. battle of midway 75th anniversary special live from in macarthur visitor center norfolk, virginia, on friday beginning at 9:30 p.m. -- on c-span3. "washington journal," with issues that impact you, and thursday morning, a climate reporter will be on to discuss reports of the trump administration's withdrawal from the paris climate accord. then, the pharmaceutical industry and lowering prescription drug prices. also, from the wilson center, a discussion into russia and the 2016 election, and from

bloomberg, a talk of challenges for u.s. retailers. he sure to watch c-span's "washington journal" on thursday morning. join the discussion. coming up next, a look at some recent commencement addresses from colleges and universities around the country. first, we will hear from former california governor arnold schwarzenegger. later, another set of commencement speeches featuring javier gonzales and governors and rick snyder. arnold schwarzenegger spoke at the university of houston, talking about focusing on the many people who were crucial to his success as a bodybuilder, actor, and politician. this is 20 minutes. [applause]

arnold: well, thank you very much. thank you. wow. applause]d arnold: i am now a cougar. whose house? >> who's house? arnold: whose house? whose house? >> whose house? >> whose house? >> -- arnold: let me try that. it is wonderful. thank you so much for the wonderful introduction, president khator. it is a wonderful day to be here

at the university and thank you also for the great work that you are doing on behalf of all of those students. let's give a big, big hand for the wonderful work that your president is doing here at university. i tell you, when i read her bio, i am so proud of her. what a great immigrant. how many great contributions she makes to this university, to this state, and to this country. [cheers and applause] arnold: when i heard that she was the first indian immigrant to lead a comprehensive research university in the united states, i said to myself i'm going to hit it off really well with her. [laughter] arnold: the reason is because i love going to places where i'm not the only one with an accent. but seriously, i'm proud to be introduced by a fellow immigrant. and the students are very lucky here to have such a fantastic and talented leader. i also want to say thank you to the faculty. you have spent years teaching the students, inspiring them, and occasionally even arguing

with them. but none of them will be here without you, so big hand to the faculty. [applause] arnold: finally, i would like to say thank you to the parents and to the families that are here today. you shaped the students from the beginnings of their lives, way before they became proud cougars. you have been there for them every step of the way, giving them advice and giving them affection, love, and pushing them along, and probably sometimes even worried about them. but thank you very much for all of the great work that you have done. let's give the parents and the families a big hand of applause. [cheers and applause] arnold: now, to the students. this is a big day for all of you and i know some of you are going to say, "wait a minute, this is our day. why is schwarzenegger thanking everyone here in houston? when is he going to get to us?" [laughter] arnold: well, first of all,

congratulations to all of you. i know that it took a huge vision, great vision, and a lot of work and a lot of studying , and there is no one that can study for you. you have to do that yourself. so i want you all to know that i am very, very proud of all of you. thank you for the great work that you have done. [cheers and applause] arnold: now, on the diplomas, there will only be one name, and this is yours, but i hope it doesn't confuse you and you think that maybe you made it that far by yourself. no, you didn't. it took a lot of help. none of us can make it alone. none of us. not even the guy that is talking to you right now, that was the greatest bodybuilder of all times. think that maybe you made it [cheers] arnold: not even me, that has

been the terminator and went back in time to save the human race. [cheers] arnold: not even me that fought and killed predators with his bare hands. [cheers] arnold: i always tell people that you can call me anything that you want. you can call me arnold. you can call me schwarzenegger. you can call me the austrian oak. you can call me schwarzy. you can call me arnie. but don't ever, ever call me the self-made man. but this is so important for you to understand. i didn't make it this far on my own. i mean, to accept that credit or that medal would discount every single person that has helped me get here today, that gave me advice, that made an effort, that gave me the time, that lifted me up when i fell. and it gives the wrong impression that we can do it all alone. none of us can. the whole concept of the self-made man or woman is a

myth. now, i know you are going to say, "look, we have read so many stories about you, and we saw documentaries, where they talk model oft you are the the american dream and that you are the perfect example of the self-made man." well, let me tell you, i have seen, and heard, and read those stories myself. enjoyed reading them. [laughter] arnold: but the fact of the matter is, it is not the whole story. i didn't just materialize out of nowhere like the terminator through a fireball in the streets of los angeles, and then all of a sudden, i was there. no. i would have never made it in my life without the help. i happen to be someone, for instance, that believes in god. [cheers] arnold: that we were created by god, but let's assume for a second that you are not into that, then you must also believe in, at least believe in a

biological aspect, that our parents created us. i wouldn't be here without my parents creating me, nurturing me, feeding me, changing my diapers, loving me, hugging me, and all of that. and then, later on, when i went to school there were the , teachers, and then there where mentors, the coaches, and then my mother was there in the afternoon helping me do my homework and be tutoring. and then in the evening my , father was there helping me in sports, coaching us in soccer and in the winters skiing, sledding, ice skating, ice curling, and all those kinds of things. my father taught me about discipline and my love and appreciation for sports. and he gave me my first great advice, by saying, "whatever you do, arnold, be useful." so you also read so many times that i decided from one day to the next to become a bodybuilding champion and i training five hours a day and then became the youngest mr. universe ever. well, it is true, but the fact of the matter is, it is not the whole story, because if i wouldn't have met a lifeguard at

the lake where i grew up and some bodybuilders that introduced me to weight training and taught me the first chin-up on a branch of a tree by that lake, and that eventually introduced me also to a weightlifting club locally, where the coaches taught me powerlifting and weightlifting and bodybuilding. they helped me and they nurtured me. they pushed me. introduced me also to a and then, eventually i saw a , magazine with reg park on the cover. it said, "mr. universe becomes hercules." there was reg park in a hercules pose on the cover. i bought that magazine. i read the story from the front to the end cover and let me tell you something. i read exactly how he trained five hours a day and how he became a champion, mr. universe three times, and how he went to america and then discovered in the movies, "hercules" movies. well, when i read that, i found

my vision. and let me tell you the most , important thing in life is to have vision, to know exactly where you're vision. i found my vision and that magazine, reg park, gave me my blueprint for my life, and five years later, after training five hours a day, just like him and doing his exercises, i became, through his help and his inspiration, the youngest mr. universe ever. and this is what made then joe weider the father of bodybuilding, the owner of a giant food supplement empire, "muscle andf fitness," invited me to america. so it was joe weider that brought me to america, to the greatest country in the world, to give me the opportunity to train in gold's gym and to get me a little apartment. i came over here with absolutely nothing. it was his help. i had $20 in the pocket and some sweaty clothes in the gym bag. but let me tell you, i had this one little apartment, and on thanksgiving, the bodybuilders from gold's gym came to my apartment and they brought me , pillows, dishes, silverware,

all of these things i didn't have, and even a black and white tv and the transistor radio, which i still have today on the end table next to my bed. the generosity that i saw the , amount of help that i got when i came to america was absolutely extraordinary, and i saw firsthand how generous the american people are. and then in gold's gym, there was a magical place with all of the champions, mr. americas, mr. world, mr. universe, everyone was training, powerlifters, olympic champions and so on. , and they helped me change from an amateur champion to a professional champion. and after that, i won champion after championship, seven times mr. olympia. you heard it all. and became the greatest bodybuilder of all times , according to the bodybuilding magazine in 1975. [laughter] arnold: now this is just, with all of the help, i would not have made any of that by myself. so this is why i don't believe in the self-made man, and even when it comes to show business, it was the same thing.

