Cover Image by DALL·E

I was fortunate to give the farewell speech to my graduating class in fall 2021. This is a translated version and a name has been redacted.

Dear fellow students, dear friends, esteemed professors,

  • These past years have been quite intense (light cough).
  • Continuously, we had to act responsibly, follow rules, and, in cases of doubt, navigate through a jungle of regulations.
    • We couldn’t go out as much, which over time could lead to a feeling of isolation.
    • We spent a lot of time in the same spaces.
    • And some might need a moment to recall how clubs and bars look from the inside.

  • But soon, all of this will improve; we have our master’s degrees, our studies are complete.

  • At the risk of overemphasizing the obvious: Our studies are now over. No more trouble with c@mpus, no more exams, no lectures, no master’s thesis. But that also means fewer or perhaps no university parties, shared apartment parties, and no discussions about life and the universe in the cafeteria with people some of us have known for over half a decade.
  • It took me a while to really grasp this. So, let’s reflect on our master’s journey with some distance:

Students

  • Everyone I know has discovered their limits during their studies and has grown from the experience. It’s astonishing to think about how many of us struggled with the part-time work, exams, and bachelor’s thesis and what we were able to achieve in the last semesters.
    • It’s quite an accomplishment. And we can rightly be proud of ourselves.
    • Some might shake their heads thinking back to those beginnings. But in this headshake about our beginnings, we also see how far we’ve come since then.

  • In this sense, we can all relate to the Latin phrase “per aspera ad astra” - through hardships to the stars.

  • This experience has shaped us, and today marks the end of 5 years in Stuttgart for many of us. This time was defining in our transition from 17, 18, 19-year-old adolescents to adults now building airplanes and rockets.

Parents, friends, and acquaintances

  • During this time, we forged friendships with those who stood by us in every situation:
    • Whether it was them taking the time to explain things before the exam which we should have understood long ago, or inviting us for a beer when they felt we needed one.
    • I can confidently say I wouldn’t have made it without you.

  • Many fellow students have become friends, a bond that can only be understood if you’ve jointly prepared for an exam in 4 days which, in retrospect, should have been planned over two weeks.

  • But we also received support from our families. Many wouldn’t be here without their support, distraction, encouragement, and occasional inquiries about our studies. Now I can report that even in a Ph.D., the question persists and it doesn’t get any more pleasant 😉.

Lecturers and supervisors

  • But it wasn’t just other students, friends, and family who accompanied us through the years.
  • In complete ignorance of how busy professors and lecturers are, looking back, we must acknowledge that (in my experience) every request for guidance and support was addressed to the best of their ability.
  • We should also thank those who often go unnoticed:
    • People like our secretaries, who keep everything running and without whom operations as we know them would be impossible.
    • Also, the supervisors of our final papers who took the time for us even when they had little to spare.
  • Thank you for the effort, which sometimes is taken for granted and thus not adequately appreciated.

R.

R., without you, today would not have been possible. Thank you for your efforts day and night, even on weekends. I think that’s worth a round of applause!

Final thoughts

When we leave the castle later, we will all go our separate ways. I’ve pondered what to wish for our future paths and was captivated by the following thought:

It’s an incredible privilege to create things, design parts, and write code that’s used in the real world. Who else can say they can bring things into existence? Admittedly, that’s quite extraordinary! A while ago, I read a poem by Rudyard Kipling that addresses the responsibility that comes with this privilege. The poem tells the story of a beam breaking and the resulting collapse of a bridge in Quebec (Canada). Faulty planning and communication during its construction cost 60 steelworkers their lives. Allow me to recite a section:

The careful text-books measure (Let all who build beware!) The load, the shock, the pressure Material can bear. So, when the buckled girder Lets down the grinding span, ‘The blame of loss, or murder, Is laid upon the man. Hymn of Breaking Strain - Rudyard Kipling

  • In Canada, it’s a tradition to remember this responsibility:
    • Since 1925, graduating engineering students have been presented with rings in a ceremony.
    • Mythically, the first rings were made from the steel of that very bridge.
    • The steel rings are small and simple, worn on the pinkie finger of the right hand for right-handers, and on the left hand for left-handers. These rings, seemingly inconspicuous with 12 sharp facets and a rough exterior, are given with the hope that engineers fulfill their responsibility and wear down the ring’s edges by drawing and calculating on paper until the ring becomes practically round.
  • Allow me a few concluding thoughts: Others trust that we do our job not just okay, but correctly, regardless of external circumstances or the pressures we might face. We should be aware of this and approach our professional tasks with pride and humility.
    • With humility toward our responsibilities.
    • With pride because we are capable of meeting these responsibilities.

Thank you!