2009 Commencement SpEeches
Susan Zirinsky, BA '74, Executive Producer, CBS News:
"To you, the graduating class of 2009, you have gift, and that gift is that you are not bound by the past. If you have an idea – or you see a new way to communicate – you can take it and run with it. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter – they were ideas based on new ways to communicate. Age –experience – doesn’t matter. Your limitations are your own. You just have to want it and let that passion drive you."
Full speech Text / Video
"Now more than ever the professions of communication have a calling -- to provide the evidence and testimony that frame public debate, to speak up and speak back to the powers that be."
Kat Aaron:
"We have the greatest job on earth. We tell stories for a living. We are entrusted with distilling and reflecting other people’s dreams and hopes and fears. We walk the halls of Congress and the streets of Anacostia, and if we do our jobs right, we explain each to the other. There is no greater responsibility, and no greater privilege."
Drew Rosensweig
I’ve been granted wonderful opportunities by American University. I’ve shot films in Prague and in Monterrey, Mexico, and, more importantly, forged bonds with people from all around the world. We studied at an institution that provided us with magnificent opportunities, but also entrusted us to take advantage of them.
