To start with, a warm welcome to the incoming class of 2021. I hope that these first few days are as exciting for you as they were for me. College is truly a formative experience, and while I know this won’t apply to everyone, most of us arrive here children and leave as adults. In the intervening period, we have to figure out what it is we want to do and, more importantly, what kind of people we want to be. Fortunately, there are a nearly limitless number of ways to do that at Oregon State, be it through clubs, a course of study, or maybe just a few mentors who inspire you. For me, it was ASOSU, and I’m going to shamelessly plug it here. I’m going into my fourth year and currently serving as Judicial Council Chair; I’ve also been Speaker of the House, a member of the President’s Cabinet, a Senator and a Representative, and every experience I’ve had has made me a better, more competent person. Student government is an excellent way to be engaged on campus and the best lesson in civics you can get, and given the heightened interest in politics following last year’s election, I’ve never seen a better time to be involved. There’s a place here for everyone, and if any of you are looking for ways to branch out or are uncertain of where you fit in at OSU, I’d truly encourage you to give it a try. But regardless of what you do, I hope you’ll find a community to be a part of, and take advantage all the bright minds that you have in such close proximity. It’s not just a cliche that the students of today are the leaders of tomorrow, and some of the connections you make here could be more important to your future success than the degrees you’ll leave with. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t take academics seriously, but if you do so to the exclusion of relationship building and self discovery, I think you’ll have missed half the opportunities that a University has to offer. I wish you all the best of luck, and I envy the the boundless possibilities that lie before you.

Joshua D. Kaufman Mendenhall,

ASOSU Judicial Council Chair