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Eisgruber '83 welcomes the Class of 2019 during Opening Exercises

Members of the Class of 2019 took the first steps into their academic career during Opening Exerciseson Sunday, when University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 welcomed the incoming students by sharing encouragements and blessings for the start of their adventure on campus.

“You will encounter people with views, backgrounds, values and assumptions different from your own,” Eisgruber said. “You will have to make your own choices about how to interact with the community around you about ways to sympathize, ways to argue, ways to accommodate, when to confront and when to walk away.”

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Referencing Claude Steele’s “Whistling Vivaldi,” the incoming class’s assigned summer reading, to discuss stereotypes and judgments, Eisgruberadded that people can feel their identities being threatened in ways that powerfully affect their thoughts, emotions, actions and performances.

Eisgruber encouraged students to embrace the diversity and differences among the student body. He explained that the most important learning at the University takes the form of relationships between people of different ideas and experiences, and that students can make the most of their college careers by striving to understand and learn from the views around them.

Unlike prior students, today’s students are at a disadvantage because social networking tricks people into thinking they already know someone before really having met them, Eisgruber added.

“We gather you here physicallyand in person because community and relationships matter fundamentally to our mission,” he said. “People often conceive of education as if it was a purely intellectual or utilitarian activity … that is not how we see it. We believe that learning also requires qualities of character and feeling and judgment, motivation, engagement, initiative, persistence, resilience, curiosity, imagination, and daring.”

Eisgruber explained that students should maximize their relationships with not only fellow classmates but also scholars and professors who are willing to hear their thoughts, saying that a singular advantage of studying at the University is the scholars who will take one’s ideas seriously.

“Approach them after class,” he said. “Go to office hours. Invite them for lunch. Doing so will make a difference.”

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Opening Exercises is an annual event marking the beginning of the academic career for the incoming freshmen. The ceremony is held in the University Chapel on theSundayprior to the beginning of fall semester and involves the welcoming of the freshmen by the University President, hymns and prayers and the awarding of undergraduate prizes for the academic achievements of current students. Opening Exercises is followed by the Pre-rade, where the incoming class parades through FitzRandolph Gate.

The Freshman First Honor Prize, which recognizes “exceptional academic achievement in the work of their freshman year,’ was awarded to Kyle Berlin ’18 and Kevin Sun '18. The George B. Wood Legacy Sophomore Prize was awarded to Vladimir Feinberg ’17 and Lydia Liu ‘17 for their academic achievements in their sophomore year, and the George B. Wood Legacy Junior Prize was awarded to Cameron Platt ‘16 and Yuval Wigderson ’16 for academic achievements in their junior year. The Class of 1939 Princeton Scholar Award, which recognizes a student with the highest academic standing at the end of his or her junior year, was awarded to Saisai Chen '16.Dean of the College and professor of English Jill Dolan presented the award.

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