Bringing a political voice into a commencement speech appears to be a public relations win-win for university and politician alike. This graduation season, the class of 2011 is expecting a parade of high-profile political influencers to wish it well.
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![<p>President Obama<strong> </strong>spoke at Miami Dade College’s graduation on April 29. Miami Dade claims to have graduated more Hispanic and African-American students than any other higher-education institution in the country. Obama’s speech focused on opportunities for minority students, urging the graduates to “[carry] the American Dream forward.” He advised them to work together to navigate the challenges ahead: “Remember, your life is richer when people around you have a shot at opportunity as well. Strive to widen that circle of possibility.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/04/29/remarks-president-miami-dade-college-commencement">Read the full text of Obama’s speech here</a>.</p>
<p>Obama also spoke to the graduates at Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis, Tenn., the winner of the White House's Race to the Top commencement challenge, on May 16. The school's graduation rate has jumped from 55 percent to more than 80 percent in the past four years. The president told the students that their high school "is a place that has proven why we can’t accept any excuses when it comes to education; that in the United States of America, we should never accept anything less than the best our children have to offer."</p>
<p><a href="http://bcove.me/td5ylsg4">Watch the video of Obama's speech at Booker T. Washington High School here</a>.</p>
<p>In his last commencement address this year, Obama spoke to the graduating cadets at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., on May 18. The president was introduced by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and he congratulated the cadets for earning the highest GPA of any class in the history of the academy. He thanked the Coast Guard for its efforts since the day he took office: marching at his inauguration, cleaning up after the Gulf oil spill, and even serving in Afghanistan, where, the president joked, "there was no ocean in sight."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/18/remarks-president-us-coast-guard-academy-commencement">Read the full text of Obama's speech here</a>.</p> - SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images](http://cdn-media.nationaljournal.com/?controllerName=image&action=get&id=8005&format=gallery)
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