US President Barack Obama delivers the commencement address for Rutgers University at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey, May 15, 2016. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty)
President Barack Obama addressed Rutgers University graduates Sunday at their commencement in New Jersey, telling them “throughout our history a new generation of Americans has reached up and bent the arc of history in the direction of more freedom and more opportunity and more justice. And Class of 2016, it is your turn now, to shape our nation’s destiny, as well as your own. So get to work, make sure the next 250 years are better than the last.”
Obama spoke before 10,500 graduates and 40,000 guests at the 250-year-old university, according to NJ.com.
You can watch his full speech below. The president is announced at the 20-minute mark of the video, and his address begins at 44 minutes.
The commencement ceremony was the largest in the school’s history.
“It’s a recognition of the 250 years that Rutgers has been in existence,” university archivist Thomas Frusciano told NJ.com. “It’s an acknowledgement by the chief executive.”
Graduates and attendees listen as US President Barack Obama delivers the commencement address for Rutgers University at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty)
Obama became the first sitting president to speak at a Rutgers graduation.
The president spoke at Howard University’s commencement on May 7. He will also speak at the U.S. Air Force Academy’s graduation in June.
