In a ringing speech delivered virtually at ¶¶Ņõappās , Stacey Abrams ā the Georgia politician who in 2018 became the nationās first Black female candidate for governor and subsequently the leader of a national movement to safeguard voting rights ā told graduates, āIām here today because education saved my life.ā
Abrams, who received the ¶¶Ņõapp Presidentās Medal of Excellence with introductions by President Thomas Bailey and Trustee Valerie Rockefeller, vividly described how, as young children, both of her parents overcame lives of poverty with support from teachers who saw their potential. Her mother went on to become her high school classās valedictorian. Her father, who had suffered from undiagnosed dyslexia, became the first man in his family to attend college. In their forties, both attended divinity school at Emory University to become United Methodist pastors.
Watch Stacey Abramsā speech at Convocation.
In the face of an ongoing pandemic, economic upheaval and systemic injustice, Abrams told graduates, the world needs leaders who ā like her parentsā teachers ā ābelieve in the people they serve.
āYou believe that āmoreā is possible for all of us ā and you have been trained to make āmoreā a reality,ā she said.
Taking a page from her own experience, Abrams warned her listeners that their greatest endeavors āwill falter, and the failure will seem permanent.
āI know what Iām talking about, because in 2018 I ran for governor of Georgia and I lost,ā she said. Yet ultimately, Abrams said, she realized that āthe work of protecting voting rights, ensuring that every community is counted and broadening economic power in the South still enduredā ā and that ānot receiving the position I wanted did not absolve me from the responsibility to do the work.ā
Abrams continues to persevere, she said, ānot because Iām an inherent optimist, but instead because I am determined to be worthy of the legacy of my parentsā hardships and those teachers who saw their promise. To be a fighter for my grandparents and great-grandparentsā dreams. To be a testament to the wonders that resilience can reveal.ā
In conclusion, Abrams urged TCās graduates to ābe the ones who teach the world that joy and progress do exist, despite how dim the future seems. And as the world grapples with existential questions of who we are and who we will become, you are here today because you understand the deeper calling of obligation.ā
In introducing Abrams to the virtual audience of graduates and well-wishers, Bailey said that āthrough her work to empower voters, Stacey Abrams galvanized the state of Georgia and then the nation.ā Her hard work, he added, is a reminder that āleaders everywhere are working to create a better planet and that their brilliance and perseverance ā and our own ā can lead to better days ahead.ā
Reading aloud from the Presidentās Medal of Excellence Citation, Rockefeller told Abrams: āYou have devoted your career to ā in your words ā ānot allowing traditions to continue and perpetuate the consequences.āā
Rockefeller noted that the struggle against inequality of representation at the polls and elsewhere āof course . . . goes on. As you argued in the wake of this past winterās armed insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, āWe can either engage in collective amnesia about what we have just lived through . . . or we can rise to meet this moment by fixing the broken social compactā.
Rockefeller closed by hailing Abrams for āyour own brilliant and steadfast efforts to mend that compact and hold our nation to the values that truly make it great.ā
IN CONVERSATION From left, 2020 TC Convocation medalists Shannon Watts, Mahzarin Banaji and Carol Dweck, whose honors were postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic, were featured speakers during this year's Convocation Week.
Abramsās address culminated four days of online Convocation ceremonies that honored some 2,200 masters and doctoral graduates in education, health, psychology and leadership. The ceremonies included conversations in which three 2020 recipients of the ¶¶Ņõapp Medal of Distinguished Service āwhose honors were postponed by the COVID-19 pandemicā spoke with TC faculty members:
, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, who spoke with Sonali Rajan, Associate Professor of Health Education;
, Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics at Harvard University, who spoke with Caryn J. Block, TC Professor of Psychology and Education; and
, Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology, and Professor, by courtesy, of Education, Stanford University, who spoke with Nathan Holbert, Assistant Professor of Communication, Media and Learning Technologies Design.
[Read a story on the conversations with Watts, Banaji and Dweck. Visit the 2021 Graduates Gallery to read about some of TCās stellar 2021 graduating students. Read a full report on Convocation 2021. Watch all of the recorded proceedings on the ¶¶Ņõapp.]