Jinai Bharucha
Political Science
Rochester, Minnesota

Over the years, my mind has often wandered off from the hundreds of pages of reading in front of me. Let’s be honest, whose hasn’t?  There are many questions that arise at this exact point: What will there be for dinner in Burton tonight? How am I supposed to choose between attending a play and getting together with friends on Friday night? How soon do I need to respond to the deluge of emails in my inbox? While these questions were occasionally challenging to answer, they pale in comparison to a question that has taken years to answer: How do we apply courses from our four year liberal arts education, to real life? It is only during this year, my last, at Carleton, that I have begun to understand the vast advantages of our intense and very unique ways of learning.

Of course, at the beginning of my Carleton education I was sure that I knew the answers to everything. We thought that signing up for as many email lists at the Activities Fair was the right thing to do and planned on cultivating lifelong friendships with our first roommates. I was going to major in Economics and attend Medical School right after graduation, and not even my freshman year advisor could persuade me otherwise. Today, I emerge neither a major in Economics nor with any plans to attend Medical School. In fact, I could not tell you my life plans with one ounce of credibility. Still, I feel equipped to adapt to anything that comes my way. This is possibly the most important life skill we have attained together: to be certain about the uncertain. Be certain about the uncertain with grace, confidence, compassion, and humor. Trust that your path is the right one, even if you don’t know where you’re going to end up.

In retrospect, I did not understand the meaning of the word “busy” before I came to Carleton. We’re busy because we’re passionate. All of us have experienced a calendar that is overwhelming to look at in any way but one day at a time. The meetings, projects, emails, rehearsals, and tasks are the results of another life skill we have nurtured together here: to be passionate. Consider the devotion of each of yourselves to your pursuits, whether they were academic, activist, artistic, service-related, or other: I am confident in our class’ ability to succeed. We have seen injustices and we have, in our own ways, worked to combat them. We have united for countless causes through organizations, demonstrations, petitions, and art. In the words of Hegel, "Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.” As at Carleton, continue to be passionate and do not hesitate to devote your time to what matters most to you in your life after Carleton.

If the questions we asked ourselves over readings were the only ones we asked, Carleton would be a boring campus. I came to Carleton with a lot of answers, but I’ve left with very few answers and many more questions. Over four years, we have learned to question not only the food in the dining hall (occasionally, of course), but also the theories we have read for our courses, the policy decisions of our leaders on all levels, the injustices we identify, the ways we choose to allocate our time and resources, and most importantly, our own sense of identity. We have been questioned by each other in our classrooms, over coffee in Sayles, through many publications on campus, and in our living spaces. Questioning is a skill we, as liberal arts graduates, can carry with us as we pursue our passions with certainty.

Last September, President Poskanzer described the process of a collegiate presidential search as “a little bit like a courtship. There is an initial element of infatuation, then there is a deepening of affection, and finally—if all goes well—you reach a point of genuine love, fulfillment, and a sense of belonging.” This description is similarly indicative of our relationship with our Carleton education. In your life after Carleton, nurture a similar genuine love, fulfillment, and sense of belonging, while putting into practice what we have learned together here.