 Please join me in saying the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Good afternoon. Welcome to NCSSM's 39th Convocation. I have the pleasure of introducing our dignitaries this afternoon. Please hold your applause until everyone has been introduced. As I call your name, please stand. NCSSM Chancellor, Todd Roberts, Convocation Speakers, Adrienne Hill, Class of 1995, Allison Hill, Class of 1997, Alex Hill, Class of 2007, Vice Chancellor for Academic Programs, K.D. O'Connor, President of Student Government, Rakeem Yakubu, Class of 2019, President of Student Senate, Marco Allen, Class of 2019, Chair, NCSSM Board of Trustees, Tom Looney, Vice Chair, NCSSM Board of Trustees, Mark Morgan, Board of Trustees members, Steve Griffin, Hugh Holston, former NCSSM Executive Director, John Frederick, Alumni Association Board Representative, Anna Bauer, Class of 2001, Parent Association Chair, Tina Wang-Fulford, Parent Association Chair, Emerita, Emily Martin, Class of 1988, Parent Association Chair, Emerita Jane Jackson. Thank you. Well, good evening again to everyone here gathered this afternoon. My name is Todd Roberts, the Chancellor. And I want to welcome all of you to the Convocation for the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Convocation signals the beginning of our academic year here at the school. And I hope that each of you has had a great first few days on campus and are looking forward to the first day of classes tomorrow. We're very happy that you're all here. And I'm looking forward to a fantastic school year with each of you. I want to take this opportunity to thank again some of our distinguished guests, our faculty and staff, and all the students for being here this evening. It's also wonderful to have some of our Emeritus faculty members here as well, members of the Board of Trustees, Foundation Board, Alumni Board, Parent Association, all here to welcome you to the start of the school year. I think by having all of these groups represented, it goes to show you the interest that people across the state, some with connections to NCSSM, some with not. We don't have connections to NCSSM here to welcome you today. I also want to take this opportunity to briefly welcome our Convocation speakers, Adrienne Allison and Alex Hill. The Hill sisters as you've heard are graduates of NCSSM and they're here to share with us this evening. They're more than a decade of experiences at NCSSM as well as sharing life after the school. This is the first year we've had three Convocation speakers at the same time. And so this will be something new for us and exciting and I'm really, really looking forward to what they have to say. I also want to take an opportunity just to briefly recognize the Hill sisters family who is here and we'll ask you to stand in just a minute but thank you for being here as well. And I don't know the last time you were in the auditorium here at the school, maybe family day back when Alex was in school but welcome back to NCSSM. I'm pleased that each year we start our school year with an address from alumni of the school. One of the things that I've found to be so special during my eight years at NCSSM is the fond memories that alumni have of the school and their willingness to give back to the school and to the state of North Carolina because of the experiences they had here when they were students. Whether it's through their financial support that allows us to provide all of you with the many opportunities you have day in and day out here on campus or whether it's by giving of their time and talent to our school or whether it's through their continued service to our state and others, our alumni make a difference in so many different ways and you're gonna get to hear some of that from the Hill sisters later today. It gives you an opportunity to also think about while you're sitting here and over the next two years and beyond, the opportunities that you have here at NCSSM and what life might hold for you once you graduate. This afternoon marks the beginning of NCSSM's 39th year. About this time in 1980, the very first class of 150 juniors was on this campus preparing for what they and the faculty and staff at that time weren't exactly sure it was the first year of the school but what they hoped it would be would be a time to explore the infinite possibilities of what this new idea, this new opportunity this school might have to offer them. So fast forward to now and hear you all sit. The 680 students that make up the classes of 2018 and 2019 or 2020, sorry. With the many possibilities that lay ahead for you this year at NCSSM. Much has changed in the past 38 years of the school. Many of the people and many of the things that you are all here, talented students from all across North Carolina and that you are here with outstanding faculty and staff and the tremendous support of the many friends of our school to make your experience what you want it to be and allow you to have the key ingredients necessary to explore the infinite possibilities that you have before you. To this point in your life you work very hard to achieve success and lay the foundation for your futures. Every student in this auditorium has a success story to tell or you would not be sitting here right now. Not all of your stories are the same. You come from all over this great state representing 84 of our 100 counties and you bring with you a diversity of experiences that make you all different people and that is the beauty of this place. You're different in many ways and you will learn much from each other because of those differences but you also share much in common. You all share a commitment to learning, to being successful in