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Sir Edmund Hillary
Conqueror of Mt. Everest
Sir Edmund Hillary: I would advise them to aim high. To set their sights at a pretty tough target and don't be too worried if you're not successful at first. Just keep persisting and keep improving your standards, getting better and better and ultimately, you've got a pretty fair chance at achieving your desired goal. I am not one of those people who believe, for instance, that every American could, if they so wish, become President of the United States. I mean, there's a limited number of Presidents of the United States and, obviously, only a few are going to achieve that. But, I do think that virtually everybody that's born has the ability to be very competent at doing something. I think that, in itself, is worthy of aiming towards, just to be competent at doing anything you particularly wish to do.
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David Ho
AIDS Research Pioneer
Only in America would a 37 year-old be given that opportunity to become an institute director. I think the culture overall here is enlightened enough to be able to give responsibility to a young person without that much regard for age and with greater emphasis on merit, on potential, and such things. It's in many ways an amazing experience. I've done well. I was working hard. I had a certain vision of what I wanted to do and those things fitted well with the goals of the new institute. So, I was given the chance and I believe I've taken advantage of that golden opportunity.
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David Ho
AIDS Research Pioneer
Just coming back to my own area, AIDS, it's now a problem largely of developing countries. A vaccine would probably have not made that much of a difference to the United States, but yet the vaccine research for AIDS is almost entirely funded by U.S. money. So it's taken the broader view, that this is a problem for the world and therefore we're going to solve it. And, this is not limited to AIDS. Malaria is not much of a problem, yet we're taking it on, same with tuberculosis and so on and so forth. The past few years, as I had more and more chance to reflect upon my career so far and my life so far, I've come to appreciate much more of what this country is.
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Susan Hockfield
President Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A faculty member who gave the first lecture for our freshmen this past fall was talking about the incredible power of the American melting pot. That brilliant, ambitious people from all over the world have come to America because of the freedom, because of the ability to rely on yourself. Right? Because at the heart, it's a meritocracy. If you work hard, you'll be rewarded for your hard work. Dick Samuels, who is a professor of political science, was giving a lecture to our students, and talking about the power of the American melting pot and he said, "We'll do an experiment. Raise your hand if you weren't born in the United States." Now only eight percent -- eight to ten percent of our freshmen -- are international students, but about 20 percent of the students raised their hands, roughly. So these are the children of immigrants. And he said, "Keep your hand in the air. Raise your hand if one of your parents wasn't born in the United States." And another huge number of hands went up. And he said, "Keep your hands in the air. Now raise your hand if one of your grandparents wasn't born in the United States." I didn't actually I couldn't count, but it looked to me as though 85 or 90 percent of the students had their hands in the air. This is what America's about, is bringing people from all over the world to these shores, giving them productive work, giving them opportunities. And what I think is incredibly important -- not just for the nation but also for the world, as an example of what people can do together from different backgrounds -- that we continue to be a nation that welcomes immigrants, that we continue to be a nation that offers everyone opportunities, and that we continue to be a nation also that rewards success. I think these are all important elements. And individual achievement, individual effort, I think, is an important part of it. So it's balancing opportunity for all, but also appropriate rewards for work that's been well done.
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