Dear Class of 2016

Obsession, shyness, stress and anxiety,
Care for yourselves, the planet, society,
Meditation, relaxation and spirituality
360,P5, Augmented and Virtual Reality…
You are the storytellers of a new generation
And we salute you all with due veneration.
Your stories are varied, we give you full credit––
Orpheus & Eurydice, The Iliad and Reddit.
Connected to Place, from all the four corners
Indonesia and Brooklyn, Korea, California.
You’re inventing new ways to view and to tell them
In cardboard, on mobile..but how will you sell them?

(No, no, you know we don’t talk about that!)

You make us giggle ( and wiggle) with new interactions––
Figured out ways to make young kids like fractions
Play music while knitting, compose on the fly
Make your body an instrument, perform when you’re shy
ITP Chat bots, desk robots to charm and to cheer you
What might happen when you’ve got a  car that will steer you
Shake out your memories, chairs that makes you sit right
And, wow, such an obsession with space, time and light!
Tell time with your back, right down to the minute.
Some spaces defined by the actions of those who are in it
And others, when everyone’s calm, only then it enlivens.
Your imagination, dear class, knows no bounds or horizons,

A radical kindness is clearly apparent
In projects that deal with the care of a parent,
That reach out to new voters, make tools for non-profits,
Tell stories of refugees, bias and other hard topics.
A cornucopia of ways to make tech more accessible––
Hardware, software, portable, flexible.
A little old-fashioned, bucking the trends
You say “There’s no such thing as 1000 Friends”
You want to stay close to those people who matter,
Reduce the distractions of way too much chatter
Converse about art at home, in museums
Or there on your screen where it’s easy to see ‘em
Get a wake-up note from your far-away lover.
Great projects that encourage us all to discover
The playfulness of language, both verbal and non
Inclusive fonts; Learning that’s fun.
Art works this year, are emotional and plentiful
Theoretical, virtual, magical, ephemeral.

Finally we see the class portrait emerging
107 bright stars whose future’s converging
To better our world by your work and your presence
And we come at last to this tribute’s true essence:
Participate. Innovate. Motivate. Delight.
Stay kind. Speak out. Have fun and excite.
Dear Class of 2016, we just want to say
We love you too much, please don’t go away.

Cheers!
Your Thesis Faculty