improve the excellence of our learning institutions throughout america. thank you, walter harrison. [applause] now, i want to give a special congratulations to this class and especially to the students who attended and worked here while holding part or full-time jobs, while caring for their parents or children, students who overcame the odds and are here because they were determined to graduate and give back. before we give you the keys to the car, so to speak, i will ask you to make a promise from entering a compact that

generation after generation has done in this country since its very founding. that is to leave the nation a little bit better than you found it. my parents, many of your grandparents, defeated fascism in europe and came back to build an interstate highway system, break down racial and religious barriers, and launch a state program, all of it leaving america better. that is what my generation should do for you. one of the worries, the risks of my generation, is our fear that perhaps we will not leave this nation better for you, for the first time in our history. we may not lead the nation better than we found it.

we have that responsibility. it is a shared responsibility. there is still unfinished business that we have a shared responsibility to accomplish. that is what it means to be a citizen. to engage in that compact to keep that promise. two stories that i think illustrates this point. one is a man named eduardo saverin who came to this country when he was 13 from brazil where his life was threatened. became not only for the freedom and security but also the opportunity. this country did well by him. he may be known to you as one of the co-founders of facebook. of friday, is in the billions and he is a billionaire 3 times over.

we have also learned that he has moved to singapore and he has renounced his american citizenship. this is solely because he will thereby avoid, literally, on millions of dollars, $67 million or more in taxes that he would owe on the billions he has realized as a result of the ipo last friday of facebook. he helped mark zuckerberg build facebook. one of the great products, the three technologies -- the great technological advancements in this country helped him to do it.

the other story is it perhaps the more encouraging one. it is about orlando and graduated from an institution here in connecticut just a short time ago, the coast guard academy. he is a refugee from haiti. he came here at the age of sex. after leaving haiti with his mother on the boat that drifted into the sea near the coast of florida where he and his mother were rescued, near starving, desperate for food and water, desperate for teh united states. they were rescued where they were completely desperate to be saved. after he arrived in the united

states, his mother was diagnosed with cancer. orlando was raised by the translator that cared for them while his mother was in the hospital. he wanted to go to the coast guard academy said that he could help reorganization that saved him at sea. then he will begin work on a cutter defending against criminals, narcotics smugglers and others who would do the u.s. harm and he will, in no doubt, ugees like heeugee was adrift at sea. orlando decided to stick around,

make a difference, fulfill the promise, give back, make a difference. there are so many people like him than there are like eduardo saverin, who renounced his citizenship, so he would not be bound by those promises are obligations not just in monetary terms but in the compact of shared responsibility. citizenship means more than just a title, more than just physically being here or sticking around. it means emotionally committing with the passion and perseverance that is demonstrated a day in and day out by many in this audience, on this platform. by people like brittany wallace

whom we have honored today. people like curtis robinson. people like catherine black and elizabeth hart who had given to this institution but also to their communities. every renos, as bill gates father said, there is no such thing as a self-made man. shouldersnd on the of others. we all need a hand from time to time. that sense of community, which i can feel in this group right now, is one that makes america great. just ask nicole sousa about

self-made people. she knows. every one of you knows you are here because of others. that compact means you give back to others after you. my generation still has some unfinished business and we need to work on it before we can say we have given back. many of you will be graduating with a huge student debt. the average in this state, $25,000 per student, and many here owe that much or more. that debt inhibits risk taking, entrepreneurship, job creation, innovation, creativity, the kind to build innovations as big as facebook but small as the kinds of suppliers and entrepreneur that we need here and in the

state of connecticut to grow jobs. we have asked your generation to occur that that to find a way to alleviate, reduced, and eliminate that that. we need programs that will reduce and eliminate that that -- that debt, and we need people in all of these professions that give back to keep that compact. i am going to work for a program that reduces and eliminate its debt in this country. [applause] my generation owes an unfulfilled promise to our veterans. we have asked you to fight a

war, unprecedented in its length of time. nver have -- never have so few borne the cost so long at such great a cost. when they return, their rate of unemployment is double the average. there denied their rights to sufficient and adequate health care, jobs, opportunities, counseling, and health care that they need and deserve. we must keep faith with our veterans. we can leave no veteran behind. [applause] that is a pledge we go to every one of the 250,000 veterans regardless of the war, regardless of their age and the

22 million in america. i'm just going to take a point of personal privilege. would all the veterans here today please stand and rise so that we can acknowledge and thank you? [applause] thank you for your service and welcome home. general petraeus book about your generation, the young men and women in the military, when he said of the view that you are the next greatest generation of american leaders. he is right.

we need to determine how to develop alternative sources of energy to save the nation and the planet, how to provide better health care and to prevent the costly diseases that are within our control to stop tobacco addiction and obesity, how to provide skills and training as this great institution does. i do not doubt that my generation will leave a lot of unfinished business for these graduates and others this spring. i also have no doubts that you will live up to this challenge and felt that combat. you will serve and give back. you will stick around.

i am so proud to be with you today, to join in this wonderful celebration of your citizenship, your accomplishments, and the great american promise that you begin to put bill today. thank you so much. god bless you. god bless america. thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> vice-president joe biden delivered the commencement address at west point academy. he said the academy has spurred the class of 2012 to face america's challenges and it is their destiny to leave the country. more than 900 graduated and were commissioned last week. [applause] >> thank you.

[applause] it's a great honor to be here. distinguished guests, soldiers and officers, friends and family of those graduating today, academy faculty and staff and, most of all, cadets on the of being commissioned in the united states army, it is an honor -- it is an honor -- to be here on this magnificent campus whose graduates for more than two centuries have played a leading role in nearly every chapter of our nation's history. before there was a military academy here on the hudson, re