school. You all have big dreams and a desire to accept a greater challenge. NCSSM is the place where each of you will write the next chapter in your story collectively and you will help write the 39th chapter in NCSSM's history. The greatest thing about NCSSM truly is the people. It's the community that we all create together or all of us that makes this place special. However, community does not just happen. We make it the way we want it to be. NCSSM has a long commitment to celebrate the diversity of thought and experience we are so fortunate to have on campus. Given the events that we see and hear about all around us on a daily basis, at no time has valuing diversity of thought and experience been in more important and required greater effort. Again, community does not just happen. We work to make it what we want it to be. That is why in our strategic plan we have placed an emphasis on how we can make sure we have a campus environment that values diversity and is welcoming for all and is a place where we promote health and wellness so that each of you can thrive in our community. To support these efforts, many of our seniors and faculty and staff have been actively involved in our mental health and wellness committees and our campus climate, culture, and diversity or 3C-DC committee. These committees have been active over the past couple of years in helping shape our community and I look forward to their continued work in the coming year. Also over the course of this year, we will continue the work begun by the NCSSM Graduate Visioning Committee last spring. This committee of faculty, staff, and students began looking at what NCSSM graduates should be able to know and do when they leave NCSSM and how we need to structure our requirements and the student experience to best create the environment that will help each of you achieve these outcomes. We look forward to your continued involvement in our next phase of this planning. Our work on graduate visioning and our work on mental health and wellness and campus climate, culture, and diversity are not isolated efforts. But our intertwined in helping create the living and learning environment that inspires each of us to be our best and all of us together be better than we might have been otherwise. Class of 2020, I know that you have been provided with a lot of information over the past few days and I imagine that you might be a little overwhelmed at this point, but I hope that you're excited for what lies ahead and ready to take advantage of all the next two years has to offer you. Let me tell you that you not only have wonderful guides in our amazing faculty and staff for you over these two years, but you also have your seniors. The seniors are a wonderful group. The members of the class of 2019, I know they will play an important and large part in your story of success here at NCSSM. In class of 2019, I know that you are also excited about what lies ahead this year. As I'm sure you know, senior year is a busy one. One that as you live and learn at NCSSM, you'll be working on college applications over the next few months, laying the foundation for your next chapter. I encourage you to make the most of every minute of your next nine months because come May, as sweet as graduation will be at that time, I'll bet each of you will wish you had a little more time at NCSSM. So with that in mind, just how fast your two years at NCSSM will go, I hope that each of you enjoys your year ahead. And so at this time, I would like to proudly recognize your student body president, Abdul Rakhim Yakubu to bring you his greetings. So again, welcome to the school year. Thank you, Dr. Roberts, for that nice warm welcome. It is my honor to welcome everyone to NCSSM's 39th convocation. Seniors, we've made it to our final chapter of our high school career. While there are still gonna be many challenges ahead, while many challenges and obstacles it has as we go through this year, don't forget to cherish every moment we have ahead. And because before you know, it will be walking across the stage, at commencement and barking on yet another journey in our life story. Juniors, congratulations. You made it to one of the top high schools in the country where we're able to experience an education only a select number of teenagers get to have. Make sure you don't waste this wonderful opportunity. During these first few days, you probably felt a few feelings like excitement, anxiety, maybe a bit of homesickness, but don't forget about all the hard work and dedication that has gotten you to this point today. Before we start the year, I'd like to offer you some advice that will hopefully ease your transition here at Science and Math. First, I want you to ask yourself, who do you want to be? There's probably a significant amount of people, including myself in this room, that can say that their academic success was driven by their parents and guardians, whether it was you trying to please them as much as possible, or if your mom was like mine always on your back about assignments, grades and stuff like that. But at Science and Math, you'll need to find something else to drive you during your time here. Your parents and guardians aren't here to guide and motivate you like they used to before. Instead, you must now rely on your motivations and your academic drive to pursue success. So again, ask yourself, who do you want to be? Where do you want your life to go? What are your priorities? It's okay not to know the exact answer to these questions right now. You should contemplate them during your time here. Attempt to find the internal motivation you will need to make it through your final years of your education. Secondly, I