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Skriven 2006-05-11 23:33:16 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0605116) for Thu, 2006 May 11
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Mrs. Bush's Remarks Vanderbilt University Commencement and Senior Class Day
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For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
May 11, 2006

Mrs. Bush's Remarks Vanderbilt University Commencement and Senior Class Day
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, Tennessee



9:43 A.M. CDT

MRS. BUSH: Thank you very much, Chancellor. Thank you very much. I'm
honored to accept the first Nichols-Chancellor's Medal on behalf of
disaster relief workers around the world. And thanks to Ed and Janice
Nichols for endowing this award.

I'm thrilled to see Chancellor Gee here, alive and well. To prepare for
this speech, I looked through some old issues of The Vanderbilt Hustler,
and I was shocked to read that he had died of a heart attack. (Laughter.)

Many students may think that their presence here today is a miracle, but
earning a Vanderbilt degree is nothing like coming back from the dead. So
congratulations, Chancellor. (Laughter.)

Kate Morgan, your Vanderbilt Student Body President, thank you, and good
luck as you move on next year to Lloyd's of London. Martha Ingram, Chairman
of the Vanderbilt Board of Trustees, I want to recognize and acknowledge
the whole board. Thank you for your service to Vanderbilt.

And I can't help but acknowledge one Vanderbilt dad who happens to be the
Governor of my state, Governor Rick Perry. (Applause.)

Thanks to the distinguished faculty and alumni, parents and families for
your very warm welcome. But most of all, thank you and congratulations to
the Vanderbilt University Class of 2006. (Applause.) Those are your parents
applauding there in the back.

I'm happy to see all of Vanderbilt's schools well represented today. Many
of you are from the College of Arts and Sciences. Others are from Blair
School. For them, a Vanderbilt musical education means Bach and Beethoven,
not karaoke at Lonnie's. (Laughter.)

There are students here from the School of Engineering. Your teachers tell
me this may be the first time you've seen daylight since September 2002.
(Laughter.) And of course, I'm especially happy to see everyone from
Peabody College. (Applause.)

When I was in college, I majored in education, too. So on behalf of the
soon-to-be Peabody graduates, I want to tell the rest of you, no, we do not
write in crayon. (Laughter.)

Members of the class of 2006, you represent more than 60 different majors,
50 states and 58 countries. But tomorrow, you will be unified by one
distinction: You will all be Vanderbilt graduates. And that's an
accomplishment worthy of celebration. You can see it in the faces of your
parents. They're beaming. Your parents are happy for you, and they're proud
of you. They've worked hard to give you this opportunity. And there's no
better time than now to thank your parents and your families and your
teachers whose love and support has brought you to this day. So please give
them a round of applause. (Applause.)

You've received one of the finest educations in the world. And today, I'm
supposed to share with you some kind of parting wisdom. I thought back to
my own graduation, and I tried to remember the advice my graduation speaker
gave to me. But I couldn't recall who gave the commencement address at the
University of Texas in 1973. Maybe that's because -- and I hate to admit
this -- I skipped the ceremony. (Laughter.) But I did look it up, and I
found out who gave that commencement address. You can imagine my surprise
when I discovered it was some guy named George Bush. (Laughter.) Four years
after that speech, I married his son. (Laughter.)

We never know where life is going to take us, but wherever you go, you'll
be helped by the lessons you learned here at Vanderbilt.

Many of those lessons were drawn from the tough decisions you had to make.
You're very different men and women than you were four years ago. And as
you matured and changed, your university matured and changed around you.
The Class of 2006 was given a choice: Would you spend your college years
resenting Vanderbilt's transformation, or would you make the most of a
great opportunity to leave your mark on your school? The Class of 2006 took
the better route, and because of you, the Class of 2007 and 2008 and beyond
will inherent a more vibrant university.

Other lessons you learned from your disappointments here. Maybe it was a
test you scored poorly on, or a date that didn't end that well. For some of
you, it was the day you arrived as a freshman with stars in your eyes --
until you set those eyes upon Branscomb. (Laughter.) For others, you were
excited to learn that your university had a "Baseball Glove Lounge," until
you learned that it was a place for silence and study. But for every
disappointment, you had more triumphs. Some you never expected, like
watching Vanderbilt's football team beat Tennessee. (Applause.) Others were
part of your daily routine, every academic discovery you made, and every
friendship you cherish.

