My advice to students at U of T Scarborough is that you should embrace the university experience. Sometimes we see an undergraduate education as a means to an end - "I need to get this and then i'll have a happy life, or an interesting life, or a good job, or ...whatever." Certainly undergraduate education will support job related opportunities afterwards, but really it's about taking it as an opportunity to be excited about ideas. It's kind of special when you take a four year period of time and you're devoting it to something that on the surface doesn't really produce a car...or an object...but you're producing a mind that is capable of thinking critically. There is nothing more precious than that.
Although our circumstances have shifted once again this fall, I am excited that with a return to many on-campus elements, your university education, and your experience at UTSC, will continue to be a transformative time in your lives – one that is richly steeped in the inclusive community that makes us UTSC, and one that you will look back on with pride, and feel a deep sense of belonging.
There will be moments that are challenging and I encourage you to take advantage of the on-campus services to assist you in meeting those challenges. The Monarch migration can be an inspiration to us to set lofty goals and to pursue them. I fully expect that you will continue to rise to the occasion and perform beyond expectation, looking back on this time with pride in the future. Have a great year.