for many of you, this is home, and for those of you who have been living in northeastern oklahoma for many years, this may be our home away from home, one of the great gathering places for education and opportunity. i want to thank the academy for taking this year, where so many people live and where passion is very strong. a special vote of thanks for the candidates. we commend them for their commitment to public service. we look forward to hearing from them tonight, particularly and the times we live where there is a great number of changes going on for changes seem significant. a special word of thanks to you. there are citizens working hard to make their ends meet and wondering what the future holds for them. you have come out to find something important, and that is who is going to leave the state in the future. someone on the stage will be our next governor. we go back 63 years before statehood with the cherokee seminaries, and what i have always appreciated is this is the place -- these hills and this community is a place for education in oklahoma really got started. it is foll