[Music] to [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] um [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] nice [Applause] hmm [Music] ah [Music] ah ah foreign [Music] ah [Music] foreign [Music] so [Music] hey [Music] [Applause] foreign foreign [Music] so [Music] you keep me so busy sometimes but you're where i want to is more than just a game for you here i am [Music] [Music] cheers [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] pen [Music] you [Music] foreign [Music] so [Music] hello and welcome everyone before we begin we ask you to please stand for the national anthem performed by the digipen music department [Music] greed [Music] stripes [Music] was [Music] stars [Music] r [Applause] the praise thank you you may all be seated welcome students faculty staff honored guests and families to the commencement ceremony for the class of 2021 my name is angela coogler and i'm the senior vice president of external affairs it's my honor to be your mc today this has been an incredible year one marked by trials and tribulations that no one could have predicted as we gather today for our virtual ceremony i'm reminded of just how resilient our digipen community is and how grateful i am to be a part of it the ceremony is about to begin and i'd like to remind you that it will be available online after the event on our youtube channel now please join me in greeting the 2020 2021 student body president bachelor of science in computer science in real time interactive simulation student jason thiel as they welcome you all to the ceremony [Music] hey everyone you made it you're here graduating from digipen after fourish years of the chaos that is this school it probably doesn't feel like too long ago that you were moving to the redmond area to start classes here in pursuit of your dream career over the next few years you studied hard made memories made friends on project teams and in classes and now you're on the graduation stage now you're ready to take the next step and start your personal journey into interactive entertainment you'll take with you the plethora of unique experiences and knowledge that you've acquired here through courses professors tas mentors and peers but before you move on to do all those amazing things let's take a step back and celebrate what you've persevered through so far if you stop and think about what you knew on your first day of digipen and what you know and can achieve now the difference is astonishing i'm at the end of my junior year and the difference is already remarkable when i started a digipen i had no programming experience no experience making games and not a lot of experience working on long-term projects in high school i had an interest in math as well as a desire to learn more about programming and game development which eventually brought me to digipen i'm sure that many of you similarly didn't have a ton of experience in your field before coming here and you're all now on par with industry professionals who have been working for years that isn't just something that you got because you chose digipen over other schools it's something that you all worked for you persevered through the high credit loads the stress the fast approaching deadlines and the workloads that tested you at every turn these are skills that you have built and earned driven by a desire to do something you love that's not even mentioning the unique curveball that was thrown at you partway through it's been over a year since we were sent home for what we thought might be a couple weeks or maybe even a couple months of online instruction before we'd be able to come back to campus and finish out our education together in edison and tesla that did not end up happening obviously and instead we've done an entire year and a half of digipen fully online i know that it has been a long year and a half for all of us there are so many ways that this pandemic has impacted us in the last year and i won't list all of them however through all of that you've all arrived at this moment and have proven the resilience of digipen students getting through these four years is already a herculean task that requires an incredible amount of resilience requires dedication to your craft whether that be making music animating programming or designing requires a ton of time working on projects assignments labs in meetings pulling all-nighters requires the ability to collaborate effectively with your friends your fellow students teammates and sometimes even with people you just don't get along with it requires compassion empathy and a dedication to helping your peers when they're struggling it requires an incredible amount of creativity to continue to create groundbreaking games films engineering feats etc and innovate on what's been done before us and through this last year and a half it has required us to do all of that while fighting a pandemic and completely appending the way we interact with the school and with each other if that isn't resilience i don't know what is every single one of you has earned their place here today as talented creatives in their fields that will go on to be leaders in their respective industry this degree is something that you have earned multiple times over the remarkable set of experiences perspectives and accomplishments that you each bring to the table is inspiring to me and makes me confident that as you take the next step on your personal journey you will be a positive force for change but even more than that you've earned some time to rest time to take a break pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself fully for the achievements that you've made at this school and in your life the last few years maybe that's taking a few hours or a few weeks to celebrate but i want every single one of you to take some amount of time to run a victory lap i'm incredibly proud of each and every one of you and i'm excited to see what your next steps are but for now thank you for being amazing and stay safe everyone [Music] thank you jason i would now like to welcome our esteemed guest miss susannah susannah is a cross-sector leader public