As delivered.

Good Evening… It’s great to be here in Arizona, but it’s hot! Where I come from in Washington DC, all we produce is hot air—out here you have the real thing!

Thank you to President Giles. Thank you, facuIty. And most importantly, the class of 2007 --I am honored to be here to celebrate this milestone in your life. I know that many of you have sacrificed a lot to be here. Most of you wouldn’t have graduated without the support of parents, spouses, children and friends.

Graduates, will you stand up, turn around, face your family and your friends, and show them how much you appreciate their support. Let’s give them a round of applause.

This is a great day for the class of 2007! It is a day to celebrate not just that you will be getting a degree in a few minutes— BUT that you no longer have to fight your fellow students for a good parking space!

I do appreciate the opportunity to be here but I also know that all of you are even happier to be here and that I stand in the way of you and your degree. So on this great day, let me share with you just a few words.

Some of you are taking a first step toward further education at some of Arizona’s great universities. Some of you are, in fact, fulfilling the dreams of generations by becoming the first in your family to graduate from college. Others are receiving a degree that will lead to a new career.

But whether you’re going on in college, going to work, or taking on a new challenge like the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps, Whatever you are doing, you will be taking something special with you from this place—something that will make you stronger and better as a student, as a professional…and as a citizen.

And, at the risk of being a little preachy –which, after all, is part of my job as your speaker –I’d like to touch on three very special things that you’ve experienced here at Mesa and my wish for how you carry each with you into your future.

First, look around you, at your friends and fellow graduates. The first part of what’s special about you now, as a Mesa Community College graduate, is each other. My wish for you on this graduation day is that after today, wherever you choose to make your next stop on your personal journey, that you remember to deliberately and frequently make room there for those who joined you here.

Now, take a look at the Mesa administration and faculty leadership. The second thing that Mesa has given you, and that I hope you’ll take with you, is that passionate, caring and demanding drive for you to succeed and achieve excellence-- a drive that starts with the extraordinary level of excellence of your professors. Think of how dedicated, devoted, and caring they have been in supporting you so that you can achieve excellence. The consistent combination of high expectations and caring support that you’ve come to expect here at MCC is, in fact, pretty unique.

I hope that you will take away both an unbreakable internal compass that recognizes and pursues goals of excellence as well as the self-awareness to understand and locate the support you will need to reach those goals.

And most of all, the thing you received here at MCC and that I wish with all my heart that you will carry throughout your life is a sense of connectedness to your community. This is an institution that is suffused with the idealism that people can and must make a difference for the better in each other’s lives. Concepts of community, of citizenship, and of service are as much a part of this place as oxygen is of the air we breathe. And I was delighted that MCC was on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll this year.

Just this year, Mesa students and faculty have contributed over 172,000 hours of service through AmeriCorps, volunteering, and service-learning classes.

Let me give you an example: Right here on this campus, class of 2007 member, Rochelle Bush is one of hundreds of MCC students who have made a lasting impression on the lives of disadvantaged youth in the area.

Rochelle served as an AmeriCorps member and a work-study student at Mesa Arts Academy— which is a school where 79 percent of the students between kindergarten and 8th grade live in poverty and where, seven years ago, just nine percent of 8th grade students passed Arizona’s annual math assessment tests. MCC students like Rochelle have served as tutors and mentors at the school for the last seven years and have helped test scores rise dramatically. In fact, this year 100 percent of the 8th graders passed the math assessment. How did that happen?

The school principal gives us a glimpse of why it’s volunteering that makes all the difference. She says, “I can hire tutors, but what these students have given us are relationships—MCC students make the children feel important— that’s critical for at-risk youth.” Rochelle, and all those involved: thank you.

Like Rochelle, I hope that you will take this passion for community healing and for service that is so central to life here at Mesa, and pour that passion into every community and institution with which you come into contact in your future lives. America needs that passion.

The truth is America doesn’t have a chance to solve its most pressing problems without it. Let me share a few numbers: 10.3 million – that’s the number of kids on any given day who have one or both of their parents in prison. And, here’s the rub: 70% of those children will end up in prison themselves without some intervention. And do you know that there’s one, simple intervention that can cut that likelihood in half? It’s when a citizen makes the effort, to mentor one of these children or youth for an hour a week. Think about that—one hour a week to change the life of child.

How about another number: 760,000. That’s the number of young people who are in gangs – 760,000. Does it surprise you that volunteer activities like mentoring are the most likely interventions to help these kids become successful?

Today, more than 13 million children live in poverty; more than 15 million children and youth have no caring adult or mentor to guide them.

Martin Luther King once said, “there is nothing new about poverty. What is new is that we now have the techniques and resources to get rid of poverty… The real question is whether we have the will.”

I’m here to tell you that we do have the resources to get rid of poverty—and it’s you. I hope that you will always have the will to serve your fellow citizens in need.

I hope many of you will care so passionately about service that you will explore joining up with deeper service opportunities like VISTA, Peace Corps, and AmeriCorps.

Last week I had the good fortune to announce that 500,000 AmeriCorps members—that’s half a million—have taken the pledge to “Get Things Done.”

And if I sound really excited about this, I have to let you know that this weekend is the start of National AmeriCorps Week—when we celebrate the 637 million service hours that AmeriCorps members have served and to give more Americans the opportunity to serve their country. It’s hard to exaggerate how much stronger our communities are today as a result of the contributions of AmeriCorps members and volunteers across the country.

Whatever your plans are, I hope you connect with service opportunities and, personally, I hope many of you take advantage of AmeriCorps as a great way to get skills and a scholarship to help pay for your education or pay off your loans while you make a difference in your community.

And you know what I wish for you? I wish for you that you will carry throughout your life the relationships, the excellence and the service to your communities that are the essence of Mesa Community College… and that you share these special gifts generously with others.

Before you leave tonight, take a few minutes to look around the campus –at this special place—and reflect on what you have learned here and what who you will become n the future. I am confident you will do great and extraordinary things.

Good luck, God bless, and congratulations to each one of you — the class of 2007.

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