want you to remember to fail big. Here at NCSM, school can be quite challenging and stressful. The rigor is certainly not what most of you are used to, but don't let these challenges discourage you. Welcome these challenges. Feed off of them. You're only here for two years, so make the most out of it. Explore your passions and make sure to think outside the box. No one expects you to be 100% perfect here. Many, if not all the teachers on the stage would agree that failure is an opportunity to learn more about yourself and learning how to do a failure can help you to be more successful. Don't forget you have an excellent support group of adults on campus that will be invested in your success, including your CC, your counselors, your teachers, and many others on campus. Lastly, remember to have fun. We have a great campus community here with students from all over the state, from Elizabeth City to all the way in the mountains in McDowell County. But remember to make new friends, new connections, go get ice cream on Nine Street, explore Duke East, Duke Gardens, check out the rap ciphers in downtown Durham, go on loops to the mall, and many, many, many more things. You may also have the chance to meet someone in the next coming weeks. They'll become your lifelong best friend. I'm at my boy Marco right here, the first day of Amstead. And ever since then, we've been pretty inseparable, and he's been with me through the thick and thin, and now we serve side by side as presidents of science and math. So don't forget to meet new people. I'd like to close my welcome with a quote. Education is our passport to the future. For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today. Malcolm X. Thank you. Thank you, Rocky. Good afternoon, students, faculty, staff, special guests, friends of NCSSM. On behalf of academic programs, let me add my welcome to, we celebrate convocation as we launch a new school year with our 39th NCSSM convocation. We're fortunate today to be making history at NCSSM. This year is special. As Chancellor Robert said, instead of having one convocation speaker, we have three, the Hill Sisters. And that has never happened before at NCSSM. Our speakers grew up in Yancey County, northeast of Asheville in Sealow. I do wanna recognize a few family members who traveled with the Hill Sisters today. Their parents, Beverly and Steve, are with us this afternoon, and Allison's husband, Matt Wood, and their son, Liam, is here. Can you please stand to be recognized? Please stand. Thank you so much. I've just really enjoyed getting to know your family on this journey. It was a set of flashcards that helped Adrienne, the elder Hill sister, earn her path to NCSSM. When Adrienne was in seventh grade, she created flashcards with vocabulary words and studied them every night because her heart was set on attending. After a lot of hard work, she completed her paper application to NCSSM and found out through a letter in the mail that she was accepted. She had just turned 16, and while her father was comfortable with the transition to Durham, her mother was a bit more anxious. There were no cell phones at the time, so there was less immediate communication. The only way to reach Adrienne was to call the hall phone. Each residence hall had one phone for all the families to call and students to use. Her parents hoped to reach her between classes and activities, but that was hard to do. Two years later, Allison, the second eldest, was now interested and ready to attend NCSSM. Allison and Adrienne's moving experiences were much different than what the class of 2020 experienced this past Saturday. This past Saturday, we moved in 350 students in two hours. Back in the late 90s, there were no amazing class of 2019 senior leadership students who helped parents and families unload cars. Parents at that time, and Beverly and Steve can confirm this, unloaded all their own cars, walked all their own items up to their rooms, and if students wanted to loft their beds, then they had to bring their own wood and materials and construct the loft on site. Of course, lofting beds is pretty popular, so this is where our fabrication lab could have come in handy. But it was their mother, Beverly, who was quite adept at making things, so she was in charge of the loft construction. Alex, the third hill sister, is 10 years younger than Allison. There were a lot of rules and regulations at NCSSM, so I guess that is one thing that hasn't changed. We still have a lot of rules. Beverly and Steve were quite savvy about the school rules. If the NCSSM curfew was 10 p.m., then they would set their home curfew at 11 p.m., making it one hour later at home than the school rule, and this definitely boosted their parent-daughter relationships. Another item that hasn't changed in 23 years is the importance of mentors. Elizabeth Moose, Tom Clayton, and Jamie Lathan all here on stage with us today were mentioned by the hill sisters as mentors. Can you all stand to be recognized? Mentors are people in your life who you admire because they have taken the time to guide you on your journey. Another mentor that all the hill sisters mentioned was Dr. John Miller. Dr. Miller passed away in 2017. He was a founding faculty member, and he taught at NCSSM for 35 years until his retirement in 2015. He is an NCSSM legacy. What's most important when leaving a legacy are the words that people use to describe you. I would ask and encourage every student in the class of 2019 and 2020 to ask the hill sisters at the picnic this afternoon, or ask an adult on campus to tell you about Dr. Miller. This is how his legacy will continue to live on. I was fortunate to communicate with Beverly and Steve to get