Thank you, Bishop Lovelace, for the warm welcome to address your congregation this morning.

It’s such an honor to join you all here today and be a part of your college journey, one that will continue all the way to graduation and beyond!

I’m pleased to join the parents and students in the audience today who know the power of a college degree. They understand how it creates generational wealth and the mindset to build successful careers in any field.

A recent study found that a college graduate will make over a million dollars more in a lifetime than someone with a high school diploma, but a college degree offers more than financial rewards.

It broadens your understanding of the world and empowers you to transform your creative ideas into solutions for the world’s great challenges.

As the chancellor of UC Davis, I hope you’ll all be wearing Aggie Blue and Gold soon, but I know you can find a home on any of the University of California campuses.

We’re a system dedicated to creating opportunities for students from across California and the world. We’re one of the most powerful engines of economic and educational opportunity in the world.

Over a third of our students are the first-generation in their families to attend college.

We are committed to supporting each of them from application to graduation. On our campuses, we support the whole student. We help them navigate the system, provide comprehensive student services, and offer some of the world’s best faculty and researchers.

At the University of California, you’ll learn from the best to become the best you can be.

We welcome your passion, talent, and unique perspectives. To each of you here today, I say this: we want you to join the great conversation taking place at the University. Your voice deserves to be heard and celebrated.

No one can ever better tell the struggles you’ve overcome and the triumphs you have achieved than you. Your voice is a powerful tool — unique and authentic, capable of empowering you and changing the world.

There might be other voices in your lives. You may have heard that the University of California isn’t for you.

Some make it their business to use their voices to define you because of what you believe, the school you attend, or the neighborhood you call home.

They see challenges in your life as endpoints, but you know — and I know — that the challenges you face will only inspire you to reach higher.

Those voices can seem loud, and their words can hurt. I heard them when I was an engineering student in college, just a little older than you are now. Even today, I know what micro-aggressions feel like. But I never let those voices write my story.

And those voices will not write yours. You will. You are all brilliant, creative and talented people with limitless potential. You’re here today because you know no one has the right — or the power — to limit your aspirations or constrain your dreams.

As we race toward a future of ever-more-powerful technology and challenges we must address together, the people building that future must come from every part of our society.

It’s so important that you are here today to contribute to that future. When everyone is represented and welcomed in industry and education, everyone benefits.

You are the bright future of the United States and the world. Your brilliant minds and compassionate hearts will help us build a better, more sustainable world.

I am so inspired by the potential I see in every corner of this room today. We’re so excited to help you become a part of our community. 

I hope you’ll join our admissions team and counselors in the Fellowship Hall immediately following this service. They’re eager to answer your questions, tell you what the University of California has to offer, and put an iPad in your hand to help you get those applications in!

Thank you.