[MUSIC] Community-building is something
that is ingrained in me. It is something that
I went to school for. And it's something that
I also want to always see that you do not feel left out. I remember back in high
school I was class president, and I didn't have a
clique to be a part of, but I knew everyone
and everyone knew me. And that is where I want to
make sure that you realize-- I think of Maya
Angelou's quote who says, "People may
forget what you did, people will forget
what you said, but they will never forget
how you made them feel." She doesn't think
of herself alone. She thinks of the
whole community. So whatever she can do to
help students, co-workers, she's there. With the pandemic
and with everything, it was such a difficult year. So I really think that Natalie,
with all the work she did, deserves this award. And I want you to
know that whether I'm a part of your
community or whether I'm a part of your office or
part of your committee, the aura and the feeling
is of warmth, and that it is a place where everyone
is seen and heard. And so when it comes
to MIT as a whole, when I put MIT and community
next to each other, it goes back to Martin Luther
King's speech where he says, "America, all I can
say is be true to what you said on paper." So we cannot act in a
performative way whenever we see injustice anywhere. We cannot act in terms of when
it's Martin Luther King Day and that is when we remember
that there is injustice everywhere. We cannot be an actor of change. We have to actually do
the change, be the change, live the change,
and see the change. [MUSIC]