i mean, you read the stories that schwarzenegger decided from one day to the next to retire from bodybuilding and to go and become an actor. and in no time, he did "conan the barbarian" and "terminator" and "commander" and so on. well, it is true, but it is only half of the story because the reality of it is without a lot of help i wouldn't have made it. , first of all, it would have been fun to make it that easy and to be that easy, but it was very, very difficult to get into the movies. very difficult. and only because i had help, i could get in because in the beginning every agent, every manager, every studio executive said, "you will never become a leading man. look at your body. you look like a monster." [laughter] arnold: i was upset about that because i trained so hard and and all of a sudden

they call me a monster, but the bottom line is, they said, "this is the 1970's. 20 years they did "hercules." movies today, the little guys are in. dustin hoffman, al pacino, woody allen. those are the sex symbols of the 1970's. don't you understand it?" i said, "oh, my god. who are they?" [laughter] arnold: but they even belittled me with my accent. they said, "look, the way you talk, i have to be very honest. i don't want to offend you, but you give me the creeps with your accent, with that german accent. it's scary." they said, "maybe we can get you a job in "hogan's heroes," in that tv show, to play a nazi officer. and plus your name, schwarzen, schmitzl, or whatever it is. [laughter] arnold: yes, i can see that already up there on billboard, and people running in because of the name." the bottom line is, it was very, very difficult but only because i decided not to listen to the naysayers and because i decided to work as hard as i did in bodybuilding, to take acting lessons, to take voice lessons, english lessons, speech lessons, and accent removal lessons. [laughter]

arnold: now, i know you are going to say, "get your money back, arnold." [laughter] arnold: but the bottom line is i ran around, "the fine wine grows on a vine," because the germans always had difficulties with the f, w, and the v. "the fine wine grows on a vine." and then, "the sink is made out of zinc" and all those kinds of things. so i did this thousands of time, and, eventually it , worked. i started getting little parts, and then i started getting bigger parts, and then, eventually, even though it was very difficult, it was dino de laurentiis and ed pressman that came to me with "conan the barbarian." and if they wouldn't have helped me to get that part, i would not have broken through and become a leading man. this movie came out. they spent $20 million, which in today's terms is around $200 million, on that movie. it was number one in the box office. that was, for me, the big

breakthrough. and at the press conference, the director even said, "if we wouldn't have schwarzenegger, we would have to build one," because i was the only one that could act and had a body like that for "conan the barbarian." and then, of course, there was james cameron that directed "terminator." when "terminator" came out, james cameron said, "the reason why "terminator" worked is because schwarzenegger talks like a machine." now, i don't know if i should take this as a compliment or what, but the bottom line is, it was the two things that the studio executives said would be big liability became big, big assets, and my career took off. and this is why i always say thank you to the people that helped me along the way and not ever think that i'm a self-made man because not only was the producer and directors that are helpful, and the studio executives are helpful, but every person that works in a movie. as a matter of fact, when we have a wrap party, which is the party at the end of the movie, i always make sure that every person gets invited to that wrap

party to say thank you to them at the wrap party and go to the microphone, and you say thank you to the cameraman, because without him, i wouldn't look as great on the screen, to the makeup person, to the visual-effects person, to the stunt people, the stunt coordinator, the cable pullers, craft services, and the list goes on and on and on. there's 280 people that work in a movie that make you look great on that screen, so how can i say i'm a self-made man? so this is why it is important for all of us to recognize, and this is why i tell you, on every step of the way, i had help. even when i ran for governor. people say, "one day, he decided to run for governor and to take over the sixth largest economy in the world." no, this is not the way it was. yes, i took over, and yes, i won the governorship, but if it wouldn't have been for jay leno, who hosted "the tonight show," who i called a week before, and i said, "i want to announce my candidacy on your show, on "the tonight show," because i want to sell myself as an outsider because the people in california are sick and tired of the

typical politician." so he said to me, and he was a great friend, he said, "yes. i'm going to help you with you that." and i announced, without anyone knowing, on august 6 on "the tonight show" my candidacy. and he even organized 100 journalists from politics to sit in the back when i announced my candidacy. so this is the kind of help i got. and from them, of course, i didn't even have a team yet. people came out of nowhere and just started helping organizing the campaign and with the fundraising and with the communication and with all of those things. and i became, two months later, the governor of the state of california, but it took a lot of help. and i have to say that it is important to acknowledge that because people make it always sound that you did all this yourself. i didn't. i did it with a lot of help. yes, i was determined. yes, i never listened to the naysayers. yes, i had a great vision. yes, i had the fire in the belly and all of those things, but i didn't do it without the help. and even when you then say,

"schwarzenegger did the most unbelievable environmental laws in california," well, guess how laws are done? it took the legislators, 120 legislators, to negotiate for weeks and months at a time and then to send down legislation, and then you sign that. so you need that help, too. so i had a lot of help along the way, and this is why it is so important for all of you to recognize that. and the biggest help, of course, was from america. if i wouldn't have come to the united states, if i would have come to any other country, i would not have had the success. i mean, america has proven not only to be the land of opportunity image-wise, but america has proven to be the greatest country in the world. [cheers and applause] arnold: anyone can make it! this is why i always tell people, none of my careers would have happened if it wouldn't have been for the united states of america. i could have gone to the middle east.

do you think i would stand here today? i could have gone to africa. do you think i would stand here today? or to australia or to asia, to any other country in europe? it makes no difference. this place has given me the opportunity, step after step, all the way through all my three careers and the millions and millions of dollars i've made, all because of america. so, thank you, america, for the great thing that you're doing for immigrants that come over here. applause]d arnold: and the reason why i want you to understand that is because as soon as you understand that you are here because of a lot of help, then you also understand that now is time to help others. that's what this is all about. [laughter] --[applause] arnold: you got to help others. don't just think about yourself. help others. as my father-in-law, sergeant shriver, said, at yale university commencement speech, just like i'm speaking right now here, except i speak to a better

university -- [cheers] arnold: but he said, sergeant shriver said -- you know he was the guy that created the peace corps, the job corps, legal aid to the poor, and an extraordinarily human being under the johnson and kennedy administration. and so he said to those students, he said, "tear down this mirror. tear down this mirror that makes you always look at yourself, and you will be able to look beyond this mirror and see the millions shriver said -- you know he was of people that need your help." and let me tell you something, when i heard that, it all made sense to me, that we have to go out and help. and this is why i got involved in special olympics, to be the international coach of special olympics, and then eventually became the chairman of the president's council on physical fitness and sports. i was appointed by president bush, my favorite houstonian, and i should not say the only one, but barbara. i should add barbara, because i see them later on. i don't want to leave out barbara here because, otherwise,

she gets really mad. yeah, so anyway, so both of them. and then drive through around all 50 states to promote health and fitness and then eventually started afterschool programs, and now we are in 40 different cities, 48 different cities providing afterschool programs , for over 100,000 kids and all this. so, i mean, it is, to me, it was very important to give back and also to go -- every time i travel around the world, to go military bases and to visit our brave men and women that save us, that protect us, to say, thank you, thank you, thank you to them, anywhere in the world that i travel. [applause] arnold: so it is important to recognize that. so all i'm saying is it is my challenge to you today to go ahead and to celebrate your accomplishment. you should. this commencement is a great success, and each of you earned your diplomas, but at some point, take a break from the celebration, away from the

instagrams and snapchats, and think about all of the people that helped you. make sure to go and to recognize president khator and to say thank you to her for the great work that she has done. say thank you to the deans of this university that are responsible to make this university so great. say thank you to the professors and associate professors, everyone that taught you, and everyone that's responsible for you to be here today, and go to your parents and give them a big, big hug and tell them that you love them and thank you for everything that you have done to get me here today. do that, and give something back to your community and to your state and to this country, because remember, in the end, we are not going to be remembered for how much we made but for how much we have given. make sure that it is not about "me."

that it is about "we." turn the "me" into "we," and i guarantee you that you can change the world. thank you very much, all of you cougars. thank you. [cheers and applause] arnold: and now i'm going to do , a snapchat with my glasses. let's hear it. applause]d arnold: fantastic. hasta la vista, baby. i'll be back. [cheers and applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> the founding fathers, happiness does not mean the pursuit of more ways to be entertained.

it is the happiness that comes from feeling good by doing good. of course, many of you already know that. [cheers and applause] arianna: near and far, working with chinese schools and ngo's through the china project, spending time in the community with people with disabilities through the best bodies programs, tutoring children and using digital storytelling to start conversations about health issues in springfield, so as you leave this beautiful campus to follow your dreams and attain great heights in whatever field you choose, i beg you. societies definition of success, because it is not working for anyone. it is not working for women. it is not working for men.