speaker and social entrepreneur she's the president of games for change and the annual games for change festival dubbed the sundance of video games she's initiated dozens of programs worldwide to advance the games and immersive media for good sector as an executive producer susannah spearheads impact media projects bringing together award-winning creators with mission-oriented organizations prior to games for change susanna worked across both the commercial and public sector for many years please help me welcome susannah president and founder comer esteemed faculty and staff parents and distinguished guests i'm honored to join the celebration of the digipen class of 2021. most importantly i want to say congratulations to all the graduates in the audience today my name is susanna and i am president of games for change games for change is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2004 with the simple premise that video games can have a power beyond entertainment our mission is to empower game creators and social innovators to use games to drive real world change whether it is to help people to learn improve their communities or contribute to make the world a better place i was excited about the opportunity to celebrate your digipen graduates today because you represent the future of our industry you are graduating from one of the finest academic institutions in the world with skill sets that will open up doors to some of the most creative and growing industries in the world and you have worked hard to get to this place your commitment focus and perseverance has finally paid off and you are moving on to the next phase of your life and i know it wasn't easy who could have predicted that the last year and a half of your digipent experience would have been through a pandemic four years ago you chose digipen because you had passion dedication and drive you made the decision to move to washington state many of you leaving your families to travel long distances to bear the cold weather just so you could focus on learning as much as you could about the media and games industry now in those first few years of college you had the opportunity to meet new friends that you collaborated with roomed and ate domino's pizza with drink coffee at bits and bites with and staying up all night at the annual lan party with even more domino's pizza and in the last year and a half through all the crazy remote learning you have managed to stay connected be insanely productive and end your college experience with lifelong friends an impressive portfolio and a world of opportunities ahead of you and even if we can't gather all in person i want you to remember that a graduation ceremony doesn't just celebrate this moment in time this is a celebration of the culmination of all your years of learning about the world and about yourself i am sure it's not lost on you that during these challenging economic times caused by the pandemic the video game sector has experienced an unpresented precedented growth of course everyone here knows how awesome video games are but the during the pandemic as people all over the world were being challenged to adapt to reoccurring lockdowns and quarantines remote and hybrid work and learning environments where did people turn well billions of them turned to video games like never before parents are appreciating that video games are a place for children to play with friends that they couldn't see in real life teachers are turning to games to engage with students that are struggling with endless zoom calls and while millions and millions of people will they turn to games to find an escape from the stresses of life in a pandemic and this is what games for change is all about sharing that games can bring people together help them learn and make the world a better place whether you are looking for a career in the video game sector technology media or honestly whatever you choose to pursue remember that it's people that drive this change yes in this case games are the medium but the games are made by people a group of people who chose to work in a game that had a positive impact on the world they cared about how people would benefit from these experiences and you have the ability to make these choices on what you want to do and who you want to be so as i speak to you today at your digipen commencement ceremony i want to ask you to think about three things first embrace the unknown we don't always know where we're going to end up i for one has have had three careers in my lifetime and i don't think i'm even done yet i take chances i go out of my comfort zone and i trust that no matter where i end up i will learn from every experience just be true to yourself follow your passions and be open to what's ahead of you even if it's clear it's not clear about where it's going to take you second respect one another in a lot of ways the pandemic just brought into focus problems that have been growing for a long time the acts of racism and bigotry that we have seen in the bipark and aapi communities speak to decades of social and racial injustice now these continues to be to shocks to our system but just as you prepare to go out into the world they remind us that we can't take things for granted we have to make the work the world and we have to work to make things better they remind us that our individual well-being depend on the well-being of the community that we live in and each of us have a responsibility in that third be good to yourself if you are not good to yourself how will you be able to be good to others well crunch is a common place in our industry it's something that i try to avoid for my staff at all times a healthy balanced work life situation is the best strategy for long-term success so remember to take that walk read a book spend time with your friends your personal time is as valuable as the work we are so passionate about maya angelou gave the commencement address at my graduation from college over 30 years ago and her message still speaks to me now as it did then my angelou said my mission in life is not merely to survive but to thrive and to do so with