Honoree Ron Ladell at Rutgers Hillel Gala 22 movie 2

Thank you. Well, thank you for that tremendous introduction. I'll modulate a little bit with regard to the volume. Let me first start by congratulating all the other honorees. Your inspiration to Hillel is something that we commend and appreciate every day and every year, and without your commitment it wouldn't be the institution that it is today. So thank you and congratulations to all the other honorees. I want to start by thanking Rabbi Reed, Lee Rosenfeld, and particularly, and I have no idea where she is, Barbara Cohen. Barbara, as you've told me, it's a complete joy to work with you and the rest of the Hillel staff. Although she's not here this evening, I do want to recognize my Administrative Assistant Nancy Nordley, who without her undying dedication this event would not be able to be what it is this evening. And then of course all the supporters that are here tonight and those that could not make the event. Thank you for the support of this wonderful organization and making tonight a tremendous success.

Over two years ago, and that would be pre-COVID as we mark everything these days, I met with Andrew Lee and Barbara to discuss receiving this award this evening. They took me on a tour of this wonderful facility, and it was obvious to me that the student presence, the student involvement, and student commitment was both palpable and pervasive. And it made me think back, and this is true, four decades ago what it was about my experience at Rutgers that made it so special for me, what I sought back then to achieve for Rutgers University in my career, and what I determined to be my passion at that young, impressionable time. I was a junior transfer from another college. I had an advantage: I knew what I wanted to be in my career. I'll date myself: I watched Perry Mason, I loved Raymond Burr, and I wanted to be a lawyer. I also had my major decided: political science. I love political theory and modern day campaigning, and I minored in philosophy because I wanted to know why and I wanted to develop critical thinking. I was lucky I was assigned to Brett Hall, and I'm speaking to some of the current students that know where that is. And I was fortunate, serendipitous, that my roommate belonged to a fraternity down the street a few hundred yards away on Union. The first week of campus, I went to the fraternity, met some great guys, and wanted to join, which I did, and less than a year later my brothers supported me and recognized something in me and made me president of that fraternity. Even back then I viewed college as a value proposition: what I put in, I want to get something out. What I put in was time and money, and I wanted to get skills that would better me in my career down the road. Let me give you some of the examples, and remember this is the early 1980s. My fraternity was the epitome of inclusion and diversity. We didn't just have one religion or ethnicity or race; we took them all, and we enjoyed that and had pride with regard to that. I also learned very quickly as serving as president how to motivate my brothers, whether it was to win the intramural sports competition or raise money for Saint Peter's Hospital down the road on Eastern Avenue back in the day. I also, it's a little nerdy I admit, learned how to meet and read Robert's Rules of Order to be better at it. I learned how to budget and do financial planning. It was my responsibility to report to the Board of Trustees the financial well-being of our fraternity. I also was thrust into advocacy at times. Back in the day the city of New Brunswick was very fixated on property maintenance issues for fraternity houses, and I interacted with them and the Rutgers Administration about fraternity and sorority affairs. Oh, and by the way, I did have some advocacy issues when the New Brunswick Police Department called twice where I had bailouts with my brothers who went not on a straight line that particular evening. But most importantly, what I learned from back in the day was lifelong relationships. My roommate in college senior year is here tonight. He married a fellow graduate from Rutgers Douglas College. She has a few friends that were together back in the day. After going to Rutgers homecomings 40 years later, that group went from 8 to 16, vacations together, celebrates milestones together, and our respective children think that they're all cousins. When I review that list and think back of the skills that I achieved, I got a great return on my investment, and I feel proud about that.

But now let me fast forward 40 years later. As the president alluded to, I was so fortunate to group together with a few people, some here tonight, some not, to start the Center for Real Estate under the guidance of Morris Davis, the academic director who was here also this year. Rabbi Reed, President Holloway, and Morris, you knew early on that academia was an admirable vocation. You understood at an early stage in your lives how rewarding it could be to interact with students. I learned a little later, but I want to tell you about that. Morris challenged me to teach, which I readily accepted. Every Tuesday afternoon for the last seven years for three hours I show up at the Rutgers Business School and I have the pleasure to teach about 50 students real estate law in the fall and 50 students to teach real estate development in the spring. During those three hours, no Avalon Bay deal means anything. My cell phone is gone. I require the students to put their cell phone away also. Incredibly rewarding. I'll give you an example. A student asks a question, and I try the Socratic method. I don't directly answer it, and if I'm fortunate the question bounces around the classroom and it engages the students. And then when I really get fortunate and lucky, I've never answered that question, but the students, you can see they recognize and deduce and understand the answer. I even see that though they're wearing masks. That I'm involved in, I have the ability to give career advice to students on a regular basis. First, when I talked to them, I describe the opportunities that exist at Rutgers University, an incredibly unique university, one of a kind, with by the way, and I looked it up, over 750 student-run clubs. I say to the students, maybe you want to pursue a foreign language and become bilingual, maybe you want to spend a semester in Barcelona or a summer in Italy learning art like my children did, or maybe you just want to join other clubs or be active at Rutgers Hillel as one example. But from a broader perspective, I then talk to the students about their career goals and what they're trying to achieve on a broader holistic perspective, and I emphasize to them that I want them to become lifelong learners. I want them to learn how to critically think and ask why, and I also want them to increase their ability to communicate both verbally and in writing. It's not all about tweets and Instagrams, as I have to remind them on a regular basis. And I strive for them to have a focus on excellence in whatever they do. I reiterate to them that they have to seek out these opportunities, they're not just going to come to them. In a very large campus, be it in New Brunswick, Newark, or Camden. And I've been provided the opportunity to mentor students, which is invaluable. But the most important thing that I learned from the outset is that while I believe the students benefit from my wisdom and support and commentary, I benefit just as equally or frankly even more so by listening to them. And that's where I'd like to end my message tonight. As I look around the room, many of you are young in career, but some of you are a little further along. And I would encourage all of you, take the time, take the time to seek out a young person in school or someone young in their career. Meet them for coffee, a Zoom call, or whatever way you want to interact. Trust me, you will get more out of that experience by doing that and helping that student than the student actually gets out the other way. So in conclusion, thank you all for coming tonight for supporting this wonderful organization and making this organization continue to thrive as it has for many, many decades and will continue to do so in the future. And enjoy the balance of the evening. Thank you very much.