it is not even working for the cicadas that are about to emerge. it is only working for those who stressescriptions for and high blood pressure. so, please, do not settle for just breaking through glass ceilings in a broken corporate system or a broken political where so many leaders are so disconnected from their wisdom that we are careening from one crisis to another. "w" atmuch more than the the top of the corporate flowchart. change by going to the root of what is wrong in redefining what a success.alue and

announcer:, another commencement address. this one from former vice president joe biden from colby college, where he urged candidates to be engaged in politics. this is 35 minutes. [applause] thank you, mr. president. thank you, thank you, thank you. thank you very much. thank you. i think maybe i should sit down now. [laughter] mr. biden: mr. president, it is an honor to be here, and the chair of the board, colby trustees, especially my good colby trustee, and i mean this -- i can say this without fear of contradiction, one of the wisest

sels to ever serve as chief of staff for the president of united eighth of america. of incredible personal integrity and a good, good friend. mom andiends with his dad when i was a 28-year-old kid who announced for the senate to become elected, and he had become great friends with my deceased son beau biden and my hunter biden, and i want to acknowledge robert. thank you. fellow honorees, degree recipients, and madam president, and mr. president, i have been to a couple a number of times. coldou to complain about is hypocrisy. [laughter] mr. biden: i have never been as cold as i was in my whole life.

not as much snow, i acknowledge. thank you for choosing us. thank you for choosing colby, and, please, i mean this sincerely, mr. president. come back. come back. we need you. [applause] mr. biden: and amazing grace. grace, where are you? god love you, child. i tell you what, i am so, so proud of grace, grace dunn, and, ladies and gentlemen, to your honorees, my congratulations. grace had aner expression. she would say to me, and i mean it, sincerely. she would say, look at my eyes. i give you my word as a biden. she said it 50 times. she would say, "remember, you are defined by your courage, and you are redeemed by your

loyalty." gracie, she did not know you, but she had you in mind. remember, remember. you are defined by your courage. you know, to all the proud colby moms and dads, congratulations. you are about to get a pay raise. [laughter] mr. biden: no tuition next year. maybe that is not quite true. but folks, your mom, dad, , grandparents, your family made a lot of sacrifices for you to be here, so stand up and give them a cheer. stand up. and tell them. [cheers] [applause] mr. biden: you know, mr. president i find commencement , speech is the most difficult to give. i mean it sincerely.

and the reason i do is the fact, the faculty says, here we go again my 15th commencement , speech to hear. and the students say, hurry up, man. we have a party to go to. and parent say, say something meaningful to justify the tuition. [laughter] i'm going toll, give it a try, but i am not sure i and capable. i am inclined to do what the commencement speaker did the the year that i graduated. bob hope was the commencement speaker at georgetown university that year. it was the middle of the vietnam war and he stood up after recognizing all the celebrities and faculty as he turned and looked at the students and said , i have one thing to say to you. don't go. and he sat down. [laughter] mr. biden: maybe that was the most meaningful speech given that year at commencement.

but, you know the class of 2017, , you made it. i'm sure you arrived on this campus wondering what the next four years would be like, you were not sure what to expect. and then a few days later when school chucked you out into the wilderness, and those few days of -- you are mean up here. you did not know what to expect. in those four years, colby has not only come to feel like home for most of you, i expect it has , watching your faces, become family. it has become family and the people you are graduating with, you keep reflecting it in the way you talk about this place. the students, the leaders who took you out into the woods, moms and dads, when you came together on saturday night to share -- i guess it was sunday nights, to share your lives with one another, that is not some

mandatory meeting, i am told. it is story time. know, i often tell pete, the problem that is going on in the congress now is we do not tell stories anymore. it sounds silly, but i mean it. we do not know each other anymore. when you know somebody's mom has breast cancer, you know somebody dad just lost his job, or a sister is sick, it makes it hard to dislike that person. you get to understand the secret of humanity. we used in other things in congress. you know those things here, i suspect, from sunday nights. and now, after listening to your speech i finally understand all , those hashtags about you. [laughter] mr. biden: you know? you will never forget the time you spent here, hunkered down

with friends, hoarding food so you would not have to leave the dorm during the snowstorms, or reaching out to each other to get a hungry jack. when the dairy cone finally opens each spring cheering on a , hockey team that beat bowden twice. [applause] mr. biden: but the thing i hope you remember most from your time here is the ethos here that sought to instill your sense of obligation that you bear to one another as individuals, a culture of mutual accountability, accountability, and caring. in other words, be a mule. be a mule. that is what it is all about. you know, this past election cycle churned up some of the

ugliest realities in our country. civilized discourse and a real debate gave way to the coarsest rhetoric and starting session stoking of our darkest emotions. i thought we had past the days where it was acceptable for politicians to bestow legitimacy on hate speech and fringe ideologies, even just by their silence. but the world is changing so rapidly, there are a lot of folks out there who are afraid. good people. we know globalization has not been a benefit for all communities, struggling to get by. people are being displaced by thenology, moore's law, whole notion of digitalization. people are worried, a lot of people are worried. there is an overwhelming need for continuing education.

those who graduate even in the sciences, within the next 15 years you will have to be , reeducated. you could be an astrophysicist. so much is going to change. so much is going to happen to keep pace with your profession. you are going to have to continually, continually, keep up. a lot of people out there know they have to do that without any capacity to do it do not know , how to get by. we saw how appealing to their fears and to their baser instincts rather than their better angels, as lincoln talked about, can still be, at least temporarily, powerful in politics. we saw how populism can seek to blame the troubles of a rapidly changing world on the other. it is always the outsider. i would not have lost my job but for. the reason i am not doing well. the immigrant, the minority, the

transgender, anybody not like me became a scapegoat. there is a reason i am falling behind. why i cannot get a job. you, imagine for many of seeing this unfold was incredibly disorienting and disheartening, a disheartening experience. it was for me and many americans across the country. and it is understandable, but i assure you, it is temporary. i assure you, it is transitory. the american people will not sustain this attitude. and now is the time for engaged leadership, so you have to hold, you have to hold onto the colby mentality once you leave campus. because it will not only serve you well, it will serve our nation well. and that is not hyperbole. i mean that literally. you have to be responsible to join into the ceaseless work of perfecting a more perfect union.

we hold these truths self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are in doubt by their creator with certain inalienable rights. we say those things, but think about what defines us as americans. you cannot define an american based on ethnicity, you cannot define an american based on religion. you cannot define america by anything other than an inherent acceptance of the notions contained within our institutional structures. we hold these truths self-evident, that all men are created equal. we do not always practice it, but we know that is why we belong. no matter where we come from. it has been a long, long time, an uphill climb, to

make it real and we are nowhere near making it real and we have not always lived up to our ideals. we are respected around the world, not because of the exercise of our power, but the power of our example. that is why we are who we are. [applause] mr. biden: but it is especially in moments when the world is in disarray and our politics are in chaos, when there is a temptation to disengage, to throw our hands up, that is when it is most import for us to return to the basic and suppose. that is when we have to show our ideals remain undimmed, and it still matters to us as americans. it sounds corny, but it is really true. it is really true. for me, it goes back to something my father taught me. my father used to say, and i mean it. this is not a joke. my father was a graceful, high school educated man who was well read and a truly decent man, and

he used to say, "joe "every man, , woman and child should be treated with respect and deserves to be treated with dignity." my father would never walk by somebody begging. i would say, "dad, but he is only going to use it to go out and drink." say "if he had a , choice would he be standing there begging?" , no matter who it is. they are entitled to be treated with dignity. it goes to the heart of what it means to be an american. the right to dignity is what holds up these self-evident truths, of which we always talk about. look. furthermore, when we treat people with dignity, when we them them, when we equip with the ability to care for their families and to maintain their dignity it is harder for , the politics and fear to find a home. so today, i want to talk to you about the importance of keeping dignity at the center of our

society and at the center of your life as you go out into the world. folks, each of you has a responsibility. you all know it. you have been taught it here. you were taught it before you came here. to treat people with dignity. you demanded for yourselves. you demand you be treated that way. and all of us, all of us have to , do better when it comes to building the bonds of empathy that folks who are not like us, are not like us, can no we understand them. they cannot be living in a self reinforcing, self righteous self-echo chamber we both for ourselves online. living in our screens encourages shallow and antiseptic relationships that makes it easy to reduce others to stereotypes.