some passion some compassion some humor and some style so go out there embrace the unknown respect each other and be good to yourself because anything is possible congratulations to the digipen class of 2021 [Music] thank you ms pollock i will now pass things over to dr eric moorman our dean of faculty who will recognize the faculty at commencement we look forward to your bright futures and as surely as there are dragons on my tie you have a bright future we also take a moment to look over our shoulders at our past time together this season has been a wonderful season filled with many many experiences even so the last year dominates in trying to think about words to describe this last year it fails maybe the best that i've been able to come up with are words like wow or even ouch however it's not something that i need to describe to you this is really something that we've all been through together and at times like this one of the most important things is also one of the most basic things it's saying thank you it's saying we see you and it's saying we are here for you and over the last year your faculty have sacrificed repeatedly in many ways to do just that for you and now today it's our chance to return that favor so please join me as we turn to the faculty with our hearts and minds and we say to them shifting nigh instantly to delivering your courses in your class meetings online was certainly no more enjoyable than shifting to taking them online thank you and we know that delivering course content and class meetings to rows of icons instead of rooms full of people oh man it sapped the humanity out of one of most powerful and human endeavors even so you persevered so thank you and we say that wow sometimes we were strong and we were there and we were diligent and sometimes we were not but you were here for us thank you and so on behalf of every student every parent every peer and colleague and member of this community it's my privilege to join with all of us and say thank you we appreciate what you've done for us in this last year and now we turn our attention to recognizing our students next i'm honored to present to students who've achieved outstanding academic success first the graduate students who've earned a gpa of 3.7 or higher and are graduating with distinction in the master of science in computer science program [Music] xiao [Music] silvia barbaro rodriguez in the masters of fine arts and digital arts program triang ta congratulations please give a round of applause for our graduate students and now we honor our undergraduate students who've achieved the highest gpa of their degree programs this past year qualifying them for the title of valedictorian in the bachelor of fine arts and digital arts and animation program caleb michael hess in the bachelor of arts and game design program wyatt mason waters in the bachelor of arts and music and sound design program aaron mia neoribo roberts and the bachelor of science and computer engineering program junsung on and the bachelor of science in computer science program jack albert klein in the bachelors of science and computer science and game design program michael timothy crouch in the bachelor of science and computer science and digital audio program ott henry folsom smithson in the bachelor of science in computer science in real time interactive simulation program jared augustus joyal please join me in congratulating our 2020 2021 valedictorians congratulations students and thank you dr mormon it is now time for me to introduce our nominated student speaker this student was nominated by staff and faculty for their outstanding impact on the digipen community and for demonstrating an incredible attitude both inside and outside of the classroom please welcome felix knight [Music] hello congratulations to our class of digipen graduates there's not much i can meaningfully add about the time and effort it took you to get to this point you know for yourself better than anyone how difficult it was and we know as a group what it took us i do want to give special recognition however to those here creating things other than games as i think that mental association between digipen and video games is so tight those creating films paintings music other computer software robots weather balloons and hardware thank you for the work that you've done and of course for those who have made video games as well thank you too it's just as much these amazing students as our faculty staff and executives that make digipen happen aside from keeping praise upon us i know the most pertinent thing on most of our minds right now is finding employment i have some concern that for many of us the fervor of trying to get into college and now trying to find a job in a competitive industry has implicitly shaped the way that we act on our values not necessarily for the betterment of other people or even ourselves this affects the most significant decisions that we are making and in turn the impact of our work on society and i think it is important to identify and address this issue first though i want to recognize that this graduation is a joyous time for us truly has been a hard-earned victory but for me to admit or ignore the hardships that we have faced in the last year would be disrespectful especially for those most disenfranchised and i must call those conditions what they are systemic racism injustice oppression inaccurate guidance during a global pandemic that contributed to many preventable deaths these kinds of injustices have harmed people forever but the conditions of our society within the last year have exacerbated and publicized them to an unprecedented degree while these may feel insurmountable for us i hope to assure you that they are not and we know better than to assume that somebody else out there will solve these problems for us as a result of these conditions many have taken time to self-reflect and learn and change in my junior year i consider myself to be a designer working tirelessly to improve my craft so that some company hopefully one making a really important and meaningful product would hire me to assist in