Best-selling author Wes Moore delivered the keynote address at the University of Massachusetts Boston’s official induction ceremony of the class of 2018.
On September 9, 2014, the class of 2018 Freshman Investiture Ceremony and reception took place at UMass Boston where hundreds of new students received an official welcome from Chancellor J. Keith Motley and Class of 2018 pins.
Provost Winston Langley delivered opening remarks, in which he spoke of the “principle of inclusion” embedded in the nature of the University. Provost Langley encouraged students to actively engage in their classes and their college experience, welcoming them to the University’s process of investiture.
“Investiture refers to our common commitment to the process of learning, to the development of a sense of community between and amongst ourselves, and a sense of obligation to an ever widening universe of persons with whom we may personally or otherwise come into contact,” said Provost Langley.
Echoing Provost Langley’s comments, Moore challenges students to think about education beyond the classroom. “If you think this experience is a walking process to the graduation stage with a diploma, you missed the point,” he said. “If you think that getting a degree is all it is about, you [still] missed the point.”
Moore argued that higher education is about applying your knowledge to bring meaning into the real world.
“Higher education is willing to step up, to fight and to serve for something that is higher than yourself…because you have to,” he said.
“Ultimately,” Moore pointed out, “everything will fade but the one thing that will remain is what one accomplishes for himself and for the society.” Moore poses several thought-provoking questions, for example; “Who do you stand for? Who and what was matter besides yourself? Who do you defend?”, to name a few.
Wes Moore delivers keynote address at the class of 2018 investiture Ceremony
September 9, 2014