their parent perspective about NCSSM, and they mentioned how critical it is to live and learn in a welcoming, diverse, and inclusive environment for all students. They are extremely proud parents and grateful to the institution for providing a value-added, high-quality, living and learning experience for their daughters. So then I asked the question that you're all wondering, who is their favorite daughter? Their father responded. Did you all raise your hands? Their father responded, your relationship with your children is in a sense like planets orbiting a celestial body. For some weeks or months, one is closer and may need support and another is more distant. And then that rotates and changes and another is closer. What a perfect science and math analogy. So what an exciting year we have ahead of us. We are about to make history as soon as the Hill Sisters begin their talk and we are making history in so many different ways this year. We're serving more students across North Carolina in our online and IVC programs. We've changed the name of SLI to community coordinators to better reflect what they do on a daily basis, which is creating and supporting this vital community. We have more students than alumni giving back to NCSSM in various ways than ever before. We now have 62 acres of beautiful land in Morganton and we will break ground on a second campus this spring to provide more students in North Carolina access to this extraordinary NCSSM experience. So why stop there? Please join me in continuing to make history by welcoming not one, not two, but three convocation speakers, the Hill Sisters. I feel like we should start a band with the name the Hill Sisters in our unit language. We're just gonna sing for the next 15 minutes. She's kidding, we have terrible voices. I first wanna just start off by welcoming all the students. We were all here 24, 22 and 12 years ago and it was such an exciting time. It does not feel like that long since we've been sitting in your chairs, but it's amazing to be back. I also wanted to thank the chancellor, Miss Moose and Katie O'Connor for convincing us to come, getting us together. This is, we live on different coasts and different parts of the US. This is one of the first times we've been together in a while and it's really an honor to be back. So today we're not gonna stand on the stage and tell you what to expect about being here or tell you what it's gonna be like because you should figure that out for yourselves and 20 plus years, it's probably different. I hear they have a lot of rules these days. What we are gonna talk about is some of the lessons that we learned. We're three sisters. We all three grew up in Western North Carolina. Our parents say we share genetics but we're not sure some days. And we all came here, but we're all very different. We have followed different paths in life and we've made different choices even though we are cut from the same cloth. And so I think there's so much foundational that happened here at Science and Math just to talk about our experience and some of the lessons we learned is what we wanted to come and talk about today. Like Allison said, we're all really, really different and if you know us, if you get to know us you'll learn just how different we are. So some of what we say, what each of us say might not resonate with you but hopefully there'll be something in here that does that sort of makes sense with your experience of where you are right now. I feel like all of our stories are, there's relevance here, there's something interesting. So we're gonna share parts of our stories that Ms. Moose says I can share. There are other stories we can talk about later. And just like these aren't all gonna be bright and shiny success stories. These are the stories of our struggles here at Science and Math. And I think what we're hoping to get is because we are so different we all had really different takeaways from our experience at Science and Math. But all three of us I think have turned out to be relatively well-adjusted adults. We're not Nobel Prize winning adults but we're all pretty young still. So we've decided that if you follow our advice to a T you too can be relatively well-adjusted adults after your graduation from Science and Math. Don't over promise. And so we frame the talk with questions with where were we when we were in your seat. And for me one of the first questions that came up when I was at Science and Math was do I belong here? So in this picture in the top corner that's my hall when I first came as a junior I'm hiding down here in the corner. And I was looking at this picture and thinking about like what was going on in my head and it's do I belong here? Am I gonna fit in? Do these people like me? Am I good enough to be here? And this is really important. When I'm talking about belonging today I'm talking about the kind of belonging like those struggles that come up when you're struggling with confidence or anxieties or might not be feeling like you fully belong with a group yet. And I think that the three of us had really different contexts. When we first came to Science and Math with this idea of belonging because Adrienne applied and got in and she was here. Allison applied and got waitlisted which was different. And I applied and I got rejected. So I applied to Science and Math initially one of the big reasons was because I didn't feel like I belonged in my home high school. And then when I got that rejection letter I was like oh I don't belong at Science and Math either. And not only that but I felt like I maybe didn't belong with my siblings because I was the sister that couldn't get in. But then something amazing happened. I read in