Speeches / page 8

Maria Ressa
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
Graduates Day Remarks at Vanderbilt University - May 11, 2023
May 11, 2023
Ressa received Vanderbilt University’s prestigious Nichols-Chancellor’s Medal in 2023, and spoke at the university's Graduates Day event. Thank you Chancellor Diermeier, Provost Raver, members of the board, faculty…oh my gosh…Ed and Janice Nichols…and hello, class of 2023. [applause] Congratulations! I mean, you know, you have to like fill these moments, you know. Just stop a second.… Well first of all, while I was sitting back there I was thinking, oh my god, like when the rain started, I was like—this is a perfect metaphor for our world today, but let […]
Elizabeth Warren
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
UMass Boston Commencement Address - May 25, 2023
May 25, 2023
Good morning, UMass Boston! Congratulations! [cheers and applause] It is such an honor to be with you today. I want to begin by thanking the chancellor and the Board of Trustees for inviting me to join you today. Now,he chancellor explained to me that UMass Boston wanted a record breaking, movement inspiring, creative thinker for commencement speaker…unfortunately Taylor Swift was not available. So we’ll all just have to shake-shake-shake it off! Congratulations, Graduates! You have worked hard and you have earned this day, so rub it all over yourself, roll […]
Kamala Harris
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
Commencement Address at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point - May 27, 2023
May 27, 2023
Vice President Harris was the first woman to deliver a commencement address at West Point. Good morning. To the members of Congress: Senator Jack Reed, Congressman Steve Womack, and Congressman Pat Ryan. To the Secretary of the Army, Christine Wormuth; Chief of Staff of the Army, General James McConville; and Superintendent of the United States Military Academy, Lieutenant General Steven Gilland. And to the soldiers and officers, and faculty and staff, and distinguished guests: It is an honor — truly an honor — to be with all of you this […]
Nadia Murad
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
Commencement Address at Pitzer College - May 13, 2023
May 13, 2023
Good morning, class of 2023. Good morning, parents, teachers and everyone here who has supported these students through kindergarten, classroom, and finally to commencement. What an achievement. I am delighted and honored to be giving the address today. I hope that over the next few minutes I can offer you some words of advice and encouragement as you wave goodbye to college and head out onto life's open road. People often ask me what it takes to be an activist, young people in particular—people like you with passion, with convictions, […]
Nadia Murad
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
Commencement Address at Chapman University - May 20, 2022
May 20, 2022
Greetings, faculty, staff, students, friends, and families. It is wonderful to be celebrating here with you today. I would like to thank President Struppa for your leadership, shaping an institution that is so committed to the pursuit of knowledge, that supports social and international justice. I'm looking forward to staying involved with the university and its remarkable students and faculty in the years to come. Thank you, Dean Keene, for warm welcome this week and all the faculty and staff who have supported this and other events I have been […]
Nadia Murad
categories: Acceptance Speech, Speeches
Nobel Lecture - December 10, 2018
December 10, 2018
Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Excellencies, Distinguished Members of the Committee, Ladies and Gentlemen, my warm greetings to you. I would like to thank The Nobel Committee for bestowing this honour on me. It is a great honour to have been awarded this valuable prize with my friend Dr Denis Mukwege, who has been working tirelessly to help victims of sexual violence and to be a voice for those women who have been subjected to violence. I want to talk to you from the bottom of my heart and to […]
Terri Sewell
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
Princeton University Class Day Remarks - May 29, 2023
May 29, 2023
To the mighty, unprecedented class of 2023—congratulations! [cheers and applause] To President Eisgruber, to the board of directors and trustees, administrators, faculty, staff, parents, friends, and all who are assembled—good morning. It is indeed overwhelming for me to return home to Princeton as your 2023 Class Day speaker. As I look across the audience, I can't help but remember my own college graduation. For me, college was an exciting and transformational time in my life. College was what I call the wonder years. You know—I wonder if my classmate likes […]
Diana DeGette
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
Commencement Address at Colorado College - May 22, 2000
May 22, 2000
Thank you, President (Kathryn) Morhman. I am moved by that wonderful introduction. I've never regretted that decision the Board of Trustees made in 1992. I think Colorado College's history will show Kathryn to be maybe the best president we've ever had, and I think we're all honored to have her. I especially want to thank the class of 2000 for inviting me back today as your commencement speaker even after you had to suffer through my opening convocation speech several years ago. I am deeply honored by this, and I'm […]
Elizabeth “Liz” Cheney
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
Colorado College Commencement Address - May 28, 2023
May 28, 2023
During Cheney’s address, some graduating students turned their chairs around to face away from Cheney in protest of her conservative positions on issues such as abortion, LGBTQ+ rights and voting rights. [cheers and applause] President Richardson, trustees, faculty, administrators, parents, family members, and class of 2023. Congratulations on this wonderful day. It’s an honor to be here with most of you to celebrate this tremendous accomplishment. I can honestly say that all of those things that mean the most to me in this world, I owe to Colorado College. My […]
Ketanji Brown Jackson
categories: Commencement/Baccalaureate Address, Speeches
Commencement Address at Boston University School of Law - May 21, 2023
May 21, 2023
Good morning. Thank you for that very kind and generous introduction, Dean Onwuachi-Willig, and for inviting me to be here with all of you to celebrate this truly momentous occasion. To the class of 2023, congratulations on this magnificent achievement! [applause] And to the family members and friends who have encouraged these graduates and have helped them to get to where they are today, congratulations to you as well! [applause] As I traveled here from Washington, D.C., yesterday evening, I started to think about the moment a couple of years […]