a member of a new generation of great leaders. at a time -- at times it will be tough, and you will find yourself asking, as we all do, then i make the right decision? but you did. and you are prepared to make it through those tough times. your complete liberal arts education has prepared you to take on challenges of all kinds. not just in your long nights but your time spent with your classmates. before i close, i must ask a few things out of your entire class. when the president asked this of you a little while ago, i am thinking that maybe you were not warmed up yet. so first, the first thing i ask is that you please stand and give your parents and your family a round of applause, and the educators here, for all that they have done to help you to

get to this day. [cheers and applause] thank you. now that is a round of applause. i also ask you to look to your right and you are left -- and to your left. promise me that you will continue to support your classmates as you move throughout life, and as you all work to make our world a better place. i got a call on my way to the commencement today, and it does not matter how old you are, or whether you are mayor of the big city, your mom's still tells you what to do. my mother knew i was headed down here to give this address.

she said you have to tell them a few things -- i am only going to tell you one of the things. my mother's advice to you, and i get a lot of advice from my mother. she is a retired pediatrician who went to the university of maryland medical school back in the 19 cities, at a time when not many women at all, let alone women of color, were attending medical school. she has been a tremendous asset to me. [applause] she has one piece of advice. she says that you must commit yourself to a life of learning. she said this is not the end of your education, whether you are going off to school are going off to the work world. you have to commit yourself to becoming the best person that you can be by continuing to learn for your entire life. so that is her advice. i hope you take it.

now, onto my advice. when your done celebrating with your friends and family, i urge you to begin to think about how you can make a difference in your communities or in your cities, by making -- by bringing the st. mary's way with you wherever you go. your welcome to bring it to baltimore, because we need your energy. we need your ideas. most importantly, we need your hope that we can make baltimore a better, safer, and stronger place to live. congratulations, god bless you, and thank you again for giving me the opportunity to speak to you point. -- to speak to you. [applause] >> coming up next, obama governor mary phelan could she is the first woman governor of the state and only the second lawman elected to the u.s. congress from oklahoma, where she served from 2007-2011.

this is about 15 minutes. [applause] >> thank you. what a wonderful honor, dr. henry, thank you so very much. i appreciate and accept this honorary doctorate with great pride and humility. it is truly an honor to be able to accept it from oklahoma university, one of the greatest universities in the state of oklahoma, absolutely. but especially to be here up on the stage with some of oklahoma's top, brightest business leaders in the state and certainly some of our best leaders and civic leadership in our state, with gary, with cliffs and with pat and ray.

i am so honored to be able to receive this honor larry doctor with such outstanding oklahoma role models. i hope you will all emulate the things these leaders have done for this university as you continue on. i have to tell you, you have done a great job, president henry, at this university. this university is one of our shining examples, shining stars of success of education in the state of oklahoma. it is a great honor to be here today to celebrate and to congratulate our outstanding new oklahoma graduates. you have helped me increase -- helped me reach one of my goals of increasing the number of graduates in our state. to all the graduates, we are very proud of you. you have worked very hard to get to this moment. now hopefully you can get a little sleep, take a nice summer break and get ready for whenever it is you hope to do with your life. i know there are many people in

this audience that helped you get to this point today. certainly, we want to thank the a standing staff, the a standing faculty, the board -- outstanding staff, outstanding faculty, and the board of trustees and what they have done to help you reach this point in your life. let's give our faculty and staff a round of applause and thank them, graduates. [applause] and of course, you also have your family, your friends who have joined you here today, your parents. we want to recognize and think the parents and the family for the role they have played in supporting you along this path. let's give them a hand. [applause] now parents, to my parents who are out there, you know that when someone is getting ready to graduate, they have a tassel they move to one side or the next. a lot of times they throw their

hats of the near to celebrate that they have finally completed this great milestone when they graduate. parents, i have something for you today. i want you to get out your credit cards in your checkbooks. you can throw those up in the air in front of your students because the tuition is finally over, hopefully. [applause] but in all seriousness, it is truly a great honor to be here with so many talented, impressive men and women who are graduating from this unique school, a school which mission focuses on not only the students intellectual ability but also their moral and spiritual development. that is a tremendous accomplishment of this university. this university is actually one of our most unique and diverse universities in our state and has a unique, the first group of students to attend here.