to write another human being off as a bad person, rather than somebody who just made a really bad decision a person on the , other side of the negotiating table, the other side of the a person whoate, doesn't look like you, who lives in a community you have never visited, a person who has a different background, or religion than yours. that is not some -- they are not some flattened version of humanity, reducible to a collection of parts and attributes. they are a whole person, flawed, struggling to make it in the world just like you. , you have to work to ascribe to your opposition the same emotional complexity you find in yourself, that you possess. your sunday storytime, learning to listen to one another, shape your own story in turn. it may be one of the most important things you have learned spending time here at

colby. because so often, over the course of time and public life i have found it comes down to just being personal. it is all about being personal. all politics, all international relations, is personal. i have met every major world leader in the last 42 years, without exception. i have met an awful lot of people who are supposedly, in fact, are very powerful. and i found that not all those who are successful are happy. and i have found the one common trait that those who found that sweet spot between success and happiness, those persons who are personal caring about your , colleague as they are dealing with a sick parent, or their from is graduating

a child that was just in an accident. that is the stuff that fosters real relationships, breeds trust, allows you to get things done in a complex world. it is a lesson i first learned s just in an accident. that is the stuff that fosters real relationships, breeds when i got to the senate as a 30-year-old kid. i didn't want to go to the senate. elected on november 3. myemember, i was down hiring staff on december 18 in washington, d.c., and i got a phone call from a young woman who did not know me, and that is why they had her call me, and in monotone, "mr. biden, your wife is dead. your daughter is dead. i'm not sure your sons are going to make it. you should come home." and everything changed.

i learned. i learned a lesson from that. i did not go, and mike mansfield, ed muskie, and some other senior senators said, " just come and be sworn in and stay for six months. only 1703 people have ever been sworn in, your wife worked hard to get you here, you owe it to your family." but i did not want to go. the day was supposed to be sworn in, i refused to go to the senate, so i later learned i was probably the only senator in history ever sworn in in a hospital, because i do not want to leave my sons. they sent the secretary of the senate to swear me in. and senator mansfield who had more integrity in his finger them as people have in his whole body, he comes by every tuesday at 3:00, and he would give me an assignment. no senator gets an assignment. [laughter] mr. biden: not a joke.

i was the first senator. i didn't know any better. it took me a couple months for me to figure out that he was taking my pulse to see how i was doing. it was the end of may, and you see on c-span those two doors that the senators walk in, and i walked down to the floor of the senate to determine when the last vote was going to be so that i could catch the train to go home to see my boys, which i did over 8300 times, they tell me. and as i walked down the floor, a very, very strident fellow named jesse holmes from north carolina was excoriating ted kennedy and another good friend of mine, bob dole, who is still alive, god love him, before introducing the precursor for the americans with disabilities act, and he was going on how it was not the role of government and nobody had the right to tell a county or a business person or anybody else they had to curb cut, or buses had to accommodate, etc.

i thought he was being heartless, so i sat down and , senator mansfield looked at me and said, "what is the matter, joe?" and i went on for three minutes talking about how jesse helms had no redeeming value, i thought he was terrible. he looked at me when i finished and said to me, "what if i told you that jesse holmes, three years ago, sitting in his home in raleigh, north carolina with his wife thought in advertisements in early december for a young man with braces up to his hips, 14 years old, and steel braces on his arms, saying all i what for christmas is for somebody to love me and take me home? what would you say if i told you wife adoptedd his that young man as their own child?" i said, "i would feel like a

fool." and he said, "well, they did, joe." it is always appropriate to question another man or woman judgment, but it is never appropriate to question their motive, because you do not know. and once you question motive, you make it impossible to reach a compromise. i say you are in the pocket of, or you are unethical, or you can talk about things that go to the heart of you as a person, it is awful hard to reach an agreement on an issue that has to be resolved. at the same time, you have a responsibility to stand up against in dignities -- indigni ties. you have to be committed everywhere against any and all those folks out there that want to dim the rights of other people. but you cannot start, you cannot start by questioning peoples motives, because an injury to the rights of any person diminishes all of our humanity. the defining -- you know, if you

are defending the dignity and it requires abuse of power at the end of the day. that has been the underlying principle behind every issue i have gotten behind, and i suspect all of you, whether your political passion or your personal passion is directed , throughout my life and i guess years. that is why i got involved in the civil rights movement doing sitins. that is why i enjoyed the environmental movement led by senator muskie. it is why pushing back against companies that are abusing their power, polluting our environment, something i am sure many of you studied in your e.s. classes. in belgrade, who was literally engaging in genocide. that is why i worked so hard and

wrote the violence against women act in the late 1990's. that is why i remain committed to ending sexual assault, especially on campuses. my father -- [applause] mr. biden: my father used to say that the greatest sin was the abuse of power, and the cardinal sin of all sins was a man lifting his hand to a woman or to a child. women have the same exact right to be treated with dignity as a man. and i am determined that my granddaughters, who are capable of doing anything a man can do, anything that any man can do that they are treated that way. , [applause] mr. biden: so each and every one of you has to stand up to the indignity of sexual assault, stand against the indignity of excusing harassment, talk about and this notion in locker rooms that the talk that goes on, it

does not go on like somebody said it dies. stand up against these indignities of a culture that devalues women's humanity. and michelle, congratulations to , you and your award today. i am so glad colby is recognizing your service. i know the entire colby community is building a culture of consent for everyone here on the campus, including joining campaign, which i continue to be deeply involved in. i hope you carry that conviction with you off of this campus and throughout your lives. in fact hold on to all those , convictions you learned on the hill, because you are going to face temptations along the way to rationalize and make choices that put people second. everybody does. there is an incredible on my pressure on your generation to succeed. you have already accomplished so much, but you might notice that

you start slipping into a bubble that validates certain choices, prioritize the social trappings of success rather than making a difference. take the job, live in the place, hang out with people just like you, take no real risks, have no real impact. defending dignity requires more than just watching out for your own opportunities or looking out for your own success, because no matter, no matter what you think, you cannot erect a bubble around yourself and your family to protect them. this degree will not protect you from the pressures of a changing world, as prestigious as it is. what happens to your community affects you. if your sister is a victim of domestic violence, you are violated. if your brother cannot marry the man he loves, you are lessened. if your best friend has to worry about being profiled, you live in a circumstance not worthy of us.

and if you cannot breathe free air and clean air, there is no place to hide no matter how much money and success you accomplish. so folks -- [applause] mr. biden: you have to reach beyond yourself because we know , what is possible when people get a chance to explore their talents without being held back. there is no better example of that than my dear friend, george mitchell. the last in a long line of majority leaders in the united states senate along with bob dole actually, actually helped generate consensus in the senate. he went on to be a real diplomat and peacemaker, ending decades of conflict in northern ireland literally, quite literally saving hundreds and hundreds of , lives. george is the son of a janitor.

his dad worked right here at colby. his mom worked in a textile mill. understood me watching his parents, what my dad would always say. my dad would always say, "joe your job is about more than a , paycheck. it is about dignity, respect. it is about your place in the community. it is about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, honey, it is going to be ok. it is going to be ok." the parents can tell you the most helpful thing a parent can say, looking at it opportunity and knowing there is not anything they can do to help them. so, folks, they worked hard to give their kids greater aportunity, to give george chance to go to college and then law school.

a chance to choose a life of public service. so like george, regardless of your background, remember where you came from. hold on to the way that so many of you reached out to mentor a young person through colby cares about kids. hold onto the way you engaged in this community. and make sure to bring that commitment to whatever walk of life that you choose. folks, class of 2017, no graduating class gets to choose the world in which they graduate into. that history has been written by those that came before you, but now, it is your job to put your hands on the wheel and bring that arc of history closer to where we want to be as a nation. the journey to perfecting this union is never complete. there is always new challenges ahead, challenges that may seem like it is too daunting for one person to have any impact, make any difference. but individuals always make a difference.