building that by the start of my senior year i plan to finish my game design degree and immediately pursue a job in renewable energy my primary career goal now is measurable climate change reversal to provide some context as an ambassador prospective students often ask what is your favorite experience from digipen and no doubt has been working with many of you on projects that we care really deeply about i loved collaboratively bringing our ideas to life watching you light up as your work took shape in our game and of course being mere hours away from a milestone and watching our game hilariously explode trying to rush fixes and backups and just laughing at the absurdity of our situation likely the most significant factor in my decision to pursue a job in renewable energy as opposed to game design was actually looking back fondly on those memories but contending with the reality that while i had this opportunity many people will never have access to the resources or education necessary to pursue their dreams beyond survival and climate change will only act as a multiplier for this problem if we could share this for four years everyone should have that kind of access and i am certain that the best way to spend my time and effort is working to ensure that possibility for all people to reach that point i had to recognize i had been dishonest with myself about who i was what i cared about it was much harder to reconcile than i expected our environment digipen also the creative industries that we are trying to get into tend to shape our personalities our sense of self around the work that we create in a way this is amazing because we create really impactful meaningful projects and our sense of confidence is really boosted by doing that truly watching us grow in that way over these last years has been a really remarkable experience but for me i realized that i had started acting in service of a self-identity as somebody who makes games first in putting my values second i was being dishonest telling myself i really cared about equity above all else and i was going to do something in order to improve it without recognizing that the path that i had taken did not align with achieving that goal what i did and what i encourage all of you to do as well is to seriously consider whether your effort and whether the path that you are putting that effort into are likely to achieve the things that you care about most deeply when i started thinking in that way i felt better about myself i made much better choices getting that ball rolling is really hard but once you do you reward yourself with fulfillment that you know is real and we have a responsibility to recognize that honesty in ourselves so that we can make a change our time and the struggles that we face are historic the climate crisis especially is a crisis for all of humanity i understand it feels unfair that our generation is often expected to not only endure these conditions but improve and fix them would it be fair for future generations to endure as we have or worse and i'm sorry i empathize with the feeling of dread that is compounding on the exhaustion from the work that we have already done and it's important to recognize that we have different levels of privilege many of you must work harder just to survive than others than myself and i applaud you in even considering the issues that i'm discussing but simply thinking about these problems will not solve them we must take action it is the most difficult thing to do in our situation but also the most empowering in this time of uncertainty action puts us in control of our future and i have a reason for directing this message to this group though our challenges are incredible we overcome them anyway i can tell you from experience as an intern that by direct comparison to the professional world this collective is incredible in our dedication our effort critical thought desire to learn and improve ourselves i truly cannot imagine any group of people with such incredible skills and works to show them we truly have an amazing potential to fix the problems that face our world as i've said this graduation is a joyous time for us the last year has been hard but we have the skills and dedication to improve our condition not just for ourselves but for future generations as well it is imperative that we dedicate ourselves to fixing the problems that face our society we cannot try to work around or ignore them as for instance the world's governments have done with climate change for over 40 years there has been no binding agreement with real consequence for polluting and thus no reduction in emissions things don't have to be this way real change is hard but we are up to the task and it is our only true course of action for self-preservation though our last years have already been so effortful i hope you all agree that our hard work is only just beginning dragons thank you for listening with open minds and hearts and congratulations thank you felix for delivering such kind sentiments to your class members we are now ready to confer degrees to our graduates the names will be read alphabetically by degree program alongside any photos the students have submitted please feel free to post your congratulations in the chat window as you see your student's name scott prickly blue min chun chen dakota houston emil curry [Music] nico dolce [Music] britney a katz [Music] z min [Music] megan june roberts [Music] trang ta i'm immensely proud of everyone graduating today especially those in the mfa in digital arts we ask you to learn an enormous amount and to carry a unique project to impressive results all in two years as if that isn't hard enough throw in the impacts of a global pandemic across all aspects of your lives we all had to shift and adapt to the new delivery and learning process of your courses and you saw the evaporation of the community you had built having shared a space in the mfa studio via lobos i can only imagine the challenges in your own personal lives as you struggled to conduct your studies while sequestered in your homes nonetheless you did it i salute you mfa graduates of 