sure that you are you know well educated but actually keep being educated so if you feel that you need another class in something or you feel that you haven't given attention enough to something that passed by you here please come back and enjoy our presence again and enjoy our company and and you we would be very happy to offer that free of charge uh you could also find out that after a few years of work that there is uh there is something that wasn't available at the time when you were a student that you might want to come back and you know revisit the school and spend some time with us and then go away again it is free of charge it will be given with all our pleasure happiness and from the deepest part of our hearts you are now no longer a student you are a colleague you are a friend and as i always said in this moment i have never accepted any invitation from any one of you before neither to lunch nor to to any you know event of your life because i wanted to keep myself you know away from you know the body body situation or being friendly or being involved with any one of you but now i can receive invitations and i would be glad to oblige and i would be glad to participate because now you're no longer my student you are actually a colleague of mine and a friend of mine and i hope that you would actually count me in the amongst your friends and that friendship that i offer is for life and it is sincere and from the heart one final thing that you actually need to remember while you go from here is to actually remember that if you are going to be working in the game industry which many of you i know are striving to work in the game industry although the education at digipen is not only about gaming we utilize gaming in order to make sure that you you actually do not suffer so much all of this math physics drawing pressure of of work pressure of producing uh group work etc so the example of a game is a very good example to be adopted in a school and the pedagogy that actually is created from the game making dynamics is very good and very important after all a game contains a humongous number of topics that needs to be addressed in order to be able to create a game so if you join this game making process and and the game making world i want you to understand that when people play a game they do not play it against the machine they play it against the people who programmed this machine so therefore you are going to visit people in their homes and at times when they're going to open their brains and hearts to you to your work and you are going to actually be playing with them against them and making a very close contact with them this is a very important act and this is a very important um very important i wouldn't i don't know what to say i didn't prepare my speech like usual i always say whatever comes to my my mind out of my heart so i what i want to say is that it is a very important act that you are doing very important and it has to be done with the utmost responsibility it has to be done with the knowledge that you can hurt and you should avoid hurting you should be constructive your game should actually bring not just knowledge but also happiness and and and peace of mind to all of these quote unquote kids out there that are actually utilizing your software so the action of making a game must be a very responsible action and must be a very responsible act and you should be proud that you will be affecting the millions of people out there that will be playing your games this is what i wanted to say today congratulations i send you all my best for the future and remember you are never alone you are always my digipen students and you will be always equal to my family you are uh you need something i am a true friend and i will never forget your passage here i haven't been you know capable of telling you all this before you graduate simply because i find it inappropriate for having a private and you know close conversations with the students but as i said you are no longer a student so good luck have fun in life be responsible be humble keep learning i am sure i am sure that you will do fantastic out there and you will make and you will you know imprint your mark in the generations to come so go be successful come back and help us teach in new generations like we taught you thank you so much and i would like to thank all the team this year that you know put an enormous amount of work in order to bring you the final leg of your education online it hasn't been easy and we we are now delivering over a thousand classes per week in all the campuses that we are we have around the world and in the us alone we exceed the 1200 hours of teaching a week online and i hope that you have enjoyed that experience as much as uh you know painful it was but we tried uh to make it synchronous we tried to make it uh valuable we tried to make it uh as good as your presence here so thank you for putting up with the with the kovid situation thank you for keeping the place safe here to my knowledge we did not have any case in the campus here we may have had somebody that got sick at home unfortunately but no casualties we are all safe keep safe and keep in touch please you take care and god bless thank you [Music] so [Music] so [Music] you keep me so busy sometimes but you're where i want to be life is more than just a game for you [Music] cheers you keep me so busy sometimes [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is you
2020-12-19