sometimes, perspective is important. i remember what it felt like as i sat where you are sitting now in 1968, graduating into an uncertain world. my final year, when america thought the war in vietnam was trying to a close, they thought the war is ending. lighte told there was a at the end of the tunnel. well, as lenny bruce, the comedian, said, it turned out to be a freight train. the war was supposedly coming tt at the end of the tunnel. a close, yet the viet cong launch the tet offensive. two days into that, there is an iconic photograph, even you have seen even though it was years ago, with a policeman standing in an intersection in saigon with a viet cong with his hands handcuffed behind his back, holding the revolver to his head. a photographer captured it, blowing the man's brains out.

that bullet not only pierced the pierceds skull, it america's consciousness and it , brought home to everybody in my generation that there was no end in sight. there was no light. peaceful demonstrations turned up all over the country and some turned violent, all across america. instead of the war winding down, the bombs in vietnam exploded that year that we graduated. 17,000 americans killed that year, just that year alone, when the war was supposed to end. the sitting president, lyndon johnson, who coveted the presidency, announced he would not seek a second term. then in april, dr. king was assassinated, gunned down in memphis. cities, including my own hometown of willie, delaware, went up in flames.

my hometown was the only city in american history since the civil war that was occupied by the national guard, for seven months. as i walked across the stage to day, i my diploma that learned the only political hero i ever had had just been assassinated. generation, bobby kennedy, was assassinated, dying from in thellet kitchen and los angeles after having been declared the winner of the california primary, and the likely nominee. two fallen american heroes in a matter of weeks and many more fallen americans across the globe, in vietnam. for my generation, for my graduating class, the once-prevailing hope of better days ahead was gone, shot through the pain and grief of a nation that viewed itself on the brink. and all throughout this great country, a sense of hopelessness and helplessness began to take hold.

that was the world that pete and i entered into. that was history that was written for us up to that point, not by us. but in spite of all that, as i walked across that stage, i never doubted for one instance that we could change the history we were handed, that we could rewrite the outcome that we were careening toward. it did not matter at the time the overwhelming thought was just drop out. do not trust anybody over 30. bury.-- very --haight ash i am deeply proud of that graduating class, got to the streets, stepped up. a great friend of mine, a great senator, was elected to congress. we were both running republican

democrats determined to end the war. not long after that, sitting in the cabinet room was a young senator, president ford. four weeks later, bodies were being lifted off the top of the roof of the saigon. and the war was ended. that was 1968. this is 2017. now it is your turn. you are graduating into a world of anxiety and uncertainty. you are walking across the stage without knowing exactly what is going to be on the other side, but there is no reason why your generation cannot do the same and better than ours did. you are better equipped. you are better equipped. you are better educated. you are more informed. you are more engaged to deal with what lies ahead than my generation was. ladies and gentlemen, you have

better tools. you're in a position now where the power in your iphone you have is computers that sent meno the moon. tohave computers, beginning produce body parts for transplants. software translates real-time conversations into multiple linkages. -- languages. technology is there to fight climate change, cure cancer. i am optimistic. i don't think there is anything we can't overcome. if we were member who we are and what we have always striven to be, a nation grounded in dignity. a nation that thinks big. a nation of optimists that believes there is nothing beyond our capacity. what happened to that notion in america? both political parties. we talk about things in incremental terms. when the hell hasn't ever been

the american spirit? when? there is an overwhelming reason to be optimistic. i say to all you parents that u.s. is better positioned than any nation in the world to only 21st century. -- to own the 21st century. we have the most agile system of sm, every otheri research interest the in the world combined does not equal what exists here in the united states. we are the epicenter of energy reduction for the remainder of the century. , it is time for america to get up, it is time to regain our sense of unity and purpose, it is time for us to start realizing who in god's name we are. generationfor your to remember the admonition that my philosophy professor told me, i remember him leaving the last

class and he looked at us and he said as if we all knew, he said remember what plato said. , what the hhought ell is this going to be? [laughter] biden: the pouncey good people pay for not being involved in politics is being governed by people worse than themselves. all the polling data shows your generation is by far the most tolerant, the most capable, the most engaged, of any generation in american history. it also shows you do not want to politics. in overwhelmingly, you do not want to be engaged in the process. you have to be. you have to be. -- for our own safety's sake.

god bless you all. enjoy the party and may god reject our troops. thank you. >> will you achieve your full potential, will you a compass anything you want to accomplish, that is my challenge to you. i dealt with a lot of people in my career. and when type bothers me. you do not understand failure. you do not what it is -- you do not know what it is to pick up and try again. you have got to be tough as well as smart and you either have that quality or i know you will develop it. because as you go through life you will have defeats and quit,ointments and if you you will never contribute as much as you could with the wonderful mind you are fortunate enough to have. read itof you had to five times and memorize it and struggle to get through here. just a small number here, i can see.

you will be fine. [applause] [laughter] you takel be an asset with you through life. your survivors. you do not accept defeat. adversity made you tough. you expect to pay the price. you will do ok. it is a wonderful quality to develop. to all the graduates here today, i hope nobody feels special. i hope nobody feels cocky. just thinkwill all about how fortunate you are to be here. you could be starving to death on the streets of india. you could be on a small boat in vietnam wondering if you will ever make sure. but you are here. and you have this opportunity, so please, do not go through the phase that most of us go through when we are young, what i call the arrogant cocky i am special phase.

let's bring it down close to home. some of you have scholarships. some of you paid your tuition. but not a single person sitting out there in a black robe today paul -- paid the full cost of going to this university and as you drive away from here tonight, who you will see doing the honest everyday work of the world, they may be farming in their fields, they are outdoors all day in the heat like we are for one short afternoon. it may be patching roads area they are doing the good, honest work of the world. they are taxpayers, they help pay your tuition. and please do not ever forget it. [applause] >> girls who code founder and ceo was the commencement speaker at the all women skips college in claremont, california. she talked about her childhood and the events that led to the creation of her nonprofit

organization dedicated to encouraging young women to pursue careers in computer science. this is 15 minutes. >> thank you for inviting me to share this day with you and thank you for that powerful speech. the young girls that you will teach one day are going to be lucky to look up to you as a role model. i know it is traditional for commencement speakers to start off with a joke. anyone's -- anyone who knows me knows i am super impatient and very add. i will cut to the chase. you are graduating at a crazy time in history. i am talking top-five earth shattering paradigm shifting moments in human existence. it was the industrial

revolution, the enlightenment, the digital evolution and now today, automation is going to change everything about the way we live, and the way we work. according to mckinsey, 45% of all the tasks that people do manually today are going to be augmented using current technology alone. the pace of innovation has never been faster. that means our future is going to look nothing like our president. i am not a historian but i have been thinking about this other -- those other revolutions, the windsor mentioned a second ago and it turns out that they have a lot of things in common. sleeping change to the -- sweeping change to the world. it was a product of incredible vision, creativity, and courage. and they are led by white guys. do not get me wrong. i love white guys. my bestys are some of friends.