From both your failures and your successes, you've learned important
lessons about life. And today, you're wondering how best to apply these
lessons. The Class of 2006 represents the brightest and most talented young
people in America. You're blessed with extraordinary idealism and energy.
You've invested a lot in your Vanderbilt education, and now you want to
know how to put your talents and education to good use.

This is part of the great uncertainty that comes with college graduation.
Today may mark the first time in your life that your life is not all
planned out for you. But today also starts a period of incredible liberty
and adventure, a time to find your calling and to demand the most from life
before life makes specific demands on you. And as you face this
uncertainty, I can tell you one thing that's sure: You won't waste your
talents and education if you use them in service to others.

This is especially important for the Class of 2006. More than any other
generation of Americans, yours is tasked with resolving challenges that lie
far beyond your doorstep, even far beyond America's borders. Because of
television and the Internet, you can't ignore a tsunami in Southeast Asia,
or genocide in Darfur. And you understand the great questions of our time:
Will we ignore people around the world living under tyranny, or will we
help them to be free? Will we neglect a continent suffering at the hands of
HIV and AIDS, or will we work to save lives and restore hope? Will we look
aside as American cities lie in ruin, or will we rebuild a better and more
beautiful Gulf Coast?

You have the right answers to these questions, and you've made the most of
the changes here at Vanderbilt. As you've made the most, you gave them the
best. And you're eager to make the most of this time of global change, so
you can give your best to our world.

Many Vanderbilt students are already dedicated to helping others. Service
learning is an important part of your curriculum here, and you volunteer
throughout Nashville and around the world, tutoring local youth, or
building houses in Guatemala on alternative spring break. You've had
awareness campaigns to help people in Uganda and Darfur. You've raised
$20,000 for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Keep this dedication to others
once you graduate, because there's so many people who need your help.

Contribute to our efforts to spread freedom and democracy. For some of you,
this will mean representing the generosity and the goodwill of America in
the Foreign Service or the Peace Corps. Helping the cause of liberty will
lead some of you to service in America's armed forces. In the Vanderbilt
Class of 2006, 31 students are adding to their college degrees commissions
in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. (Applause.)

Vanderbilt graduates are already finding this a fulfilling way to serve.
One of them is Marine 2nd Lieutenant Erik Sallee, a member of the Class of
2004. Last year, Erik was deployed to the northwestern part of Iraq. The
work there is difficult. Erik was injured recently when an IED detonated
near his vehicle. Erik says his service is worthwhile, especially when he
sees Iraqi children smiling and happy that they're free to play on the
streets, playing soccer and going to school. Erik said, "When I come to
work every day, I don't have to worry about why I'm coming to work. That's
really a great feeling of satisfaction for me."

Some of you may dedicate your talents to the fight against HIV and AIDS,
and the challenge is daunting. Around the world, more than 40 million
people are infected, almost 26 million of them concentrated in sub-Saharan
Africa. In 2003, President Bush announced the President's Emergency Plan
for AIDS Relief, a five-year $15 billion initiative which uses treatment
and education to combat the AIDS epidemic in Africa and other threatened
regions. In just three years, PEPFAR has brought help and hope to more than
400,000 Africans who are HIV-positive.

PEPFAR resources are also helping train community health workers, Africans
who teach people in their villages how to protect themselves from HIV and
AIDS, and who provide AIDS patients with drugs and medical care to control
their disease.

More community health workers are needed throughout Africa, and members of
the Class of 2006 who are going to medical school or who are studying
nursing should consider contributing to this effort. With every community
health care worker you train, you'll build a long-term, sustainable health
care infrastructure, one that can also curb malaria, tuberculosis, and
other diseases ravaging Africa. And you might save millions of lives here
in the United States. The more community health workers there are in
African villages, the more likely it is that any human outbreak of avian
flu there can be detected early.

