Sanjay Gupta Delivers University of Michigan Spring 2012 Commencement Address (Full Transcript)

Sanjay Gupta at University of Michigan

CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta Delivers University of Michigan Spring 2012 Commencement Address – Transcript. This event took place on April 28, 2012.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Thank you! And congratulations champions! I am really, really thrilled to be here.

Thank you President Coleman. Thank you Regents for this extraordinary honor. I am just thrilled to be in this place at this time.

And I want to start off by telling you that simply being here is incredibly personal for me. You see, not only was the foundation for most of my life conceived in this town, I myself was likely conceived in this town. Best bet is the 17th floor of the University Towers, though no one is talking for sure, it has been 43 years.

It’s the most amazing story though. My mom was driving through this town of Ann Arbor; it was the mid-1960s. She was a newcomer to this town and to this country. It was a test for her in many ways and a test for the people of Ann Arbor as well. One young man in particular. My mom was just a passerby with no idea how much her life was about to change. Ann Arbor wasn’t a city that she even knew, and almost by sheer cosmic will her car breaks down.

Now, let me paint you a picture. She is an immigrant from the other side of the world, undaunted, but also a little overwhelmed. There are no cell phones, no Internet, no friends, and really no obvious options, very little money and just a broken down car.