[laughter] >> but let's be real. had a monopoly on good ideas. ideas. they have occupied a space that the rest of us have not had access to. right? [applause] reshma: the good news is, that platform is no longer out of reach. in the last half-century of loan, women and people of color have been climbing. women in the majority of bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees. give yourself a pat on the graph -- on the back. [applause] reshma: today, some 40% of american women are the breadwinners of their families and we are as close to equality as we have ever been. yet, we have a problem. because the next revolution is underway and its leaders, they

do not look like us, they look like mark zuckerberg, and tim cook, and elon musk. bute guys are awesome, america is a big, beautiful the everest country. -- diverse country. and for all the progress women have made, we are underrepresented in congress and the tech community. so why? why are there not more women in power? there is no question it is a structural problem, from workplace is commission, the systematic discrimination, to the lack of paid family leave, we have faced extraordinary challenges that men do not. but there is another challenge that we face and it is not structural, it is cultural. in our society we train our voice to be brave, to throw caution to the wind and follow passion. we train our girls to be perfect, to please, to play it safe and follow the rules, and

of course, always get all a's. dominating girls are in the classroom, but falling behind in the real world. if we do not start teaching girls that success is a product of bravery and not perfection, they will miss their chance to build the future, and to legislate the future on capitol hill. and women -- [applause] we are going to find ourselves in ideas once again on the sidelines of the revolution. and we cannot let that happen. nothing is more important than solving this problem. that is what i need you to do when you walk across the stage and you go out there into the world. at this point, you are probably wondering, who the hell is this lady and why should i listen to her? let me tell you about my

journey, because i think it illustrates the shift i am talking about. i grew up in schaumburg, illinois. my parents were expelled as refugees from uganda. there were not many people in my community that looked like me. sometimes the neighborhood kids would tp our house and one time i punched a bully in the face. i do not condone violence, but that felt really good. [laughter] reshma: in middle school, i found my own advocacy my own group, the students union, the present -- prism. by haskell, i was pretty much set -- by high school, i was pretty much set on what i wanted to do. i dreamed of working in politics so i decided i would go to the best law school in the country, graduate at the top of my class, and run for office. i went to the library, i found a

copy of the u.s. news and world report and i looked up what the number one law school was. i photocopied that page and i put on my wall. for years i had one obsession, one obsession of loan, getting into -- alone, getting into your law school. then the time came. i finished college in three years and i applied to my dream school. and i did not get in. so the next year, i applied to yell again -- yale again. and i do not get in again. that should have been it. i should have gone out and change the world, but i could not shake the idea of getting that perfect credential, the degree from yale law school. i got myself a mentor, the first black jurist and the former chief judge to come out of the federal court of philadelphia. he promised to write me a

recommendation letter. he was like, do not worry, i got you. you will get in. boom. i was set. except, right before the applications where do -- were due, leon had a stroke and died. i was devastated. i loved leon. but also, i never did get the recommendation letter. instead, i got a big fat rejection letter, my third one. at this point most people would have packed up what was left of their dignity and moved on and gone to another law school. but i was convinced that my whole career, my whole life, was riding on a degree from yale everyone i looked up to him politics, bill and hillary, half of the nicest congress, they all went to yale law school.

whatever i aspired to, i was sure that i needed yale to get to it. i made one last, desperate attempt. at leon's funeral, i met the assistant to the dean of the law school, who offered to make an appointment with the dean. before i knew it i was sitting in front of the man himself. he offered me a deal, go to any one of those other schools for a year, make it into the top 10% of my class and he would admit me. i accepted admission to georgetown and that first year i crushed it. but, i had no friends, no social life, i would raise my hand in class, and everybody would throw things at me. [laughter] reshma: but i was number one in my class and that fall i transferred to the yale, where i spent the next two years partying. [laughter] reshma: but who cares? i did it.

i got in. i had the perfect resume to do the kind of work i have always wanted to do, right? not exactly. when i graduated i did not end up doing the social justice work, i could not resist the pull of the next perfect credential, so i followed my classmates to a wall street law firm and spent the next six years defending bankers accused of security fraud. fast-forward to 2008, where i watched hillary clinton give her first concession speech. she said something that resonated with me, she said just because she had come up short, did not mean that we should not be discouraged -- we should be discouraged from aiming high. that is when it clicked. all those years of working and waiting for that perfect credential, that was not aiming high, that was aiming low. so i quit my job and i ran for

congress. i lost, badly. again,ears later, i ran for new york city public advocate. i lost again. less badly, but still pretty badly. i will not lie, their hurt. -- it uhurt. but it was amazing, not being perfect was liberating. chasing my dream and not my credential was the best decision i ever made. it turns out that when you get a taste of being brave, it is hard to stop. like a rush. that is how i started girls who code. i visited a lot of schools where a sunken. labs full of boys learning how to code. no girls in sight. i was baffled. i knew that silicon valley was a boys club, but i did not know it started in high school and that pissed me off. this time i did not ask for

permission, i did not wait for the perfect credential, i did not even bother to learn how to code. [laughter] reshma: i just went for it. [laughter] reshma: i called up a friend that lets me office space and that summer we brought 20 girls together and we taught them how to code. five years later, we have taught 40,000 girls in all 50 states. [applause] so what is the lesson? perfection, with the pedigrees and credentials, that get meetour from doing the things i really wanted to do, which was change the world. bravery was the key that almost every door -- unlocked every door. it has taken me 33 years to figure out that brown girls can do what guy things too.

-- white guy things too. [applause] reshma: but today, today all of you, you do not have 33 years to waste. our world is transforming and it is transforming fast. if you do not step up now, we will be left behind. please see the same thing happen with young girls. they are programmed, they are brilliant, they are talented, they are just as capable as the boys, but they are afraid, afraid of imperfection, critical feedback, trying something they may not excel at right away. they figure out early on what they are good at and they stick to it and they avoid the more competitive subjects like stem and computer science. they are not talked to be brave the way the boys are. what can we do? we cannot topple the structures without addressing culture, and culture is a problem, and the

solution is you. learn from my mistakes, do not wait for the perfect credential, or one day you might find yourself looking for a recommendation letter at a funeral. you have a degree from scripps college, that is all the validation that you need. and when it comes to all the other women and girls you will encounter in your life, colleagues, employees, do not let them play it safe either. let's push each other to be brave, push each other to take risks, challenge each other to go out of our comfort zones, to let's push eachtiptoe out to thf your ability, because if you do your part, if we all do our part, then we will unleash the generations of women leaders the world has ever seen. [applause]

reshma: i know that every graduation speaker says this, the class of 2017, you are really going to change the world. congratulations. [applause] >> >> arizona avenue on d.c. spoke to the graduating class of him be riddle aeronautic inner-city. he was elected in 2014 and is the former ceo of cold stone creamery. this is 10 minutes. [applause] gov. ducey: thank you,

president butler and good morning, eagles. to all the faculty, students, family, friends, and of course, .he 2017 embry riddle graduates congratulations on arriving at such a monumental moment. gov. ducey: and while you are still living in this monumental moment, i encourage each of you to savor it, s encourage each of you to treasure it, so get in. it is the closing of a very thin -- a significant chapter in each of your lives and the opening of the next chapter where boundless opportunity awaits you. was once aor not, i

college student, too. but i did not study aviation or space physics like some of you. i am good with math but not that good. so i studied finance. nevertheless, i sat in a seat very similar to the one you're sitting in right now, wondering what the world had in store for me. the year was 1986. ,robably before you were born yet i still remember the feelings of joy and excitement. wondering remember when our commencement speakers would finally stop talking so we can get on with the celebration. [applause] ducey: if you are feeling

that way today i surely do not blame you. if your college experience is anything like mine, you put in a tremendous amount of hard work. you have had more than a few all-night study sessions, powered by sheer determination and maybe more than a little caffeine. you have plowed through one file of challenging coursework after another, often feeling you are -- you were so complex that only an aerospace engineer would use them someday. some of you remembered that you signed up to become an arrow space engineer. -- an arrow space engineer. some of you met the love of school like i met mine, angela, as an undergraduate at asu.

i remember the first day we went on. i took her to a mock rock party. we all dressed up like the coolest bands, the big names like kiss, then helen, motley .rue i thought maybe it might not think those bands are as cool as i think they are a maybe you have not found the love of your life yet. but you get the idea. beenast several years have full of challenges, tramps, and fun for all of you. challenges and fun for all of you. university like this is no easy feat. in addition to plain hard work it makes -- takes a lot of intelligence, dedication, and planning. so i imagine that some of you have formulated a plan on how you will apply the knowledge and skills you have acquired and

perhaps where you would like to start your career. you donow that some of not have a clear vision for exactly what you want to do with yourselves, your lives, or your career just yet. and that is not necessarily a bad thing. i when i first moved to arizona to attend asu, i was a wide-eyed kid from a working class family in ohio who heard from a guidance counselor that arizona was where opportunity could be found. i did not know anyone out here and i had never been here. the only assets i had to my name were a dotson be to 10 and some pocket change. day, there is no way i could have told you i would go on to build an ice cream company called cones -- cold stone creamery or that cold

stone would end up operating in all 50 states and 31 countries around the world. even less predictable is that i would be standing here today as your governor, speaking to all of you as you embark on your life journey. youust goes to show that never really know where you will end up. startswant success, it with thinking big and dreaming bigger. is takehave got to do action and look all around you. when you see even a glimmer of not be afraid to take a risk and give it everything you have. when we were building cold stone creamery, we needed every penny we could get. so my wife and i decided in

phoenix that we would not turn on the air conditioner in our house until june. just to save the money. it was uncomfortable oftentimes, but we saw the potential in the business and we knew that a small sacrifice was worth it. life never goes perfectly according to the plans we have in our heads and many of you find yourselves in difficult situations in the years ahead. maybe that dream job and zip feeling more like a dead-end. maybe you visualize a certain level of success by a certain age and you have not achieved it. achieved it, some people refer to this as a midlife crisis. my advice is whenever you are hit with those thoughts and feelings, do not stop. make a decision and keep moving.

today's burdens may become tomorrow's opportunities, and you will never know unless you just keep moving and power through. with your degree from this university comes the every -- name,bry-riddle's synonymous with excellence around the world. but nobody starts out as ceo on day one. to do not be afraid to start small. some jobs may feel thankless, or is. than, but no job there is always something you can learn. one of my favorite books is jim collins.-- by he said, faith in the endgame

helps you lived through the months and years of buildup. so just remember, whatever the job, whatever the situation, there is always a way to grow as a professional and as a person. you just need to believe in your own commitment, your own goals. you are all very fortunate to be graduating at a time of such great potential and promise around the world. most of you have more access to technology, entertainment, and information in your pockets than i ever dreamed of having in 1986. most important to remember, your future is bright, because you have the privilege of living in the freest, most exceptional country on the face of the earth. [applause]

>> in america, if there is something you want to say, you have the freedom to say it. --tever fate you may be fa faith you may be, you have the freedom to believe it. these are the gifts that our forefathers fought in died for. there are hundreds of millions of people around the globe who are not blessed with these freedoms as we are, so i urge you to never take them for granted. some of you here today will choose to enter careers in defense of our great nation, and some of you have already done so. this is a noble calling, and i thank you for your willingness to serve. wherever you go next and whatever you do, i encourage each of you to carry out your

vocations with the heart of a servant. employers, your families, your communities, and your country each and every day of your lives. classtes of embry riddle, of 2017, congratulations once more. you have finally made it to this day, and you have earned it. the future is yours. you have the power to make history. now, get out there and make it happen. bless.ou, and god [applause]

>> on behalf of the entire embry riddle family, thank you for yo >> you are now an eagle as well. thank you for your inspiring and empowering words. [applause] >> my success has depended wholly on my putting things over on people. i am not sure the parents really think i am that great a role model anyway. inm, however, an expert attending to be an expert in various areas. just randomly like everything else in this speech. am or it was an expert on

and on screen.e how did i prepare for this? preparation for this -- behind my suburban high school in new jersey. one is obliged to do a great deal of kissing in my line of work. ass kissing, kissing up, and of course, actual kissing. much like cookers have to do it with people we may not like. or even know. we may have to do it with friends which is, believe it or not particularly awkward. for people of my generation, it is awkward. people of my generation,

particularly awkward. expertisereas of faux include river rafting, the radiation poisoning, which shoes go with shich -- singing,, cooking, writing horses, -- riding horses, playing the violin, and more. inse are some of the areas which i have pretended to be quite successful. as have many women here, i'm sure. >> next, this is 15 minutes.

>> hello, highlands, how are you doing? you guys ready to have a good time tonight? i know you are because you are cowboys and cowgirls. i know that this is an extraordinary happy time for you and your families. i want to thank the provosts for the kind introduction to the border regions for the work they do every day to guide this university for the faculty, thank you all so much for the invitation to be here. before i get started, i want to recognize the people of santa fe, many santa fe graduates. you have made is also proud back at home and we want to wish you the best of success as you go forward as well. i also, graduates, this is all about you. it is mother's day

and so would you join me in wishing a huge happy mother's day to your moms who fought so hard for you to get here? [applause] gonzales: also, if i could ask all the veterans who have served our country with great honor, would you please stand up so we can thank you for your service. [applause] mayor gonzales: thank you so much. i also want to quickly recognize one of my colleagues, the santa fe county commissioner who is receiving his masters degree. congratulations. [applause] mayor gonzales: i want all of you to know that i have a daughter heading off to college this fall, so i want to welcome

all the parents and family members here as we did earlier. i am only beginning to sense that special mix of pride, hope, love, and anxiety that you all have been living for the past four years, but it has already caused me a few sleepless nights, i will not lie. so, congratulations to all of you in getting your sons and daughters here this far. congratulations on achieving this incredible objective. it is always such an honor to bear witness to a commencement ceremony. it is one of the most powerful rights of passage that our society has. i know how powerful being on this stage can be. my brothers and parents recognized what it could mean, as they work hard at a radio station to enable me to be the

first gonzales to graduate from college. my life was never the same after that moment. the work you have put in here means your life will not be the same either. it is hard to overstate how much a college degree can change lives, open doors that you cannot even imagine, how it with the career you always dreamed of right there within your reach, how it changes dreams literally into realities. can i get a show of hands from all the first generation college graduates here? stand up. we have a few -- we have a huge shout out. [applause] mayor gonzales: for everyone here, this is a day of celebration and anticipation. --my fellow first graduation

first-generation graduates, i hope there is a special pride in the future, because statistically speaking what you have done today is lifted every succeeding generation of your family to success. younggive all of these folks another round of applause again. [applause] gonzales: the idea that college or post a secondary education creates change is so widely accepted today that hardly needs repeating by me. still, it remains amazing nonetheless and it worth celebrating on days like this one. it is why the teachers have helped guide you to this moment. they all have worked so hard to create a community of learning to support you on your journey. it is why so much of what i do day-to-day is about sending our young people successfully off to

receive an associate or bachelor's degree, or earn an apprenticeship, or learn a trade at union hall. tois why we worked so hard build an economy that create a place for you to be successful as you go out into the world and begin your careers. make no mistake about it. i'm not only here today to deliver a well earned congratulations, but also to recruit. i am asking you and challenging you as you consider your next move to keep new mexico close to your heart. know that you have something amazing to contribute to the next chapter of a long and beautiful history whose brightest days are still ahead. today is special to me, because i get to be here on a campus that i love so much with faculty and administrators i have known and worked with. we are celebrating another class of incredible young people who

will go out in change our communities, our state, and our world for the better. university,ighlands this place that you have shaped and contributed to and made it your own, has served people in the state. wereast majority of whom born and raised right here in the land of enchantment. in all of those years, i have for many ofilege -- those years, i have had the privilege to serve on the board of regents. to help our young people follow jobs to becoming teachers. i have had a front row seat to see this place change lives and see the echo of that change in our world. to date, it is one of the most inspiring things i have had the opportunity to be a part of. do not think that all of us here in these ropes petting you on

the back means that your -- in you on the patting back means that your work is .inished, no this is a milestone and not a finish. as you build your leadership in thoselassrooms and spent early mornings studying and preparing for exams as you dreamed about your futures, we have been hard at work out there to prepare the way for you. now, your time has come, and not a moment too soon. you give us such great hope at a time in new mexico when hope is something we so badly need to rediscover. look at the paper, and it is easy to be beaten down with the struggles that our state is facing. every time we end up at the bottom of another list for child welfare, for poverty, it is a

reminder that we must do better. it is frustrating, because each one of those small -- each one of those big figure statistics represents an individual. thiseach of you, i love place so much, and i know and believe it is and we are capable of so much more. in all of my travels, i have never seen a place like new mexico. the natural beauty, the culture, the food, the art, the music, and the history -- the traditions we passed down from one generation to the next. these are all second to none. even with all that, they are still not our greatest resources. i am looking at our greatest resource right now. [applause] mayor gonzales: with every class we graduate, every class of

leaders we send out, we get one step closer to taking control of our state's destiny. i look around this room today, and i cannot help but feel hope. i know you feel it, too. it is not easy. the path you set out on is fraught with challenges. the world will put challenges in your path to define you and help you find out what makes you different. often, it may use that to divide you from the people around you, and it is an easy trap to fall into. i have spent a lot of sleepless nights and missed opportunities trying to fit into the world's categories. it means i spent a lot of my life feeling separate, apart from, different from. thatad of celebrating difference, it made me feel divided from the rest of my community, my family, and my state.

