Celebrating the success of the class of 2015
This weekend is one of my favorite times of the academic year: When we celebrate the academic success and commencement of VCU students. This year, more than 5,000 strong.
Many will be the first in their families to earn a university degree. Many have dreamed of and worked hard toward this day for many years. Many will become the next generation of leaders in their fields and communities.
All will go on to change the world.
What is so impressive about our students is that they come to VCU not simply because they want to graduate but because they want to use the wisdom and talents they gain here to make a difference in the lives of so many others. What they discover in our classrooms, laboratories, clinics, studios – and in our community – are not the ends to get them to a degree, but the beginnings of the ways in which they will someday conquer humanity’s biggest problems and needs.
VCU is not just any university; it is one of the world’s premier research universities committed to discovery, creativity and advancing the human experience everywhere. Our graduates — those who study, innovate and create in our unique educational environment — are therefore asked to make a difference for those who need them to be their very best.
Our graduates are the future of Virginia and of our world. And because of them, I envision a future that values real diversity and sincere compassion, and that respects every human being from every place. One in which every person has a voice. One that leverages all of its resources and all of its ideas to ensure that all of its people may live their best, longest and most-productive lives. One that values collaboration over credit, and results over reputation. One that is sustainable because it values what really matters most: the people who will comprise this bright future that is so full of hope and promise.
I am so proud of our graduates and all of that ways they will change the world. And I look forward to celebrating and honoring them at this weekend’s commencement ceremony.
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