Gaudeamus 2022

To be a university student is quite an impossible burden. One has a duty to explore, to seek adventure, to rejoice in new pleasures – to have the time of one’s life, so to speak. At the same time, however, one is also expected to be a leader of tomorrow: to dedicate oneself fully to the study of one’s chosen subjects. So that one day you could fulfill society’s expectations of you by becoming a model citizen, a pillar of community, a laborious contributor to social and economic growth.

This paradoxical dualism of student life was immortalized in the lyrics of the ever-popular Gaudeamus Igitur. One the one hand, this ironic and humorous hymn celebrates the carpe diem attitude of student life. One the other hand, De Brevitate Vitae also celebrates (albeit with a tongue in cheek) the higher ideals of truth, community, and country. In other words, Gaudeamus Igitur celebrates the impossible paradise that is the life of a student.

And yet the participants of Gaudeamus Song and Dance Celebration 2022 are no ordinary university students. They are the first generation or students who were born in the third millennium. And they may not be aware of it yet, but their generation has a truly unique purpose to play in determining humanity’s fate. As children of the third millennium, they are unsullied by the horrors and sins of the 20th century, as well as the ages that came before. They are humanity’s brightest hope for a fresh start. And their time has now come.