graduation talk

Archive for the ‘2009 Speeches’ Category

U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama had chosen to enlighten the graduates of University of California-Merced as she delivered her first commencement speech as the First Lady of the country.

She started her inspiring message by mentioning the reasons why she had accepted the university’s invitation to be the keynote speaker. Michelle also appreciated their efforts in getting what they wanted and she compared it to the similar strategy they had used to convince the University of California to put up a new campus in Merced. The history of Merced was also noted in her speech as she correlated Merced to the South Side of Chicago (the place where she grew up) and honored the people who worked very hard to pass on the legacy of education to the them.

Michelle encouraged the graduates to give back a part of their aspirations to their community as they dream and achieve their dreams. I totally agreed with her when she said that time will come when “you will face tough times, you will certainly have doubts” because life is not a bed of roses for roses have their own thorns. She reminded them that when things go wrong, they must not quit and when that time comes they must think of all the people who had sacrificed for their education. She believed that attaining a college degree is a blessing because not everyone gets a chance to have it. With this blessing, Michelle urged the graduates to share it by reaching out to others and passing the torch so that the next generation will see the light to a better life.

Here is the video and transcript of the commencement address by U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, delivered on May 16, 2009 at University of California-Merced.

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U.S. President Obama’s commencement speech as the University of Notre Dame turned out to be a controversial one. As he gave some inspirations to the new graduates, Obama touched one of the most explosive subjects nowadays, which is the abortion debate. He challenged them to seek the common goal of the two contradicting sides and have “Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words”.

Obama did not denied his stand on supporting the abortion rights but he clarified that the procedure should only be applied on rare cases. He also suggested ways to prevent abortion by “working together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies, and making adoption more available, and providing care and support for women who do carry their child to term”.

Aside from confronting the abortion issue, Obama advised the graduates to take part on rebuilding the economy and act in response to the global economy crisis that hit over countries by valuing fairness, and diligence, and an honest day’s work.

He ended the speech with a reminder that everyone is a fisherman; everyone seeks the same love of family and the same fulfillment of a life well-lived so each one must carry each other’s burdens.

This is the video and transcript of the commencement address by U.S. President Barack Obama, delivered on May 17, 2009 at University of Notre Dame.

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