2021 sylvia barbaro rodriguez ivan casarez vinit amarjit dogra [Music] matthew gilbert [Music] tuch goyal [Music] xiao young wong [Music] jake c lewandowski [Music] chase alexander raymond [Music] drew mill shukla dushan shukla [Music] wait you on sun [Music] constantine udaviki angelo wu [Music] hi graduate students as a program director i am honored to be one of the first people in a long line of who is very proud of you and what you have done in the last two years during these two years you have achieved new level of academic and technical excellence which is defeat on its own plus it happened the digipen which makes it even harder and on top of it during this world health crisis but consider this in 25 30 years when you are talking to your kids who are whining about the work that they have to be done you'll be able to say stop whining in 2020 and there will be many different stories that you will be able to tell now that it is time to leave these mostly virtual walls of the japan and go into the outer outside world i would like to remind you that the themes the topics that you have learned at digipen is not what you will be using during your careers it is how you have learned those things that's what will be useful remember how in cf 525 when i taught you about the lambda function mechanism and how to implement it what are the chances that you will be doing that in real world slim to none but the neurons that you have developed while understanding that topic that's what you will use so on this note let me wish you happiness and success daniel john allard [Music] maya morin chilerk [Music] jonathan ung edward aoki han bao [Music] arthur levander bates genevieve begga [Music] connor y binford [Music] jack l blanchard maggie elizabeth brown ryan alexander chan griffin coleman [Music] clayton steve cowden [Music] asia cohen luke robert d bennen mitchell thomas malone dixon hannah dunlap alyssa lincoln gowan [Music] brittany hathcoat [Music] akash di singh hijar caleb michael hessie varagorn in thoppy boon tan picha gin club [Music] cody johnson [Music] emma ruth johnson [Music] carmel co [Music] rihanna kim dylan king delaney alice kohler [Music] robert lassica [Music] ariel m lee nietzsche porn lim porn pudgy [Music] sarah lindacoon nelson low adolfo e makuji [Music] andrew maldonado [Music] hannah marcourt jacob marshall [Music] sabrina martinez owen william mccubbin tonim paw mopra sit [Music] alexander dean novacio kai oliver [Music] amanda christine parks [Music] yen vietfam [Music] weston m powers kara primack [Music] jacob stephen daniel saunderson connor joseph schultz allora rebecca scott christopher allen shell [Music] annie shepherd [Music] santa parp steenholt [Music] aaron sukhara jasmine kia sunning adi tasa [Music] anya thompson not upayokin brian mitchell wong congratulations 2021 digipen bfa digital art and animation dragons after four long years and in maybe some cases even five working almost every semester many of you you guys have succeeded in making it through the program and making it also through a global pandemic so congratulations for your adversity congratulations for pivoting with us and finding success in places that were uncharted waters that none of us really knew how to move forward but we did move forward together and the work that you did as i'm going through it right now and we will have in the showcase soon for everyone online speaks for itself i'm very very proud of you the work you've done and the extra effort that you made through these difficult times i wish you the best of luck as you go through those doors and remember we will always be there with you alex anderson brendan banville cameron bowman [Music] oliver d club colin william cromwell [Music] chris dalton [Music] kathy dang thomas r davis [Music] bryce thomas denmark [Music] andrew duong [Music] jared william ehlert bell grace farmer brianna rose ferterer [Music] harrison greene [Music] marshall heffernan [Music] devin hence [Music] gal clapper [Music] felix knight stephen andrew kolodichuk [Music] sal ching lung [Music] kiran luskam blaze markley [Music] justice colt mieler francesco morando tyler austin peterman [Music] devin mackenzie rapp [Music] paul rivas [Music] david scott robson [Music] shane michael staller [Music] louis sutton [Music] timofi telinski [Music] pedro souza lopez torres wyatt mason waters [Music] shania marie williams [Music] kyle wood ryan patrick woods pataratorn yumtay hello and congratulations to the graduating bagds it's such an honor to see you here today after overcoming so many years of challenges many challenges that we saw coming and so many challenges that we couldn't expect and through all of it here you are so let's take this moment to be excited as you transition from game design students into professional designers go out there into the world and design create the experiences for other people that the world so desperately needs look to your left look to your right look at the people who used to be students with you and they are now your allies and your network right let's work together to create these designs to make the world what we want to design the experiences that we all need i love you all our time together has drawn to a close fly be free ryan bannister michael joseph bachmann eric bergman cameron taylor espinoza [Music] ariel j kim joshua daniel mickelson [Music] aaron neoribo roberts [Music] christopher matthew underwood [Music] well you made it and yet the world is only just beginning to write itself after having turned upside down for a year and you're probably saying to yourself i want to sleep for a month except now you need to get a job well by being here today you've shown us that you know how to keep on going even when you don't know how to anymore you've shown us that you can be a musician a composer an audio engineer a sound and music designer and that nothing can stop you not even a global freaking pandemic so keep on playing music and video games keep on playing with your friends and family and keep on with a good fight because i expect to see you all in the not too distant future when we can hang out again