Friends, family, and members of the graduating class of the Excelsior Preschool for the Gifted and Talented,

I’m honored to be your commencement speaker today. Your teacher wanted me to read excerpts from “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” But I’m not going to do that—you’re not babies anymore. If you’re sitting here today, it’s because your mountains aren’t waiting for you—you’ve already been moving them.

As a fellow Excelsior alum, I see a preschool class that is uniquely equipped to solve the problems our world faces. I read some of your admissions essays to get a clearer sense of who you are, and wow. It’s inspiring to see how many of you aren’t afraid to defy convention. The number of you who drew abstract representations of yourselves instead of submitting a boring personal statement—that’s the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that makes you exceptional.

You have all worked incredibly hard to get here. Just think: before preschool, you were still picking your nose—now you’re carrying spare tissues. A lot of you are feeling anxious about your future. Will the curriculum in kindergarten be rigorous enough to prepare me for the LSAT? Will I connect with the right influencers?

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/shouts/2014/05/commencement-address-for-the-preschool-class-of-2014.html?utm_source=tny&utm_campaign=generalsocial&utm_medium=tumblr&mbid=social_tumblr