Governor Martin O'Malley Delivers Commencement Address to University of Maryland, Baltimore Class of 2009
BALTIMORE, MD (May 15, 2009) - Governor Martin O’Malley delivered the commencement address before the graduating class of the University of Maryland, Baltimore this afternoon, where his comments came on the heels of unprecedented State investment in education, including the fourth straight year of in-state college tuition kept at zero percent increase. Over 1,800 students are expected to receive diplomas from the University of Maryland, Baltimore this year.
“To the Class of 2009: Congratulations, you did it,” Governor O’Malley told the students. “We are here today to celebrate all of you. We’re here to rejoice in your tremendous accomplishments and toast the possibility of things to come. We’re here to honor your struggles. We’re here to honor your endurance. And we’re here to celebrate your achievements.”
Recognizing the difficult economic circumstances the graduates find themselves in as they receive their degrees, Governor O’Malley continued, “In spite of all the perils we face, we live in times of tremendous promise and possibility…. We have been born at a point in our human existence when our own creativity and imagination have expanded the outer bounds of human achievement and potential as never before, and by exponents never imagined.”
“With such great peril and such awesome possibility before us, our country is at a crossroads,” Governor O’Malley continued. “For as you ascend and aspire to leadership in your chosen profession, you face a timeless human question: Will your world change you, or will you change your world? The diplomas you receive today represents a choice you have made to improve your world – a preference for a better future for you own families, and for your own State and country.”
In the first three years of the O’Malley-Brown Administration, the University of Maryland, Baltimore has received over $543 million in total funding, representing an increase of more than $130 million over the previous administration. This increase helped fund projects including the construction and renovation of new classrooms, laboratories, office and study space.
“Speaking not only as Governor, but as a parent and a fellow citizen, I can tell you that we’re counting on you to choose this better future all of us prefer,” said Governor O’Malley. “Your parents and your children, our country’s business leaders, poets, computer scientists, and pediatricians, those who came before us, and the unborn generations who will come after us – they all need you.”
Governor O’Malley urged the graduating class to use the day’s ceremony not as “an end, but a commencement; a beginning of your pursuit of all things eternal. A choice to change your world, rather than to allow your world to change you.”
For the Governor’s prepared remarks, visit www.gov.state.md.us.