like humans used to do this time as friends and colleagues may the force be with you on [Music] lindsay anderson [Music] jonathan corniche [Music] colin michael mcdicken [Music] hello computer engineering graduates your exceptional cohort from diverse backgrounds we have exciting times in class and in projects including launching your balloon payloads into the upper atmosphere from eastern washington and oregon and i have to point out that your final project will be going into space on a blue origin rocket later this summer truly amazing for the first time all of you completed internships with companies and faculty research projects as well in addition to your excellent individual efforts you worked superbly as a team and helped each other often let science and truth guide you forward congratulations and good luck thank you sharif ali abdul raheem [Music] jonathan lauren ackerman garrett bjorn binkhorst [Music] anthony brigante [Music] lux duncan jones cardell [Music] thomas goodwin [Music] jack albert klein westin michael mitchell abhishek mohan [Music] jake najeda congratulations graduates of our bachelor of science in computer science program as a graduate of the bscs program you are an indispensable part of the workforce of tomorrow providing computing solutions for technological and infrastructure problems in order to create a more secure and healthy society for all be thankful for the support of your loved ones and family at this moment be humble and above all be kind kind to yourselves and to others your achievements to date do make us proud and we have no doubt that you will continue to do so for tomorrow on behalf of the staff and faculty involved in the bscs program congratulations graduates of 2021 cole william astaire siobhan botnegar sierra marie brooks michael t crouch max day nadai [Music] dimitar dinkov [Music] paul michael hawes devin ray jackson [Music] aaron johnson [Music] austin grant kennedy [Music] kyung-un lee [Music] dylan mack [Music] john daniel frances o'brien kyle powell maximilian rashke tate sliwa shang shang dong [Music] cass white [Music] craig j williams [Music] so congratulations bstd graduates it's great to see that you've made it through one of the hardest schools and one of the hardest programs that anyone can do it's a really great to see what you've done over the years i'm proud of what all of you have accomplished and i'm really looking forward to see what you're going to do when you go out there and change the industry for the better i expect i'll be playing a lot of the games that you guys make over the next years and i'm really happy to see that you're well prepared to do it elgin matthew cyani samuel aaron mccann [Music] august mccubbin taylor keaton osmond [Music] ott henry folsom smithson megan works [Music] well folks all i can say is i am in awe you've explored the intersection of art and science the overlap in the venn diagram of music and code the world of digital signal processing and audio programming not only did you make it through one of the toughest undergraduate cs programs on the planet but you clawed through the last 12 months of it in the middle of a global emergency lockdown so if anyone ever doubts your grit your tenacity or your ability to push past the impossible you remember this moment when you prove that you can do anything mazel tov [Music] christian angelo aysan [Music] jihoon bay [Music] brendan paul bankston [Music] charles paul buduski [Music] nicholas bugliarelli [Music] wei you chen braxton d hate matt deluca ryan adam lewis doogie charles james eichelberger wungji on [Music] jonathan javin fame cassio corbin frerichs [Music] thomas walker frisbee [Music] michael scott fritz [Music] ilguan ha [Music] samuel robert hardin [Music] louis hong jae jun jang jared augustus joyal [Music] minsoo kang timur kazumuratov [Music] kim min-ji kim [Music] jong-ki kim [Music] seth andrew kohler [Music] chi ho guan [Music] benjamin hans land trip brian liu raheel ishmael momen [Music] cody lee morgan daniel matthew onstag spencer coltrane park [Music] jeffrey james peterson maxwell plum [Music] andre ponomara [Music] colin lee quinn aditya ravi chandra [Music] jake ryan [Music] samuel swenson schimmel jeremy joseph scott songwook shin [Music] quentin silas skinner levi sklaroff joseph justin arthur sloane akira sopathama rungsi [Music] quinton matthew steiner [Music] christopher r thomas alexander robert townsend [Music] aaron viner [Music] david thomas walker [Music] riley whitcomb colton wuerl hun yang [Music] congratulations graduates of our bachelor of science in computer science in real time simulation program as the graduate of our rtis program you are at the forefront of a technological revolution lending vital support to communities across the globe through digital media though our journey was challenging not the least due to a worldwide pandemic you have done it your perseverance dogged determination and unwavering support towards your fellow student community has enabled you to emerge victorious be thankful for your family and loved ones while your achievements today make us proud we have no doubt that you will continue to soar even higher in the future on behalf of the entire staff and faculty of the rtis program congratulations graduates of 2021 digipen dragons take flight before our founder mr claude comer 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 2021 graduates if you are wearing your graduation cap you may now turn your tassel if you are not feel free to celebrate in whatever way you see fit you did it [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 [Music] greetings everyone we are again at this time of the year when we have to say goodbye to some some of you it is a moment of great pleasure for us because we have succeeded to graduate yet another year and that is something difficult in general it has been made extremely difficult the last two years with the koveed hanging over us and us having to adapt to a totally new system however it was a pleasure to making sure that everything was going fine and i can assure you that you have all deserved this graduation none of you