Google CEO Sundar Pichai says “you will prevail” to the graduating batch of 2020

Addressing the graduating batch of 2020, Google CEO Sundari Pichai advised the youth to “be open, hopeful and impatient.” The CEO was talking through the virtual ceremony, organised on Sunday by Google, on their video platform YouTube. The event was called ‘Dear Class of 2020’

“I don’t think this is the graduation ceremony any of you imagined. At a time when you should be celebrating all the knowledge you’ve gained, you may be grieving what you’ve lost: the moves you planned, the jobs you earned, and the experiences you were looking forward to. In bleak moments like these, it can be difficult to find hope,” Pichai said, reports PTI. 

The class of 2020 did not get the farewell they deserved. Unlike any other year, the students did not have the opportunity to say their final goodbyes as college ended abruptly amid a global health crisis. 

The virtual ceremony bought together inspirational leaders, speakers, celebrities, and YouTube creators to celebrate graduates, their families, and their communities.

Recalling his younger years, Pichai shared his experience of leaving India for the US to pursue his course at Stanford. “My father spent the equivalent of a year’s salary on my plane ticket to the US, so I could attend Stanford. It was my first time on a plane,” said Pichai.

Remembering his first few days, Pichai confessed that California was nowhere close to how he imagined it to be. 

“America was expensive. A phone call back home was more than US $2 a minute, and a backpack cost the same as my dad’s monthly salary in India,” he recounted. “The only thing that got me from here to there — other than luck — as a deep passion for technology, and an open mind,” added the Google CEO. 

Talking about the current situation, the 48-year-old top executive said, “There are probably things about technology that frustrate you and make you impatient. Don’t lose that impatience. It will create the next technology revolution and enable you to build things my generation could never dream of.”

“You may be just as frustrated by my generation’s approach to climate change or education. Be impatient. It will create the progress the world needs,” he added.

The virtual ceremony was attended by illustrious personalities such as former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, singer Lady Gaga, and education activist and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai.