2007 Kochi University Entrance Ceremony Address
Congratulations to all new students on your admission.
After many years of hard work, your efforts have finally paid off. Today, the entire faculty and staff of Kochi University extend a warm welcome to all of you who have been accepted into our university.
I am sure your family is also very pleased, and I extend my heartfelt congratulations to you. I would also like to express my gratitude to all our distinguished guests for joining us today.
Welcoming all of you who have successfully overcome these challenges to our university is a truly joyous occasion for us at Kochi University, as it means that once again this year, we have been able to infuse the campus with new vitality and youthful energy.
Now that you have become college students, I hope you will be keenly aware that you have entered a new phase in which you must bid farewell to the world of exam preparation you have grown accustomed to, take a fresh look at yourselves, freely discipline yourselves under your own responsibility, cultivate habits that will be of lasting importance, and build a solid foundation for your future lives.
Your time as a student at Kochi University will be a precious and enriching experience—one that you will never have the chance to repeat.
You have earned this elite lifestyle through your own hard work.
What I want to say here is that I hope each and every one of you will spend your college years with the mindset of taking on challenges that no one else is attempting. This is an extremely unique and exceptional period in your lives—one where failure will not be a fatal blow. Today marks the beginning of four years of life as true elites, a time when such challenges are permitted. Please take a moment to look back and reflect on your days as a student preparing for entrance exams up until yesterday.Your exam preparation was, after all, a time when you did exactly what everyone else was doing. I hope you will break free from the habit of following the crowd, live a life of true freedom and self-reliance, and strive to clearly reflect on the significance of the challenges you undertake over the next four years.
Today, both the world and Japan are entering what can truly be called an unprecedented turning point. At such major historical junctures, opportunities invariably arise for young people. I urge you to set your sights high and look to the future now, so that when the time comes, you will be ready to step forward boldly and take action to shape the new 21st century. It is the sincere hope of the faculty and staff of Kochi University that as many of you as possible will emerge as civic elites dedicated to building a just civil society.
In closing my address as president, I hope that you will take the initiative to shape your campus life so that it is filled with hope from this day forward.
April 3, 2007
Kochi University, a National University Corporation, President Yusuke Sagara