that are now leaving us are leaving us without the luggage that they need in order to face the world i am confident that you will do very well i would like to actually share with you a couple of remarks just maybe an advice or two in order to succeed or keep succeeding in in this endeavor well one thing that we know is that you have been well taught and you have been well prepared and i am very confident that from this standpoint you will be fine if you find yourself that you need more education remember that we are here for you and you have with us a credit of 10 years you can come back and you can actually take classes for free for the next 10 years this is to say that we believe in the education that we give and we believe that we should not waver on any quality and we should actually understand that a person that went through this gauntlet could have actually neglected one item or two along the way and given the you know general outcome satisfactory as it should be you are graduating however you may face at times new challenges that you did not tackle at the at the school level and if we are teaching those technologies and those theories please come back if you feel that you have been missing something here that we taught you something and you missed it and you passed anyway despite our vigilant eyes i would recommend you to come back and do it do not actually waver on the quality ever in your life so quality quality and more quality will assure your success this is the reason that we have existed for the past 30 some years over 33 years now and we have been actually doing very well simply because we have never wavered on quality please continue in the same direction that you have been taught here and you'll be fine the second advice is that you need to listen a lot in life when you go and join your companies or your future organizations or whatever you will be doing when you are in meetings please listen a lot to what is being said and only after listening carefully answer when you need to answer so listen much more than you talk and make sure that make sure that you are always brief and honest about what you know and what you don't know if you know something say i know it and if you don't know it don't be ashamed just say i don't know it go and find the answers and come back and find solutions and present the solution that needs that need to be there so as i said continue education continue the quality and listen a lot these are the two things that i would volunteer today and i would dare to just recommend because now you are no longer my student you are my peers and humbly i would just volunteer this information because it actually served me in my life the third thing that i would recommend and that would be probably the last item on my agenda today would be honesty honesty which actually beyond anything would serve you the best in life be honest be humble be grateful all of these trades or these qualities i'll group them under honesty because honest people are always humble honest people are always grateful honest people do not fool other people they just actually always tend to help and support other people that's what i would recommend you and people seeing that in these qualities in you will open their arms and would receive you and would actually would like to work with you and support you and do actually the journey of life alongside so this is what i would recommend today i do not like to give long speeches during graduations because it's no longer time for us to speak it is time for us to listen to you so go out there and if you find that we need to change something please by all means come back and tell us you are the most important ambassador that we have now it is with you and your work that you will define the future of this college i have never claimed that digipen will be great on its own i always said that we are as great as the result that we give out and you are the result of our work you are the result of your own you know effort and and and successes and failures that you have faced and collectively you actually used in order to go forward and to you know face life together today as a group as an individual but never forget that we are all together here for each other you need to come back come back to tell us something to tell us to change something to recommend something we are all ears now you are our ambassador you are our friend and you are our family so please go be successful and come back and like us the teachers here you know come back and help produce more young people and future generations this is what i would love to see in the future you are always welcome to come back to digipen for a meal for talking for hanging out we would like to hear from you and we would like to keep in touch we did not spend all these years together to forget you you are in our hearts and you will be always remembered and you are always welcome to come back and to talk to us suggest or just to say hello thank you so much for taking the time of your life i mean the time out of your life in order to be with us and to allow us to teach you i hope that we are actually happy with the result all together you and us i hope that you will do very well i thank all the teachers that supported you all the staff and from all of us here we say congratulations and good luck in the future thank you to your families your supporters we really appreciate the effort that you put in order to support your students again thank you so much god bless and hope to see you all together happy and soon back at digipen telling us wonderful stories you take care [Music] um [Music] with nothing [Music] if you are afraid come out if you are awake come out come loud and level up [Music] lord be our cinders from a fire burning long ago but here it is [Music] everybody here whatever [Music] forever [Music] everybody's [Music] and let your faith die bring your wonder yes you are only one no it is not enough but if you lift your eyes i am your brother and this is all we need and this is where we start this is the day [Music] [Music] if you're afraid [Music] everybody [Music] you
2021-04-26