remarks and official statements
Commencement Ceremony - American University in Bulgaria
Remarks by Ambassador Nancy McEldowney
May 16, 2009
I am delighted to be here to pay tribute to these outstanding graduates and to the remarkable University that has guided their journey toward this most important moment. Many people made today possible, including the President, professors and board-members who bind together this world class institution, but also and most especially the parents who have sacrificed so much for their children. With their indulgence, I want to speak directly to our graduates this morning.
As each one of you walks across this stage, you will also cross a threshold in your lives. You have worked incredibly hard to get here and you have richly earned the pride and distinction of this great accomplishment. You alone know how far you’ve come and how much this moment means to you and to the people who believe in you.
What you do not know, what none of us know, is what lies ahead and what difficulties you will encounter. But you already realize that it will not be easy, as nothing of true value ever is.
The world that you inherit – that you will lead –is more troubled and more complicated than ever before. And that means the need for greatness – great minds, great ideas, and great leaders – is more urgent than ever before.
AUBG rightly prides itself on teaching tomorrow’s leaders. Today, you become one of those leaders. AUBG has done its best. Now, as you walk away from AUBG, you must do yours.
As you head into the future, you carry an incredibly powerful tool. With this degree, with this education, you have proven – to yourself and to the world – that you have greatness inside of you. You have travelled from almost 20 far flung countries, mastered a second language, and opened yourself to the universe of ideas. You came together from different countries, different backgrounds, different races and religions, and you succeeded in doing what so many governments have failed to do. You reached across the things that divide us and worked together as friends and partners. You put hope and ambition and meritocracy in place of cynicism and apathy and corruption.
Your challenge now is to use your greatness to make our world a better place. Because this world of ours belongs to you now. Your vision, your passion, and your hard work will determine what happens next. Your leadership, in your home countries and on the world stage, will shape history.
As you do so, I hope that you will always remember the call of a man from very humble beginnings, a man with a Kenyan father and a Kansan mother, who rose from poverty to great prominence, the call of the American president to the graduates of the American University in Bulgaria, to place your hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.
We’re counting on you to answer that call.
Good luck, Godspeed, and congratulations.