Good morning class of 2018, Welcome to Scripps!
My name is Alex Frumkin, and I am this year’s SAS President, I congratulate you on becoming a Scripps student.
You are about to find out the thing that makes Scripps truly unique, that sets it apart from the other Claremont Colleges, and every other liberal arts school in America: the community that we have here. Scripps is full of students, faculty and staff who will empower you to become the best version of yourself.
At Scripps, female leaders are the norm, not the exception, and the people here are some of the most brilliant, caring individuals you will ever meet. They are passionate about things that I never even knew existed, and they make excellent teachers, mentors, and friends.
So my first and most important piece of advice to you as incoming Scripps students is to engage with the community.
Grades are important, and parties are fun (really fun), but never underestimate the value of learning from the Scripps community. The students here are brilliant, courageous, and hardworking. You are one of these students. And you are surrounded by future Fulbright scholars, authors, politicians, mothers, professors, doctors, researchers, social activists, artists, and lawyers.
So I urge you to be courageous during your first year here at Scripps: step outside of your comfort zone, connect with people who are different from you, join clubs that push you, and attend debates about topics you are passionate about, or even know nothing about. If you do so, you will expand your mind in ways you didn’t even know was possible.
Get outside yourself; share your story and discover what other people’s experiences and backgrounds are. It is the people of Scripps that make it so unique, so the faster you get out there and start learning from them and let them learn from you the happier you will be. . Thousands of people across the country will graduate with a degree similar to yours in four years, but few will have had the opportunity to learn so much from their community.
Every day for the next four years these special students are your peers, so my second piece of advice is to soak up your time with them. Go find the people who will inspire you and change you for the better. The people who will be ridiculously entertaining and make you laugh. The people who will teach you in your four years here. The people who will still be important to you in 50 years.
Third, try to keep things in perspective during your first year. It is so easy to suffer one set back, one bad grade, one failed election, one friendship dissolving and feel like it is the end of the world.
But let me let you in on a little secret, everyone feels that way at some point. You are not alone. Reach out to the support system that is here for you, and don’t let one bump in the road define your time at Scripps.
I am very conscious about how easy it can be for this to happen. In my first semester of college, I got a C on my first core paper, lost the first year election to be on SAS, and got put on B team of Scripps Mock Trial…at the time each of those things kind of felt like the end of the world, and I didn’t do what I’m urging you to do.
I took too long to lean on friends, talk to my peer mentor, get a tutor. But I finally did and ultimately those let-downs didn’t determine anything about my next four years here.
So don’t isolate yourself when the setbacks happen. (And they will.)
But be confident. You deserve to be here. Remember to rely on your inner strength and find the support resources that are out there. Soon enough you’ll have your confidence back.
Scripps will probably be even better than you expect it to be. I remember my own freshman convocation very, very well. I sat where you are, not certain that Scripps was going to be the right place for me.
But I have loved this school for just about every second of every minute that I’ve been here. Time at Scripps flies by, I can’t believe that it was me three years ago sweating and anxiously biting my nails next to my parents (we were sitting right over there[pointing]).
Three years from now all of you will have learned and grown in and out of the classroom. Before you know it, one of you in this room will be standing up here, as SAS President and all of you will have found your place in the Scripps community.
So welcome to the adventure that is about to begin. The journey is yours to shape. Make it an incredible journey.
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