University of Michigan alumnus Sanjay Gupta returned to Ann Arbor this past weekend at the start of the 2012 commencement season and delivered an uncommonly entertaining speech to more than 45,000 people in the Big House, the Washington Post reports. Too many commencement speeches are, well, boring — too long, too conventional, utterly humorless. Not Gupta’s. A neurosurgeon and CNN medical correspondent, Gupta told great stories — including about how his parents remarkably met and about his own stellar career path as he dispensed the requisite advice to more than 10,000 graduating students and their friends and family.
“Simply being here,” he said at the beginning, “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 still even after 43 years.”