I posted an edited version on Facebook. The original one can be found here.

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“Trong giây phút bối rối, tôi tưởng chính mình vừa khám phá thấy cái chân lý của sự toàn thiện, khám phá thấy cái khoảnh khắc trong gần tâm hồn.” [In a moment of stupefaction, I thought I just discovered the meaning of completeness, unearthing the moments nested in my soul.] (Chiếc thuyền ngoài xa, Nguyễn Minh Châu)

I grew up in a generation of Vietnamese people thrusted into modernity without much reference of prosperity. An uninterrupted educational journey was a privilege my parents aspired for me to obtain; attending college overseas only appeared in the most fantastical of reveries. As I found solace in learning, acquainting myself with cultures of the past, and effecting changes to societies of the future, Yale became my own whimsy I could only confess in my 9th-grade Instagram handle. My arrival at Yale closed the earliest chapter of my life, enriched by the love of my traditional heritage, in the pursuit of something foreign, challenging, yet eye-opening—something new.

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“You’re a shark. […] You see what you want. Do whatever it takes to get it like me.” (Cristina Yang, Grey’s Anatomy)

Though I never acted upon an agenda regarding how I wanted to shape my Yale experience, in retrospect, I felt like I optimized for three different objectives. First, I wanted to have a fulfilling academic venture. When I entered college, I knew I wanted to explore the intricacies of diplomacy. On top of honoring my wish in the shape of the Global Affairs curriculum, Yale allowed me to fall in love with the limbo space at the intersection of chemistry, physics, and mathematics afforded by the single most course-intensive major at Yale: Chemical Engineering. The wealth of intellectual capital and warmth of faculty members were constant driving forces in my fondness of the academe; the collaborative and communal student cohort has continually humbled me, encouraging me to become a better scholar. My favorite courses span across the Chemical & Environmental Engineering, Economics, Chemistry, Global Affairs, Political Science, and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies departments. The commonality lies in the people that took the initiative to nurture my growth.

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“I love to laugh, I love color, I love texture, and I love creativity, so I was always inspired by people who incorporate those things in their work.” (RuPaul, Interview Magazine)

I also wanted to be able to do a lot—to contain multitudes. In this sense, I truly lucked out in the opportunities I was afforded. I got to organize Model UN conferences of scale I was unfamiliar with for more than once, traveled to Italy and Korea before the pandemic hit, directed three K-Pop dances of songs I could recite but not understand, worked as an Ambassador for the First-generation Low-income Initiative, lived by myself somewhat financially independently, peer tutored for 15 courses, attended my first live concert, joined three research groups in six publishing research projects, became used to filling out taxes manually, attended United Nations civil society meetings, built my own website, worked at a startup, designed my own logo, experimented with my personal aesthetics, and brought a semblance of my own cultural upbringing to New Haven. I love to just keep doing what I love the most, and this environment gave me the energy, resilience, and willfulness I need to accomplish different things.

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“[A]s researchers we have a responsibility to at least consider the harm our work might be doing and think of ways to mitigate it. We owe the world that much.” (Joseph Redmon, YOLOv3: An Incremental Improvement)

But nothing triumphs my desire to be inspired by the friendships I make. Sometimes I forgot how much time I spent in Bass Cafe getting minimal work done while laughing hysterically, debated inane topics in my common room while everyone was anxious about their own final papers, or caught up with every person I know in Branford College dining hall while I tonged my last chicken tender. We chose funny groupchat names: Vet Froggies, Archaeology Club, Dua Lipa Support Group, Vdrama, CVS-ro New Haven-si Connecticut-do, pat and the isotopologs, Your Venice Bitch, and most recently SUVHRM (please do not get this reference). My support system has upperclasspeople whose work ethics humbles me, underclasspeople whose brilliance brings me joy, and everyone in my class year whose journeys I am proud to have accompanied. To be immersed in the Yale liberal arts education, for me, is to be charged with the responsibility of being human, to entwine myself with the hearts of others, and to entertain a sense of vulnerability that speaks to the strength of my community. None of my friends walked the same path I did, yet every success I have had at Yale seemed impossible without their presence. The best award I could receive from this institution is the affirmation of genuine connections I have made: a feat no certification will suffice to elaborate.

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“The critical ontology of ourselves has to be […] conceived as an attitude, an ethos, a philosophical life in which the critique of what we are is at one and the same time the historical analysis of the limits that are imposed on us and an experiment with the possibility of going beyond them.” (Michel Foucault, What is Enlightenment?)

Yale revitalized sensations of happiness I never knew I could re-encounter. The space Yale carves out for me consistently reminds me of the importance of finding beauty with no regret. Everything is changing yet nothing changes; people I have interacted here are impressive in ways beyond my imagination, yet the unwavering commitment to truth, excellence, and progress is never less than awe-inspiring. Graduation, then, marks a bittersweet celebration, both of the possibilities that lie ahead, and of the memories that wither away with time. In this moment, I just wish I can be there to witness the heights these spectacular people will achieve. For at last I feel comfort in being where I need to be.

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“널 생각만 해도 난 강해져 / 울지 않게 나를 도와 줘 / 이 순간의 느낌 함께하는 거야 / 다시 만난 우리의” [I get stronger just thinking about you / It helps me so much that I won’t cry / We are together, feeling this moment / Into the New World]

Thank you so much to time and space that I call Yale, and to the generations of people that have defined my Yale experience.

Lê Mạnh Linh B.S. in Chemical Engineering with Distinction B.A. in Global Affaris with Distinction Energy Studies Scholar Magna Cum Laude Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi Branford College, Yale University Class of 2022.