the little fine print on my mailed rejection letter that you could appeal and to appeal the admission decision you would write in with why you should go and they promised to re-look at your application. Adrienne was working at NPR at the time and so we decided to do it a little differently and actually have people call her and record verbal recommendations for me. And we made a CD and mailed it in the mail to the admissions department. And you know what? I got in. And I think that's just a testament and you'll see this as the talk goes on as to how sort of die hard this group and the family is that we're very persistent when we know yes is the right answer. And that's the first thing that I learned about belonging is that there's no way to feel like you're a part of something or to belong without reaching out. If I hadn't initiated the appeal process and leaned on my family for their support if I had just accepted that rejection letter then that would have been that and I would not have belonged in this community. And so what's important I think is in life you're going to be told no and you'll fail and be frustrated and question who you are and question if you belong somewhere. But it's also in those moments where reaching out has so much power to be able to create that belonging for yourself. And then once I was here I had a similar issue where I hadn't gotten in so maybe I wasn't good enough to be in the classes. Like who are all these crazy smart kids around me? Like how am I gonna live up to this? But over time I made great friends and I found that I did fit in and I wanted to throw up this picture of me my senior year in my award winning Halloween costume which was going as the AP biology department or just the biology department with my friends. But you know you find your weirdness you find where you go. And then my senior year I was talking to two of my best friends at Happy Half and we were talking about the new juniors coming in and we realized that all three of us had gotten in on appeal and none of us had talked about it before because we had been embarrassed and that was such a profound moment for me because in hindsight what it taught me is that if my question of whether or not I belong somewhere comes from a place of self doubt then reaching out and just talking about it to my friends makes such a big difference. And I wanna say this worry about belonging if that's something that resonates with you it doesn't just go away and it doesn't have to just go away but you can learn to sort of think about it differently. So when Ms. Moose asked us to give this talk I thought she was crazy. I thought about it and I thought of all the reasons I should not be on this stage. Compared to other members of the class of 2007 I'm not working the most high powered job. Compared to my sisters I'm not working the most high powered job but what I realized is maybe the most important thing I have to share isn't about my high powered job maybe that I have something else to offer and so I thought about it and I think what I can offer is that we all will do well sometimes we all will fail sometimes and everyone, everyone that I know has struggled at some point with do I belong here? And so reach out, talk to your friends talk to your RLAs, your SLIs, CCs, community coordinators and your teachers and counselors because I'll bet that for a lot of you if you reach out and you have that question of belonging you'll realize that if you want to you can also belong. I ask myself this question as well when Alex brought this up is one of the key lessons learned and recognize that do I belong is a question that I've had sort of through my career path and a question that I've really learned to love I love this question I love when there's pivotal points in my life where I say do I belong and then I can answer that. I think when I was waitlisted and came to Science and Math I said do I belong and as soon as I got here I understand with all the wealth of experience and wonderful people in the room and faculty and staff it was an absolute yes for me. I think when I made the decision after college to move to Zambia and do you work in early 2000s and HIV and AIDS as a single woman I asked do I belong here and it was a resounding yes. I now ask in my current job so I run a company I'm in business and I'm in an industry that is male dominated and a lot of times I'm the youngest person in the room and a lot of times I'm the only woman in the room and every day when I ask myself do I belong here it's absolutely yes but there are other times when the answer is no and you know when I was sitting in your seats I thought I was going to be a doctor and go to medical school and the answer for me to that question was no and amazing things have come from me being able to embrace that no. So do I belong is a question I've asked at other points in my life but when I was at Science and Math maybe it was just like first kid over confidence or just selective memory on my part but I wasn't thinking do I belong I was thinking what can I get away with and more importantly maybe and this is where the dark side of Adrienne comes out but like who do I want to be so if you flip this slide here I was I had a rough go in middle school that's me with the Dorito haircut it's my family called it really lovingly it was an awkward phase I had my fair share of awkward phases and when I was in my first high school I at least like this history of this awkwardness this nerdiness like clung to me and I was just like wherever I went I was the girl with the Dorito hair at least in my mind and then I showed up to Science and Math and I realized like that history wasn't there anymore I had a new haircut