00:00Like any true Michigan man, I'm always eager to spread the good word about Michigan.
00:07A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to serve on a panel for high school students
00:12who wanted to learn more about the college experience here.
00:16As I prepared my spiel on how you have a better chance to get into med or law school from
00:21Michigan,
00:22on how this university is easily the best in the Midwest,
00:26on how Ann Arbor restaurants trump all others,
00:30and last but not least, if all else fails, how BTV is open until 4 a.m.
00:41I got to thinking about my experiences here.
00:45What I really wanted to communicate was why I love Michigan.
00:49Now, why do I love Michigan?
00:54I came to one prominent conclusion.
00:58Seven-month winters.
01:04I wanted to put a finger on what this university means to me.
01:08I mean, Michigan is the only real college experience I and most of you have ever had.
01:14Think with me now.
01:15What would college have been without packing into these seats on crisp Saturday afternoons
01:22to watch our boys in blue just obliterate whoever it was who wasn't lucky enough to be wearing the winged
01:27helmet?
01:35What would it be to walk between classes and not see your upper-level biology professor jamming it up on
01:42a harmonica?
01:46What would it be without the fishbowl?
01:48Actually, I can answer that one.
01:50You probably wouldn't have wasted a sum total of about 30 hours of your life just looking for a computer.
01:58And then, I thought about the real reason a student comes to a place of higher learning like this one.
02:07Thursday nights.
02:13But education is a process of transformation.
02:16And I realized I love Michigan because the person who's leaving here today is better than the one who came.
02:24And I know that extends to you, my fellow graduates, as well.
02:27So back to my story.
02:29I gave my spiel that day.
02:31And all was well and good until one kid, sitting in the back, he raised his hand and he asked,
02:37Bro, what's this Michigan difference they keep talking about in the commercials?
02:42For lack of anything better, I said, well, classes and commencements at Michigan start ten minutes later.
02:55That must have appeased him because he'll be here in the fall.
03:00But, besides a great advertising ploy, what really is the Michigan difference?
03:06It was back to deep thought for me.
03:09Is it the sum total of knowledge that you and I might have gained in lectures, labs, or discussions?
03:16Is it the fact that we're now more qualified for X, Y, or Z job?
03:21Or that we've passed step one on our way to becoming doctors or lawyers?
03:27Is it the fact that I can now add two more letters to my name, which, by the way, are
03:31BS?
03:38Obviously, none of these are the Michigan difference.
03:40And no, the Michigan difference isn't in the classes or the papers we've written or the tests that we've sat
03:47through.
03:47It's not the faculty, the administration, the facilities, or even Ann Arbor.
03:54Excuse me.
03:56The Michigan difference is us.
04:00It's the students.
04:01It's in the diversity of names, faces, stories, and experiences with which we decorate this great place.
04:10It's in the time that we've spent in self-assessment, self-improvement, and thought.
04:16It's the questions that we've asked and those that we've answered.
04:21It's the care we've shown, the people we've helped, and the passion that we have that defines us.
04:29Moreover, it's the fact that we're about to go out into a world that absolutely needs us.
04:35It needs to hear our stories spoken loudly, to consider our opinions, and to engage us in discussion.
04:44It needs us to ask it questions, to answer when it beckons, to show that we care, and to give
04:52it mercy, compassion, and love.
04:56It needs us to help those less fortunate.
05:00But most of all, it needs us to spread that contagious Michigan passion that has come to define us.
05:09It's that we have the audacity to believe that we can change this world, and that each of us will.
05:18So, that, my fellow graduates, University of Michigan, Class of 2007, is the Michigan difference.
05:25And I'm humbled to have been a part of it, with you.
05:28Go Blue!
