NYC Mayor Bloomberg tells Stanford grads: Work hard, follow your passion

Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City challenged Stanford graduates on Sunday to take risks as they pursue their dreams and to not be held back by fear or the threat of failure.

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“If you don’t encounter setbacks in your career, if you don’t have doubts and disappointments, let me tell you,” he said, “you’re not dreaming big enough.”

Bloomberg’s address during the 122nd Commencement focused on the American dream – a dream that he said is about opportunity, not outcome, about fulfilling potential, not getting to a destination.

He drew on his own story as an electrical engineering major in college who ended up working in finance, who then eventually started his own technology company.

“I had a dream I believed in. And thankfully, the courage to follow it,” he said.

Bloomberg implored the graduates not to be complacent or waste their opportunities. He also urged them not to walk away when things don’t go their way.

“Take risks. Follow your passion. Embrace innovation,” he said.

Bloomberg, who is in his third term as mayor, made a fair number of jokes – and pokes – at Stanford and New York during his speech.

He slighted his hometown football team, the New York Jets, with its less-than-stellar record, for example, and mocked the lack of nightlife in Silicon Valley compared with his city that never sleeps.

The jeers, though, were complemented by the similarities he noted.

“Stanford graduates thrive in New York City because both places thrive on innovation and entrepreneurialism,” he said.

Another commonality, he added, was that university founder Leland Stanford was a New Yorker and Fredrick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park, also designed the Stanford campus.

“It’s a stunningly beautiful campus – a place where, as the Stanford motto says, ‘The wind of freedom blows,'” Bloomberg said.

He said that wind has “helped carry our country forward into this new millennium. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that no other university in the world has so profoundly shaped our modern age.”

‘Make your voices heard’

Bloomberg, who has been an outspoken advocate for gay rights, immigration reform and gun control, at one point turned his attention to politics, urging graduates and those listening in the crowd to “make your voices heard, too.”

“American immigrants built the world’s most innovative economy – and if it is to keep growing, if we’re going to keep the American Dream alive, we need those in Washington to fix this broken system ­and fix it now,” he said.

He also lauded the work of Stanford law Professors Pamela Karlan and Jeffrey Fisher, who are part of the legal team representing a New York woman in her case before the Supreme Court challenging the Defense of Marriage Act.

“Every generation of Americans has expanded the rights and full citizenship to an ever-wider circle of people, and I have every confidence your generation will do the same,” he said.

The ceremony began with Stanford’s nontraditional processional called the Wacky Walk. Students enter the stadium wearing costumes, holding banners and balloons and waving signs both goofy and sentimental.

There were students in transportation and construction worker gear, including fluorescent orange vests, holding signs that said, “Caution: Real World Ahead.” Another group of women lined up behind poster board made to look like an airplane. The first student’s sign said, “We’re on our way up.”

Francisca Gilmore of Ecuador and her friends wore banana costumes. Gilmore held a poster that read, “We’re bananas for Stanford.”

Gilmore said the day was full of emotions, and characterized her time at Stanford as “chaotic in the best of ways.”

“It’s been an incredible ride of intellectual and personal exploration,” she said. “It’s been wonderful.”

Seniors Anna Ponting of San Diego and Tiffany Kung of Atherton, Calif., donned giraffe hats. They said their motto was to always “reach higher.”

And what about their Stanford experience?

“Inspiring and unexpected,” said Ponting.

“Heartening and supportive,” added Kung.

Proud parents

Parents also had something to say about the Stanford experience and its culmination this Father’s Day.

“Woo-hoo!” cheered Lola Leaks of Sacramento. Her son, Marcus, was graduating. “Debt-free,” added Michael Leaks, Marcus’ father.

“It was a perfect school for him,” Lola Leaks said. “The diversity, the different ways of doing things, the opportunities. It’s been wonderful.”

On Sunday, 1,701 bachelor’s degrees were conferred, along with 2,325 master’s degrees and 1,055 doctoral degrees. Departmental honors were awarded to 302 undergraduates; 276 graduated with university distinction; 75 graduated with multiple majors; 363 completed minors; 23 graduated with dual bachelor’s degrees; and 148 graduated with coterminal bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

There were 113 undergraduates from 43 countries other than the United States and 1,161 graduate students from 82 countries.

“We are excited, proud, overwhelmed and grateful,” said Robert Aros of his graduating son, Cody.

President John Hennessy honored the graduates in his remarks, as well as noting alumna Pamela Ann Rymer, a former Stanford trustee and judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Rymer, who died in 2011, “had a passion for justice,” Hennessy said. He said she worked to make a difference in the world through her years as a jurist and her decades of volunteer service. Hennessy encouraged the graduates to be inspired by that same spirit.

“As you leave Stanford,” Hennessy said, “I hope that you carry a deep appreciation of the values and traditions that are everlasting as well as a willingness to be bold and to approach challenges with a fresh perspective.”