Commencement/Baccalaureate Address / page 23

Elizabeth Dole
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
Commencement Address at Smith College - May 17, 1998
May 17, 1998
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your warm welcome. Thank you, Dr. Simmons, for your kind introduction. What a privilege to be with you — a woman for whom I have great respect and admiration. And that certainly applies to the other women you honor today. Heartfelt congratulations to the class of '98! And thank you for the honor of sharing this special moment with you, your families, friends, and instructors. Let me say a word to parents, who have supported and encouraged and loved you, who have written checks […]
Dianne Feinstein
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
Commencement Address at Stanford University - June 13, 1993
June 13, 1993
First of all, let me say how honored I am to become a part of this class of 1993. Suddenly, I feel, believe it or not, 38 years younger. To tell the truth, I can't remember who delivered our commencement speech 38 years ago, and I suspect that over time, you won't remember either who it was who gave that one last lecture before you actually received your diploma. So in preparing these remarks, I tried to keep in mind what one critic said years ago of a particularly long-winded […]
Dianne Feinstein
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
Commencement Address at Golden Gate University School of Law - June 4, 1977
June 4, 1977
What is your degree worth in today's world? Is your degree worth the paper it's printed on? I wonder. Consider that we live in the most educationally oriented country in the world today, that we have tremendous expectations of what America owes us, and that today the average college graduate joins a treadmill for status, a search for his or her place in the sun. Consider the competition in the job market. The fact that today the prototype of the general assistance welfare recipient in the city and county of […]
Maya Angelou
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
Wellesley College Commencement Address - May 28, 1982
May 28, 1982
Graduates, Now the joy begins.  Now the work begins.  The years of preparation, of tedious study and exciting learning at least begin to make sense.  The jumble of words and the tangle of small and great thoughts begin to take order, and this morning you can see a small portion, an infinitesimal portion, of the map of your future… …you have still had to develop an outstanding courage to invent this moment, for you have invented it.  Of all your attributes—your youth, your beauty, your wit, your kindnesses, your money—courage […]
Hillary Rodham Clinton
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
Wellesley College Commencement Address - May 29, 1992
May 29, 1992
President Keohane, trustees, faculty, students, parents, friends, and, most of all, honored graduates of the Class of 1992. This is my second chance to speak from this podium. The first was 23 years ago, when I was a graduating senior. My classmates selected me to address them as the first Wellesley student ever to speak at a commencement. I can't claim that 1969 speech as my own; it reflected the hopes, values, and aspirations of the women in my graduating class. It was full of the uncompromising language you only […]
Lynn Sherr
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
Commencement Address at Wellesley College - May 28, 1999
May 28, 1999
President Walsh, fellow Trustees, amazing faculty and staff, beaming parents and stepparents (or any relative generous enough to pay for all this)... and wonderful Class of 1999. Good morning. Good graduation. Good heavens—what have you done to our Tower? I celebrate your accomplishments and I thank you for inviting me to share this magical day. And I stand here fully aware that—except for that pile of degrees—I am the only thing standing between you and lunch. Trust me, I like lunch. Not that there's anything wrong with degrees. Especially when […]
Madeleine K Albright
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
Wellesley College Commencement Address - June 2, 1995
June 2, 1995
Thank you for the introduction. It's a pleasure to be back here at Wellesley, where the memories are good, the welcome is warm, the campus is lovely, and all the students have good posture. To the class of 1995, I say congratulations. Today is the payoff for all your long hours of studying, late nights in the library and exam. Graduation is one of the four great milestones in life. The others are the day you were born, the day you die, and the day you finally pay off your […]
Susan Collins
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
University of Southern Maine Commencement Address - May 11, 2013
May 11, 2013
Thank you, President Kalikow. Trustees, faculty and alumni, families and friends, it is a pleasure to be with you today. Most of all, congratulations to the members of this outstanding Class of 2013. You did it! I am honored to be part of this special moment in your lives. Sitting among those in caps and gowns are four graduates who have been interns in my offices. Throughout my service in the U.S. Senate, I have had the great benefit of having on my staff many bright, dedicated individuals whose talents […]
Susan Collins
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
Bowdoin College Commencement Address - May 24, 2014
May 24, 2014
Members of the Class of 2014: Tradition is the respect we pay to the past and the light we shine for the future. When you entered your names into the Matriculation Book, you became part of the great tradition of Bowdoin College. Now, it is my pleasure to carry out another tradition by delivering the Greeting from the State of Maine. A greeting, traditionally, comes with a gift. Wherever you are from and wherever you go from here, may the gift of Maine values accompany you. One Maine value is […]
Gloria Steinem
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
Smith College Commencement Address - May 20, 2007
May 20, 2007
To Carol Christ who leads Smith College (and does the most amazing introductions); to the faculty who create its purpose and the staff who give it daily life; to the honorary degree recipients in whose presence I am so very proud to be; to all the families and friends and partners and children who have sustained today's graduates — especially those of you who have performed the miracle of guiding children through an experience you could not have — and most of all, to you, the beloved, brave, tired and […]