it was better but also all of the like baggage I had been carrying with me all of the anxiety that had built up at my home school over years and years and years about like who I was and what I was that wasn't here and I remember like the first day at Science and Math looking around me like I can be who I want and it was incredibly liberating and incredibly powerful just to say I'm letting go of some of these things that have just stuck with me for so long so the bad part of this is I used my new power and I used it for evil instead of good and I decided I would try being the like cool obnoxious popular girl who was really a horrible person and Allison can attest She was terrible That was terrible That was a really bad phase in our life together sisters In my senior year book this is real there is a picture of me captioned Adrienne Hell so just for real like I wasn't a super nice person but I learned from it and when I got to college I remade myself again into a nicer version of myself and it is something I have done over and over and over in my life take moments of big change to think about who you want to be and what that is and if this is resonating with you right now if this makes any sense you know go for it sloth off whatever it is you want to get rid of and try something else because it is incredibly liberating and freeing and you have this moment and this chance to do that but learn from my mistakes and don't become super snobby mean And for me when I thought about reinventing myself as it relates to science and math it has to do with my career and how I have gone on after science and math I feel like you all have so much pressure to specialize and when I was here 11 years ago that was also the case but it was not as intense as it was today and when I was 16 I just hated the pressure to feel like I needed to know who I was and what was my passion and what was I going to do to curate the perfect college application and I realized though that looking back science and math gave me the opportunity to not specialize I got to take a class about forensics I got to take a class about fractals with dantig I got to learn about Tennessee Williams from Ms. Moose and I got to explore all kinds of new topics and what I learned is that I am passionate about a very wide variety of things and I can be happy doing a very wide variety of things and I have the ability to reinvent myself in my career because your career plans are not always going to go the way you want them to for a wide variety of reasons but I feel so lucky that I have that superpower to be able to find something that I really love and enjoy in a lot of different places which I discovered here and much like Adrienne started the first topic that we were talking about do I belong as that not really being a question that was keeping her up at night this question of who am I or how I reinvent myself really wasn't a question keeping me up at night I think one of the questions that I really thought about here was the fact that coming to Science and Math was such an amazing opportunity that the taxpayers of North Carolina faculty and staff were investing time energy money in my education and me having this experience and what was gonna be their return on investment how did I give back how do I as a sort of pay it forward moment what's my plan on giving back so I arrived at Science and Math and this was on my mind and I think it continues to be through life but when I was sitting in your seat I sort of had a plan and a strategy and my plan and strategy for giving back this big investment was I am going to graduate and go to college and go to medical school and I am going to be a doctor in the rural mountains of North Carolina like my father and committed to healthcare for underserved populations like both of my parents and that seemed like a really solid plan and it seemed like something that my parents and the school and the taxpayers would be really proud of but it's not what happened and it's not the way it worked out and I think for many reasons choosing my own path and shaping what give back meant has gotten me so much more in terms of personal fulfillment I left Science and Math I ticked the boxes for pre-med I did my chemistry, I did my biology and then I moved to Zambia to work in an HIV hospice and clinic and I realized that after three years being there I came back and was still sort of on my path to go to medical school and I realized to make a long story short that I wasn't going to medical school and that I went into international public health and then global policy did a lot of work in malaria and tuberculosis, HIV and then I found my way to what I'm doing now running a company in water filtration that does amazing humanitarian work across the world but is a for-profit company and what we do is have a retail brand and business here we're the biggest manufacturer of water filters for REI, Bass Pro, Cabela's on Amazon Prime Day I'm not sure if you've seen Lifestraw but that's what I do and what I was able to do was realize that I could affect change on a global scale not just on a local scale as I had expected so here's really what I learned whether you give back locally, nationally or globally find something you're passionate about and make it your own I never imagined that I would spend a lot of my time sitting in meetings with REI and Amazon or be able to talk financial spreadsheets and things like that, work with engineers and run a manufacturing company but I do and what I was able to do is leverage that to help people all over the world and to me that's what I'm passionate about and that's what I created as a give back but it's not for everybody you don't have to