You’re a historic class two thousand nine because you have been seniors in this historic year
Singing: Ain't gunna let nobody
turn me around
No, turn me around
Ain't gunna let nobody
I'm gunna keep on
and talking
all the way up to freedom land
One that began with the power outage in the Yard
and soon became momentous beyond imagining
The year the world became something very different
from anything we ever expected
If we look back on the year
when the world shifted
we can remember
how we gathered in tercentenary theatre on that freezing day in October
to declare our commitment
to fight global warming. "We can with American leadership galvanize a global commitment to
solve the climate crisis, we must do it with this generation, we have everything we
need
with the possible exception of political will but political will is a renewable resource."
how so many if you became involved in the presidential campaigns
debated their merits and poured into the streets
until past midnight after the election.
"Yes we can!"
and so many of you have volunteered for every kind of public service
from teaching civics in the Cambridge schools
to rebuilding churches Georgia during spring break
to combating AIDS in rural Africa
and while we would never have wished
for some of the events of this year
at least some of you find silver linings in its clouds
uncertainty demands new things from us
not just going through the motions in default mode.
but improvising
our way to new solutions
improvisation
which comes from the Latin 'not foreseen'
is what a liberal arts education has prepared you to do
and what are the arts
but rigorously prepared for
improvisation.
and you also know by now that improvisation is collaborative.
it requires actors who are confident in the best sense
the world needs good and improvisers
President Obama has called this moment in our history
a season of renewal
and reinvention
it's also an affirmation of just
how much education matters
of how much you as educated citizens matter
remember that
improvising in face a change
is exactly what your liberal arts education
as prepared you to do
the opportunity to renew our commitments and remap our lives
is a privilege given only
to some generations
Trumpet plays America the Beautiful
By virtue
of authority
delegated to me,
and recognizing
your high academic achievements
I confer on you
the first degree
in arts
or in science
and I admit you to
the fellowship
of educated men and women.