AsDanielgoesontoTeachforAmerica,heleavesauniversitythatischangedforthebetter.
Thechangesyouhaveseenoncampusandaroundtheglobealsoprovidearoadmapthatcanserveasaguidetothechangesyoucancreateinsociety.
Purposefullycontributingtochangerequirescourage,trust,andthewillingnesstolistenandconsidermanyvoices.Itworksbestwhentrustisbuiltbyfindingcommonground,andwhenwerejecttheviewthatitis“usversusthem”—thattheremustbewinnersandlosers.
Thisishowwecanovercometheerosionoftrustandbegintocollaboratetoworkthroughdifferences.
Ittakescouragetoopenourselvesuptoopinionsandinterpretationswedon’tagreewith.Butit’salsohowwelearn,sharpenourownarguments,andhoneourabilitytopersuadeothers.
YourtimeatMichiganhasprovidedawonderfulprovinggroundtodevelopyourabilitytocreatechange.Whereelsecanyouseeksolutionsamongsuchtalentedscholars,allpursuingknowledgeandunderstandingtoadvanceaquintessentiallypublicmission?
U-Misaplacewheredataandevidencematter,whereallvoicescanbeheard,andwheretalentedandhard-workingstudentsemergeasleadersandbest.