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Commencement

Class of 2018, doing the right thing is your job

Graduation speakers from President Trump to Chance the Rapper advise graduates how to commence.

USA TODAY
Naval Academy's graduation ceremony in Annapolis, Md., on May 25, 2018.

Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Clemson University: "As a country, we are experiencing something of a gratitude crisis today. Be thankful to be alive in America in 2018. Every day at the United Nations, I deal with nations where people are not free. It is not that the United States is perfect. We’re not. But we have been given a great set of tools — freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights — with which we can create a more perfect union." 

Rex Tillerson, former secretary of State, Virginia Military Institute: "A responsibility of every American citizen to each other is to preserve and protect our freedom by recognizing what truth is and is not, what a fact is and is not, and begin by holding ourselves accountable to truthfulness and demand that our pursuit of America’s future be fact-based. ... If you truly want to build a brighter future for the world, you must make the decision to live a life of integrity. … Choosing a life of integrity brings a wealth of blessings and benefits."

Margot Lee Shetterly, author of Hidden FiguresWorcester Polytechnic Institute: "It’s now your turn to decide what the world ‘should be.’ And even quiet or unseen decisions that you make about what should be have the potential to echo through the years of history. (Henry J.E. Reid, who was director of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory) didn’t sign up for social engineering. The first impact of his decision to hire these hidden figures (black women) at the laboratory was to supplement the brainpower America needed to win World War II, and best the Russians in the space race. But I like to think that Reid also knew this was the right thing, the fair thing, a decision that nudged the world that was toward what it should be, where equality is not just a mathematical concept, but the ethical equality of the Declaration of Independence. ... People may try to tell you that you have to choose between doing your job and doing the right thing, but it’s a false choice. Doing the right thing is your job."

Abby Wambach, retired soccer star, Barnard College: "Imagine this — you’ve scored more goals than any human being on the planet — female or male. You’ve co-captained and led Team USA in almost every category for the past decade. And you and your coach sit down and decide together that you won’t be a starter in your last World Cup for Team USA. So that sucked. ... You are allowed to be disappointed when it feels like life’s benched you. What you aren’t allowed to do is miss your opportunity to lead from the bench. ... If you’re not a leader on the bench, don’t call yourself a leader on the field. You’re either a leader everywhere or nowhere. And by the way, the fiercest leading I’ve ever seen has been done between mother and child. Parenting is no bench. It just might be the big game."

Chance the Rapper (Chancelor Bennett), Grammy winner, Dillard University: "Some people might find this kind of talk disrespectful, but it’s exactly the opposite. The highest form of respect that we can pay to the people who came before us, the people who sacrificed for us and gave us everything, is to be better than them. Our parents, grandparents, ancestors sacrificed, not so that we can keep doing the same thing that they were doing but so that we can be better. To simply copy them would be almost an insult to their sacrifice."

Cathy Engelbert, Deloitte CEO, Lehigh University: "Do what hasn’t been done. ... Schedule your personal updates. ... Stay anchored on what matters to you most." 

Mitch Landrieu, recent mayor of New Orleans, Saint Michael's College: "I led a robust public process to remove four Confederate monuments that were erected in prominent place in New Orleans by something called The Cult of the Lost Cause. ... We followed a two-year process and eventually won. Even after that arduous process, I couldn’t find a contractor who had a crane. The first contractor pulled out after receiving death threats. ... I learned that even when you have the law on your side and the power of the mayor’s office, if somebody else controls the money, the machines, the hardware that you need to make your new law work, you are really in trouble. So, you have to keep pushing."

Maria Cardona, Latinovations founder, University of California-Merced: "No matter your ethnic, cultural, racial or economic backgrounds, you have stepped up, and you are exhibiting that singular American quality. You are America. People will refuse to acknowledge you as such, in fact they have and will continue to do so, calling you, calling us, different or even un-American. But it is our obligation not to play into fear of the 'different.'  It is our obligation not to perpetuate it, but to blunt it. ... Dearest graduates, that is why today is a great day for the country.  Because you are the medicine. ... You can run for city councils, but you can also run companies, corporations, and one day you can even run this great country!"

Chadwick Boseman, actor, Howard University: "What do you do when the principles and standards that were instilled in you here at Howard close the doors in front of you? Sometimes you need to get knocked down before you can really figure out what your fight is. ... Take the harder way, the more complicated one, the one with more failures at first than successes. ... You will not regret it."

Ira Glass, host and executive producer of This American LifeColumbia University School of Journalism: "There’s a war in this country over facts and truth — and it’s not clear how it’s gonna play out and congratulations — you’re heading to the front lines. I know those are words every parent wants to hear. Speaking for everyone else who’s been slogging away in the trenches: glad to have you! We need the reinforcements. Couldn’t be a better time to become a journalist. ... Commencement addresses are a ridiculous form. It’s a kind of speech that’s doomed to failure. Precisely because nothing can be said that’s up to the task at hand. You are being launched from the training phase of your life into the vast exciting unknown of everything that’s to come. What words could possibly make that better? Seriously. What poncy little speech makes the liftoff of a rocket any better? Your ambition and your hopes for your coming lives … those are enough to fill this day with feeling. The wishes of your parents and loved ones for you … that’s enough."

President TrumpNaval Academy: "Wherever you go, wherever you serve, wherever your mission takes you, you only have one word in mind, and that’s victory. That is why you are here. Victory. A very important word. You are now leaders in the most powerful and righteous force on the face of the planet. The United States military. And we are respected again, I can tell you that. We are respected again. ... We know the truth, will speak the truth, and defend that truth. America is the greatest fighting force for peace, justice, and freedom in the history of the world. And in case you have not noticed, we have become a lot stronger lately. A lot. We are not going to apologize for America. We are going to stand up for America. No more apologies. We are going to stand up for our citizens. We are going to stand up for our values. And we are going to stand up for our men and women in uniform."

Ronan Farrow, New Yorker contributor and Pulitzer Prize winner, Loyola Marymount University: "I wanted to take a moment to talk about what it’s like trying to do work you believe in before the moment of impact. I’ve talked a little about challenges I faced reporting my stories on sexual violence. How the systems commanded by those powerful men I mentioned earlier came crashing down on me too. And how people I trusted turned on me. And powerful forces in the media world became instruments of suppression. ... The reality is my career was on the rocks. ... I found out another news outlet was racing to scoop me on the Weinstein story, and I knew I was falling behind. I did not know if I’d ever be able to report that story, or if a year of work would amount to anything. I did not know if I would let down woman after brave woman who had put their trust in me. ...  You will face a moment in your career where you have absolutely no idea what to do. Where it will be totally unclear to you what the right thing is for you, for your family, for your community. I hope in that moment, you’ll be generous to yourself, and trust that inner voice. Because more than ever we need people to be guided by their own senses of principle — and not the whims of a culture that prizes ambition, and sensationalism, and celebrity, and vulgarity, and doing whatever it takes to win. ... No pressure or anything. Congratulations, Class of 2018."

 

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