First Lady Michelle Obama delivers the commencement speech after being presented with an honorary doctorate of humane letters at City College in New York City. This is the final commencement speech of her tenure as First Lady. In her speech Mrs. Obama celebrated City College’s diverse student body and the struggles that many students endured on the road to graduation
President Obama arrives with Rutgers President Robert Barchi
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President Barack Obama speaks after receiving an honorary doctorate of laws during the 250th anniversary commencement ceremony at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He is the first sitting president to speak at the school’s commencement
President Barack Obama watches a performance during a visit to the Globe Theatre in London to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare
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President Barack Obama shakes hands with actors after watching part of Shakespeare’s Hamlet
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Benedict Cumberbatch and his wife Sophie Hunter look at the picture he took of President Obama
President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Ash Carter, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army General Martin Dempsey honor fallen soldiers at Arlington
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Pres Obama greets WW2 veteran, 107-yr-old retired Army Lt Col Luta Mae Cornelius McGrath http://t.co/qg5KlRs7Bo
First Lady Michelle Obama smiles as she is introduced by Oberlin College President Marvin Krislov before receiving an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humanities from Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio
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Maura Zurick: First Lady Michelle Obama Urges Oberlin College Graduates To Make A Difference
First Lady Michelle Obama told nearly 700 Oberlin College graduates Monday to wake up and “play your part in our great American story.” Obama urged the class of 2015 to volunteer for campaigns or “better yet, run for office yourselves.” She encouraged the graduates to not shy away from the clamor and polarization of the real world and told them to face the revolutions of their time: climate change, economic inequality, human rights and criminal justice reform. “Today, I want to urge you to actively seek out the most contentious, polarized, gridlocked places you can find,” she said in her 25-minute remarks to graduates, family members and spectators in Tappan Square.
“Because so often, throughout our history, those have been the places where progress really happens –- the places where minds are changed, lives transformed, where our great American story unfolds.” Zoe Madonna, an East Asian studies graduate, called the first lady brilliant. “This is going to be a story that I can tell 50 years from now about the time the first lady spoke at my graduation, and I really enjoyed that it wasn’t a pat-yourself-on-the-back speech,” Madonna said. “Usually when dignitaries come, they keep their real selves, real opinions quiet, but you could hear what she really thought, what she really wants for us shining through in her speech.”