ocu now accounts in its population, students from 41 different states and 56 foreign countries. that is quite remarkable. [applause] but here is another great figure. ocu is the highest number of national merit scholars this year ever. graduating from this university, national merit scholars. congratulations all of you. and i know that you are all going to do some very exciting things. i have looked at where some of your graduates are going after they finish today with this degree. some are going to disney paris. [cheers and applause] some are going to become officers in the u.s. military. where are my military folks? [applause] some are going on to attend

prestigious graduate programs. one is going to the eastman school of music. [cheers and applause] may be several. some of the graduates are also going to our top theological programs with full scholarships as they move on. some are going to medical school, law schools, and many other programs. even when going to study at the london school of economics. [applause] there they are. your truly a remarkable class. you are also our future leaders in our state. not only in business, but certainly in civic citizen leadership too. we're very, very proud of you. i am sure i do not have to tell you that by virtue of you just being here today, you have completed one of the most important milestones in your lifetime that you will ever achieve. weather is achieving financial success or the personal

fulfilment of obtaining a college degree, it is actually going to be one of the greatest tools that you will ever have in your toolbox, your ability to be able to better yourself and reach success. adults with college degrees, a graduate degrees, typically earn roughly twice as much as those with only high school degrees. and over the course of your lifetime, by having a college degree, you also will be talking about the potential to earn not just hundreds of thousands of dollars, but millions of dollars with this higher level of education. of course, as you continue to continue your studies, some of you may go on to master's and doctorate degrees. that also increases your potential in the business world. that is a compelling reason to earn a degree and a college education, but it is just one of many reasons. in doing so, in turning this degree, we are doing everything

we can to help people to enter into a work force that will provide the great opportunities to be successful in life. and that is one of the reasons why we have made such great emphasis this year in being able to increase the number of college decreed people in our great state. we are also working on increasing our academic standards in oklahoma so we can continue to make sure that you get the very best education possible. so no one can doubt the economic value of obtaining the degree that you are receiving today, but a college degree is more than just a piece of paper. it is also about higher wages and better jobs. graduating from ocu into part of a rich tradition in oklahoma, a rich tradition of service, a rich tradition of successful fall you the rest of your life. i am very proud of what you're

doing here today and very proud of the tools you have been given. and i am confident that as you move forward from this day forward that oklahoma is going to be a much better place. now, i want to say that not only are you very fortunate to be graduating from a wonderful university, you are also graduating at a very great time for the state of oklahoma. have noticed you this. oklahoma ranks second in the nation in job creation. i know you are all going to be out there looking for jobs, so being second in the nation in job creation is a good market place to be entering into. it is number one in the nation in job creation based upon large, metropolitan cities. if it is a great time for you to be graduating and hopefully most of you will be able to stay right here in oklahoma. before i and, i want to give you

some words of advice, some life lessons that i have learned throughout my career. one is that it is very important that you give back to your community. that you are part of your community, part of that service to others, a service above self. it is a very rewarding experience in life that when you give to others and you help make your state of better place to left. second, there is no limit to what you can accomplish no matter where you come from, who you are, what background you might have or what your circumstances might be. -it came from some very humble beginnings. -- i actually came from some very humble beginnings. i have had opportunities to do wonderful things and to be able to serve oklahoma, but my grandmother came to oklahoma in a covered wagon. i know that sounds funny because we do not think about covered wagons these days, the she actually came to oklahoma five years after we had become a

state. she came here in 1912. she was 7 years old. she came here with her family. there were eight in her family. i asked my grandmother, i said why did you come to oklahoma? they came from tennessee. i said did you come to buy a house, rent a home, did your dad take another job, what caused you to come to oklahoma? my grandmother laughed and said no, we came to oklahoma to find a better opportunity, to be able to support our family. they actually did not buy a house. they did not rent a home. they did not have a job, per se, they actually came to oklahoma to pick cotton. they were going from farm to farm in oklahoma, picking cotton, living in the covered wagon. she told me many times they would sleep on a pallet on the grass under the stars. her mom would cook outside. her mom would cook outside.