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The Best Advice For 2015 Grads From Tim Cook, Barack Obama, Elizabeth Holmes, And More

This article is more than 8 years old.

Each spring, university commencement ceremonies provide graduates with some of the final pearls they’ll collect as college students, from some of the most distinguished and powerful people on earth.

Last year, speakers like Jill Abramson, Michael Bloomberg, and Janet Yellen sought to prepare graduates for the sometimes fraught road ahead of them. This year’s orators have tended more towards calls to action.

Over the past month, luminaries from the public and private sectors have focused on presenting graduates with a daunting to do list, presenting them not only with the perennial imperative to “change the world,” but encouraging them to address the failings of previous generations.

 “We can’t sit around waiting for superman or superwomen to come save the day in 2016,” Powell told the graduating class of Rice University. “Not coming! We the people are the supermen and superwomen. We are the deciders.”

Below is a collection of some of this year’s most fervent calls to dig deeper, push further, and contribute more from some of 2015’s most illustrious speakers.

Tim Cook: "The world needs you in the arena."

George Washington University, May 17

"Graduates, your values matter. They are your North Star. And work takes on new meaning when you feel you are pointed in the right direction.  Otherwise, it's just a job, and life is too short for that. We need the best and brightest of your generation to lead in government and in business. In the science and in the arts. In journalism and in academia.

There is honor in all of these pursuits. And there is opportunity to do work that is infused with moral purpose. You don't have to choose between doing good and doing well. It's a false choice, today more than ever."

Click to view Cook's full address.

Elizabeth Holmes: "There are no shortcuts."

Pepperdine University - Seaver College, May 2

“You have to work smarter and harder than everyone else...In the journey of life we are always tested.  When it’s hardest is when it matters most to stay the course... Define what is non-negotiable to you, what you are willing to fight for, die for, live for.

Many of us know too well how helpless we feel when someone we love is ill and we want to help them become well again. That is my non-negotiable.”

Click to view Holmes' full address.

Samantha Power: "Start by 'acting as if.'"

University of Pennsylvania, May 18

"Make sure you know something about something. The beauty of this is it is completely within your control. You can start by reading more than 140-character-long publications by those who have thought about a problem before you. You can track down experts and pepper them with questions – and then read and learn some more. If you’re interested in international issues, you can learn a language – another one on top of the one you already learned here.

And when you believe you know something – and may even have arrived at a theory of how change might come – get out to the place where the problem actually lives. Go to the field – whatever or wherever that field may be. The field is where tidy problems get messy, and where you will have occasion to go deep, not wide. "

Click to view Power's full address.

Eric Schmidt: "You can write the code for all of us."

Virginia Tech University, May 15

"You don’t have to dream too hard to picture the not-too-distant-future: A smart wall will wake you up exactly at the time you need to get up.  A car will drive itself to your office, as you catch up on the world around you. The human brain will be mapped.  New systems will be developed to remove CO2 and generate fuel, saving the planet. Pediatric cancer will be nearly eliminated, saving the lives of children everywhere.

We don’t have to wait 40 years.  This stuff is coming soon.  But someone actually has to make it happen.

Which is where you come in.  Computers won’t just do it without us.  None of this happens without you guys.  We need you now.  You are the ones who can build this, you are the ones who can take these dreams and make them real.   You are the ones who need to choose to live, not just exist. "

Click to view Schmidt's full address.

Barack Obama: "We should invest in people like you."

Lake Area Technical Institute, May 8

" That’s what hope is -- the belief that even if today is hard, with a little hard work, there’s something better around the bend.

And it is that promise that has always set this country apart.  It’s the idea that through hard work and through sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams, but we still come together as one American family to ensure that the next generation can pursue their dreams as well; that we take responsibility for looking after our own kids, but we’re also thinking about somebody else’s kids.  That if we got a good break and did well, you know what, we’re going to have turn around and make sure that somebody else gets a break too."

Click to view Obama's full address.

Colin Powell: "Inform yourselves."

Rice University, May 16

"The need to serve others has never been greater. Money and position will or will not follow, but satisfaction will always be there. Always have a purpose in life beyond position and money. Always ask yourself, 'What am I doing for my fellow citizens?'

Above all, participate in the governing of this country...You know we complain a lot these days about politics and politicians, and with good reason. But we can’t sit around waiting for superman or superwomen to come save the day in 2016. Not coming! We the people are the supermen and superwomen. We are the deciders."

Click to view Powell's full address.

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