First lady tells Vanderbilt graduates to take time to volunteer in aid, rebuilding efforts
NASHVILLE, Tenn., May. 11, 2006
(AP) First lady Laura Bush challenged the graduating class at Vanderbilt University to participate in Gulf Coast rebuilding efforts, saying helping others can bring happiness.
"It doesn't matter what career you're pursuing, before you start a new job or go to grad school, dedicate a vacation to recovery," she said Thursday morning at Vanderbilt's Senior Day graduation celebration. "It will be time well spent."
Bush encouraged students to volunteer their talents anywhere in the world there was a need, specifically mentioning Africa's fight against HIV and AIDS.
She acknowledged the efforts of students who have already traveled to the Gulf Coast region and abroad to do humanitarian work, and told students it was impossible to ignore things like a tsunami in southeast Asia or the Darfur genocide in Sudan with the abundance of information on television and the Internet.
"If your compass remains fixed on others, you will chart your way to happiness," Bush said.
The first lady, a former teacher and librarian, also joked with the students, saying she couldn't remember the commencement speaker from her own graduation at the University of Texas at Austin in 1973, when she received her master's degree in library science.
"I hate to admit this, I skipped the ceremony," she said. "I did look it up, and I found out who gave that commencement address. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered it was some guy named George Bush. Four years after that speech, I married his son."
Bush also accepted the school's inaugural Nichols-Chancellor Medal, honoring humanitarian efforts, on behalf of relief workers around the world.