be a doctor and lawyer like I thought when you come and graduate from here although I thought I was gonna be a doctor I am an entrepreneurial spirited person I like to move fast, I like to go big or go home I like to absolutely learn in the process this does not make a good doctor never hand me a scalpel because I will use it and think I'm gonna figure it out along the way but it does not mean I can't give back to my community and so for everyone here I think listen to that little part of your brain that says even though I'm certain I wanna do something if there's a part of you that says I'm incredibly passionate about something else figure out how you can pull those concepts together so Allison is super conscientious and has a very business mind I have never thought about North Carolina's return on investment in me I like the idea that the state has a spreadsheet and they're constantly like tabulating our successes and failures and determine if it's worth it but but I have thought a lot about also what I can do to make the world a better place and give back in other ways science and math you're gonna get an amazing education I got an education here that let me go to college and grad school after that I don't know that I could have made those steps without science and math and so for me when I think of give back a lot of that's been on the education side I post the crash some crash course videos econ and statistics that's been really really important if you're familiar with those because that's education for free for everybody I also spent most of my career in public radio and they're trying to explain the world and make more sense of it and I really do believe like education makes each of us better citizens and better people it helps us make better choices and to me that's how I think about giving back and for me with giving back it sort of ties into this education piece because I also after I left science and math decided to work in education and I just was thinking about this question and realized that giving back is really it's inspired in me and I think in my sisters and a lot of people that I know buy the faculty and the people sitting behind me right here so it's because of you all and how you work with us and with students and everybody that comes through these doors the faculty and staff and everybody who works at science and math serves as an inspiration for us to wanna give back and our own way to the community and I really wanted to thank Dr. Lathan who's sitting here because I was a very very quiet student and I didn't interact with much so I don't even know if Dr. Lathan knows what a big impact he had on my life because I was one of the students that just sort of sits back and observes like I was not going to interact quite as much but his passion for education and his passion for setting up students for success and just how much he loved it was amazing and he is one person in this room everybody in here is so passionate and excited about education and learning and so I just really wanted to say thank you to everybody who works at science and math and so finally we're gonna wrap up and we decided we can't leave convocation without giving you just a little bit more advice because when do we get to give advice to 600 people? My first piece of advice is pick and choose what advice you take from other people. And mine at the risk of speaking in cliches is get out of your comfort zone. This is the very first time I've done a public speaking anything ever so it's exciting that I made it through to this part. And the second piece of advice I wanna leave you is Haname Stella is out there somewhere when Haname, right there, right there, when she was about this high and I was a senior at science and math I was her babysitter. So I wanted to leave you with some of Haname's toddler wisdom which is, I think this is deeper than it sounds you really have to think about it. If you don't like your food cover it in cheese and try it again. 3.5 pieces of advice. The fifth one we'll keep under wraps so I'll leave it, sorry, the fourth one we'll keep it under wraps so I'll leave it for the end. The first one is don't be afraid of glass ceilings. Smash them, it's super fun. But also don't think that the ceiling you're looking for might be the one you face. Be ready to see a different ceiling than you sort of set your career path out to do. The second one's really define your own path to that give back. The science and math experience is foundational and while we all share this experience you have to make it your own. And the third full piece of advice I have before the half is really connect with all these wonderfully weird nerdy people around you in this room. 23 years after I left this place my two closest friends sat in this room with me. I did not know them when I got here. They have had my back for life and will continue to do so. So really the relationships that you have and make when you're here are for the long term. And the half piece of advice that I have and I understand this is streaming at home so sorry parents. But the half piece of advice that I have is pick and choose what you tell your parents. Katie mentioned at the outset there was an English teacher here for many years who's also my softball coach named Dr. John Miller. And when he died last year someone posted a writing prompt he used to give which included this excellent advice. Do not be shy, bashful or modest. Do not hide your light under a bushel. Fear not, flaunt your learning unabashedly. Be precise, specific, wide-ranging, witty and articulate. Don't back off, be brilliant. And it's good advice not just for a writing assignment but for life. Don't hide your light. You