if i wished nothing else for each of you, no matter what your difference is, it is that it will not take you as long as it did me to find an embrace who you really are. that it will not take you a lifetime to learn to love the fact that everyone of us is unique. that the logical conclusion of all of that difference is not division that brotherhood and sisterhood. -- is not division but brotherhood and sisterhood. collectivekes both and individual problems formidable if not impossible. but you can be the antidote. you will be the antidote. a little at a time every day, every interaction am a every -- everythat you make, interaction, and every decision that you make, because you are

living proof that giving into division can only lead into anger, hatred, jealousy, or spite. these are the things that you do not want driving your decisions or happiness in life. reject the notion that we are not all in this together, and you will be amazed at how much more becomes possible. reject the idea that disagreement equals difference. that argument equals anger, and that hatred is productive. the world will then open up to you in some incredibly magical ways. hate has caused a lot of problems in this world, but it has not solved one yet. you do not have to take my angelo's wordsa or mine, but you will find that hate is only something that stands in your own way. i cannot think of a bigger tragedy than that.

if anything i say today cancer as a guidepost to you -- today ve as a guidepost to do, let it be that. we are counting on you. so far in my life in public mayore as a region, as a mayor, i have learned it is very easy to give into division. i've also seen what happens when we fight to overcome that impulse, and it is so powerful. i know you have hopes and dreams for this place that you love. for your lives, your families, and your future. there is nothing the human potential is not capable of achieving if we put aside the things that keep us from working together. do not doubt that you have the strength and intelligence to overcome, and we will never lose

faith in you. i know how eager you are to start celebrating with everybody you love. however, i cannot let you lead re without leave he telling each and every one of you how much you have made me proud, how proud you have made the faculty, and how proud you have made your state. the hope and promise in this room is awe-inspiring. you are going to go on and you incredible things. you will be artists, healers, builders, leaders, but be new exicans first, last, and always. that is all we will need to never lose hope in you. thank you for having me here. good luck. i look forward to seeing you all do incredible things. 2017!ss of

[applause] >> republican governor rick snyder recently gave the commencement address at adrian college in michigan. governor snyder is serving his second term in office. this is 10 minutes. [applause] >> thank you president, board of trustees is wonderful to be with you, faculty and staff, graduates, friends and family, it is a special honor to get this honorary degree. i am proud of your institution, i have had the opportunity to be here multiple times. i have been to this cap is as campus maye -- times. because of the

outstanding work being done here. these colleges are the backbone it is animation and amazing what has been accomplished over the last two years and the path to the future is bright. you know it is going to be bright when you look at these fine young people. as commence as commencement speaker i would like to share a few thoughts and not worry, i stay away from talking about michigan statistics. i want you to stay awake. asone of the things i would like to share with you is first of all, i hope you stay in michigan. you are our future. we have a brief commercial on that at the end hoping you will continue to grow and stay in the state and build your lives here. outside of that, i wanted to share some thoughts with you about the opportunities you have in front of you today. some of the challenges you may face and how you can help make the decisions down that path. i appreciated [inaudible] you gave an outstanding speech that covered many good things so

i know you are on a great path but maybe one of these points could be some -- of some value in terms of looking at your career. the first thing i would say to you is create a vision for your future. that is not an easy thing. think about where you would like to be when you are 40 years old, 60 years old, or even 80 years old. think about what things you want to accomplish. you cannot know all the answers, but you can say where you want to be in life. what do you want to say you want to have accomplished? what goals do you have? where in my in my professional career and with my family? these are important, because if you have goals then you can hit them. i did that in my own life. you heard about my educational background, but it was based on coming up with a vision. my vision was to have three

careers in my lifetime. a private-sector career where i could go out and work, learn how the real world works, and have an opportunity to raise a family and do well in that capacity. my goal was to do that through ages 40 or 50. after that, i hope to step back and say i could do well enough to do public service to give back to people. it was not about running for governor necessarily. in fact, i have been doing a lot of economic development work around the state to build jobs in our state and how to innovate. to spend 10 years or 20 years in that process helping the public sector. believe it or not, i still have an aspiration for a third career when i'm done with this one, and that is to teach. to go back and help people on a smaller scale. to share knowledge and growth. so, these things can -- can make

a difference. the second thing i would say is to be good at something. be the best at something when you come out of school. aspiratione an someday of running a company or doing something exciting or creating artwork. it may take time to get there. a half, you find that first position -- quite often, in getting their, you find that first position and you excel at it. mine was very exciting. i started as a tax accountant. , can see you are very excited and i can see the smiles on your faces that say you wish you could be a tax accountant, too. life, inple later in the last 10 years, i met someone named stephen ross, one of the

most successful real estate managers in the world. it started as a tax accountant in the same job and same office i am -- i was in. chrysler -- of fiat chrysler started his career as a tax accountant, and he is now running one of the largest companies in the world. it is all because we started with the focus to be great on something to begin with. the third thing i would say is to find something you are passionate about. something you love. find something that gives you excited. find your passion and let it. -- and live it. life is short. go for it. the fourth thing is the question of taking risk in making decisions. manage risk, do not avoid it.

at this point in your life, experiment and try new things. you can do that. "i worst you can do is say, cannot decide what to do." when you say that, you are making a decision to let events take you in a direction rather than you taking a direction yourself. be proactive and go for it. number five, learn from mentors. mentors have been an important part of my life starting with my parents. you have had great faculty and staff here at adrian. it was wonderful hearing of the given to someone who has worked hard to help students. differentntors from

points in your lifetime. as i have mentored people, i told him there is only one thing i ask -- give back. mentor someone else at another point in your life. sixth, treat others right. quite often when you are working someplace, you treat that customer with great deference, and then you might see someone in the organization who might turn around and yell at someone just because they work with them. that is not right. everyone should be treated as a customer. everyone deserves courtesy and respect. that will pay dividends throughout your lifetime when you have that approach that you want to treat everyone the way you would like to be treated. number seven, strike a balance of family and career. i was a workaholic. you summit educational background. i went into my -- you saw my

educational background. the best thing that happened to me was that i met a wonderful woman who became my wife, and she brought alan's to my life. you will be bettering -- brought balance to my life. you will be bettering your career by having balance. having kids was one of the greatest things to happen to me in my career. when you stop and think about it , what i learned was that when you come home from work and you have a two-year-old child -- when they come running up to you holdying, "daddy, daddy, me." that is the most important focus in the world than anything. that is better than having the best day at work and it puts life in perspective. enjoy it. notice, in that order i gave,

family was first. finally, have fun. life is short. enjoy it. ornot worry about credit blame, just solve problems and make the world a better place. we live in a polarizing world today and that is not a healthy thing. we need to come together and solve problems together. you do that by saying what is the problem, what is the solution, and let's go. and have fun doing it. weree those comments successful -- were helpful, because i am excited to be here with you today. i know michigan has a bright future, because i am looking at it. it is incredible to see what you have achieved, but know that there are decades to come with new achievements coming, new innovations that we cannot imagine in my age group. you will make those things happen. as you look for a place to go, there is no better place tahn --

than this state. what a place to live, to work, to play. so please, consider our state. if you go away, come on back. because i knowe, with you here we are on a path to a bright future. congratulations, and thank you so much. [applause] >> watch more speeches including general joseph dunford, democratic senator tammy duckworth of illinois, and michigan republican governor rick snyder. just type 2017 commencement speeches in the search bar >> c-span, where history unfolds

daily. created as-span was a public service by america's cable television companies. it is brought to you today i cable or satellite provider. -- brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. >> tonight, a discussion of the future of the public -- republican and democrat parties. then, trump talks about renegotiating nafta. of theat the discussion future of the internet. at the discussion of the future of the republican and democratic parties with political scientist and campaign strategist gathered at the southern california university. this was part of a daylong event on the first 100 days of the trump administration. this is an hour and a half.