Vanderbilt students are passionate about defeating global HIV/AIDS
pandemic. One of your classmates, Meredith Bates, learned about HIV as part
of her Vanderbilt experience. Meredith spent her junior year teaching
primary school in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and recalls that every
single Saturday, everyone in the townships went to funerals. It was the
Saturday activity. She said, "While I loved standing in my classroom
looking out over the beautiful, eager young faces, I was debilitated by the
fact that over one-third of my primary school students were already
HIV-positive."

Inspired by her experience in South Africa, Meredith is now going to
Uganda, where she'll be the site coordinator for Vanderbilt's Kampala
Project. This summer, the project will bring more than 20 Vanderbilt
students to Uganda, where they'll work to keep African school children free
from HIV, and offer them the hope of a healthy future.

International service opportunities are endless. But remember that there
are also great needs for your talents and energy here at home. Young people
in the United States need positive role models to take an active interest
in their lives, as mentors, pastors, coaches or teachers. Many in the Class
of 2006 will dedicate their lives to young people in classrooms, and as a
former teacher, I applaud your career choice.

One area especially hungry for your talents is the Gulf Coast. For the
Vanderbilt community, last summer's hurricanes hit close to home. Many of
you are from the Gulf Coast region, and some of your families lost
everything. In the face of this unprecedented natural disaster, Vanderbilt
students rose swiftly to the challenge. During the Katrina semester in the
fall, you embraced as your own around 100 New Orleans college students,
from Tulane, Xavier, the University of New Orleans and Loyola. You welcome
them into your dorms and your classrooms.

One Tulane student, Ross Johnson, said that thanks to Vanderbilt, and I
quote, "We didn't have to think about what was going on at our own schools.
You let us just be college students." Because of you, Ross and other Gulf
Coast students will graduate on time this year, their dreams still intact
even after Hurricane Katrina.

Vanderbilt students also contributed to the recovery by volunteering on the
Gulf Coast. The Director of Vanderbilt's Office of Active Citizenship and
Service, Mark Dalhouse, spoke of almost 100 students who went last fall to
Washington Parish, Louisiana, where you cleared debris, comforted children,
rebuilt homes and churches. The amazing part of that trip, Mark said, is
the way it brought students of different religions, races and political
persuasions together through fellowship and a sense of common purpose. He
explained, "When you're building a house with someone, or clearing wood, or
comforting someone, the things you'd argue about fade into insignificance."

Class of 2006, discover this fellowship and sense of purpose in Louisiana
and Mississippi. It doesn't matter what career you're pursuing. This
summer, before you start a new job or graduate school, travel to the Gulf
Coast and help with the reconstruction. After you've made your
post-Vanderbilt transition, dedicate a vacation to recovery. It will be
time well spent. And think about longer-term opportunities to help the Gulf
Coast. Even before Hurricane Katrina, many residents of Mississippi and
Louisiana were denied the promise of America. Now the Gulf Coast has a
chance for a fresh start, which will be brighter if young and enthusiastic
Americans establish their careers, their families and their lives there.
The work you do during the week, whether it's teaching or nursing or
banking, will revitalize the Gulf Coast economy. And in your quiet time,
you'll invest in your communities by working for justice and equality, by
building schools, and by sharing your time, your prayers and your love with
your neighbors who are still grieving.

One Vanderbilt alum involved in the recovery promises that if you work on
the Gulf Coast, your talents will be put to good use. He said, "It won't be
like any other entry-level job. You won't be bored."

And one student who volunteered on the Gulf Coast last fall knows that your
efforts will be appreciated. She said, "It means so much to have someone
there -- just the fact that there are people who care and who are ready to
help."

Class of 2006, today your senior walk has brought you here to Alumni Lawn.
Tomorrow, as you begin your journey beyond this university, wondering where
it will lead you, remember the insight of one of your classmates. She said,
"I thought Vanderbilt would give me a road map to life. I didn't get the
road map, but I got a compass." If your compass remains fixed on a
commitment to others, you'll chart your way to happiness.

Congratulations to all of you. Thank you so much for giving me the chance
to share this special day with you. May God bless every member of the Class
of 2006. (Applause.)

END 10:02 A.M. CDT

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