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Graduation 2015

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Science Guy tells grads they can change the world

Not any high school can get Bill Nye the Science Guy as its commencement speaker. But then again, Bronx High School of Science isn’t just any high school.

Bronx Science, which is one of nine specialized public high schools in New York City, has more Nobel Laureates among its alumni (eight) than any other high school. Each year, school’s students are nationally recognized for their accomplishments in everything from debate team to science projects. So Mr. Nye was not exaggerating when he took the stage, looked around and said, “Let me just say how nice it is to be among a whole auditorium of fellow nerds!”

The graduation took place at the United Palace Theater in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood on Wednesday, June 24. 

“This place has changed you, and now it’s up to you — and I’m not kidding — to change the world,” Mr. Nye told the graduates. 

Mr. Nye chose to focus most of his speech on climate change, and he tasked the graduates with coming up with engineering and policy solutions to global warming. He also told them the most important thing is to talk about climate change, because as Bronx Science alumni, they have the logical and critical thinking skills to help people understand how important the issue is to the earth’s future. 

“You are steering the ship. You can direct the course of human affairs,” he said to students. 

Like any good commencement speech, Mr. Nye also gave the graduates some sound advice, from not to text in crosswalks (“You will get hit by a car...and as a taxpayer I will be angry because the streets are very hard to clean.”) to respect everyone and to learn from them. 

Mr. Nye finished by telling a story from his own childhood. When he was young, a teacher told him that there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on a beach. “I started to feel very insignificant,” he said. (He also mentioned that now, scientists have determined there are 100 times the amount of stars in the knowable universe than there are grains of sand in the entire world.)

Graduation, high school, Bill Nye, commencement speaker, Bronx Science, public schools, United Palace Theater, Tabrez Alam, kindergarten, St. Margaret's of Cortona, Tricia Tomasulo, Nancy White, NSLA, M.S. 244, Austin Stout, Naomi Liz, Eduardo Mora, Isabel Angell
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