guys are awesome. You're gonna do awesome. Be brilliant. And have some fun while you're here. Thanks so much for having us. We are, thank you again for those wonderful, wonderful remarks. We really appreciate it. For our first time ever doing a sort of stand-up three-person convocation, you guys set a high bar. Thank you very much. Yeah, thanks. But to thank you, we wanted to present you with original Joe Lyles Prince of NCSSM. And for those of you that don't know Joe he was the original art teacher here and the art teacher for 30 years. And so these are for you to say thank you for doing this this evening. Thanks again for having us. Yeah, that's a thumbs up. If I had three thumbs I would do that. But I can only have two, so. Well again, thank you so much for being our convocation speakers this evening. And thanks to all of our speakers, Rakeem and Katie and Terry. We really appreciate you guys getting the school year off to a great start. And this is the time that we close convocation. I'd also like to thank our convocation committee for helping to plan and organize the event. Getting these wonderful prints together for all of you. And I also wanna thank all of our many guests that are here with us this evening as well. And in particular, thank all of our faculty and staff who have helped to prepare for all of your arrival this past Saturday and to get the 2018-19 school year off to a great start. So thank all of you. Let's give all of them a big hand. So you just got some great advice from three NCSSM alumna over a span of time who's all their experiences whereas they described a little bit different from one another. But great advice for you to take away. And as the school year begins, it's always a time of great possibilities. And as they said, it's an opportunity to come in and think about what you want these two years to be for you. Think about how to reinvent yourself if that's what you wanna do. And think about the next phase of your life. At NCSSM, you'll have greater opportunities and in some cases, greater challenges than ever before. But every one of you has the talent and determination to be as successful here as you have been through all of your schooling to this point. I assure you of that. And every member of our faculty and staff are here to help you succeed. And as was indicated by the Hill Sisters, you will not find a better and more committed group of professionals anywhere. So I would encourage you to take advantage of all they have to offer you. Get to know them, the faculty. Get to know the staff here at NCSSM. They'll be a big part of your success and a big part of your enjoyment of time at NCSSM. And I also encourage you to take advantage of the many opportunities that were mentioned as well in the speech. Whether they're in the classroom or the research labs or on campus or off on the playing fields, on the stage, doing community service that hopefully you will continue long after you graduate or own hall, explore your interests, grow your passions and strive for your best while working to help make those around you even better. It is this striving for your best while working to help those around you be better. That's the essence of community. A place where we work to be our best while at the same time working to build each other up. It's a place where we learn from and celebrate our differences and not separate and tear down each other because of them. Ours is a community where two people who may be hundreds of miles apart literally and where they live and worlds apart figuratively in their experiences prior to coming to NCSSM can room together and become lifelong friends, as you just heard. It's also a place where someone can perform on a stage in a cultural fest, a dance they did not know the name of before coming to NCSSM, where they can get up and sing for the first time in front of 80 people at Coffee House and be encouraged and applauded for their effort no matter what. It's for these and many other reasons that I marvel at our community where for 38 years the people have made the place and where we each work to be our best while striving to help each other and our community be better. It's now your opportunity to build on that legacy as those before you have. So all of you unicorns sitting here right now, the 2018-19 school years is yours. Yours for the challenges it's gonna present you, yours for the learning it offers you and yours for the many possibilities before you and I look forward to sharing it with you and to each of your great success. So congratulations and let's have a wonderful, wonderful 2018-19 school year. So after we recess everyone, I hope you will join us out on the Brian lawn for a picnic and get a chance to maybe more informally have a chat with Adrienne and Allison and Alex and they may have some additional advice that they said they might wanna share with you. I don't know. But again, welcome and thanks for everyone and I look forward to seeing you out on the Brian lawn after we recess. Yes. Good evening, I'm Phillip Riggs, one of the music instructors here at Science and Math and as we bring this 39th convocation to a close we'd like to thank Emily Martine, who's here tonight and the Martine family, three generations put together the music and the lyrics for our alma mater and so we had asked you to stand as the chorale and senior strings perform this for you once and then we're gonna invite you to join us in the alma mater. One student at the side, all we should. One other bit of information, once we finish the alma mater if you would remain standing and in place as the faculty and our guests recess and then you will be able to follow them to the Brian lawn. Thank you.