Dear Graduates,

Today celebrates the achievements attained through your rigorous academic study and unwavering determination. I’d like to first acknowledge your many years of sweat and tears. I also offer my deepest gratitude to the parents and families for their support and encouragement. My thanks to the faculty members who have guided and led you, staff members who have helped, and guests who are here to celebrate this occasion with us.

Putting your victories behind, you now embark on your next journey. Whether you’re going to graduate school, becoming a postdoctoral researcher, serving in the military, or getting a job, you will meet many new people. You will learn from them, but at times, you will also get hurt or discouraged. Someone I know visits three places at different times of day when he feels down. He goes to the fish market early morning to witness pure passion for life and to reflect on his laziness. During the day, he goes to the airport where the excited faces of travelers help him rekindle his faded dreams. Lastly, in the evening, he goes to a funeral hall to reflect humbly on his life, recognizing the limits of life and the preciousness of time.

Your journey of learning that began at POSTECH does not end when you leave these doors. Rather, it is where true education begins. While the following words were not originally spoken by Albert Einstein, they were quoted in his speech at the State University of New York in 1931 where he refrained from taking sides on whether greater emphasis should be placed on liberal arts or natural sciences: “Education is that which remains, if one has forgotten everything he learned in school.”

What truly matters is not the specific subject or major, but rather the kind of intellectual you choose to be in the world and how you will never cease to grow as an intellectual throughout your life.

For your continued growth beyond the gates of POSTECH, I encourage you to find the “giants” who may make us feel little. Powerful, famous, entertaining, or flashy individuals will not help you to grow. Growth begins with realizing our smallness, and this awareness comes from encountering giants. Even if you never meet one in person, it is perfectly fine to find them in papers, books, or works of art. To stand on the shoulders of giants, you must first meet them. Life is a journey of crossing paths with countless individuals, discovering those worthy of emulating along the way.

We shall not seek answers to the chaos that surrounds the world and our country from far away. Instead, I hope that you will become that very giant over the next 10, 20, or 30 years. No need to become grand or famous – true giants are those who carve out paths not taken by others, who challenge problems that others overlook and who, while not seeking their own glory, quietly lead from the front and serve behind the scenes without needing recognition.

When we are in school, we think that the knowledge honed in classrooms and laboratories is all there is. But the moment we leave campus, only one thing remains. I would describe it as the spark in your heart. Think about the following quote, credited to the great Greek philosopher, Socrates: “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”  When you are lost, I hope you find your way with that flame and run into true giants. Through their company, I hope that you too will become a giant who will one day lend your shoulder to others.

As I stand here reflecting on the giants who established this university 39 years ago, I can see the dreams of small giants budding in your sparkling eyes. Now, walk boldly beyond these doors, each of you with your own flame ignited here at POSTECH. I wish you ever greater accomplishments,  fulfillment, and the good fortune of encountering a giant who humble us.

Thank you.