Text of Gov. Jay Nixon's Commencement address at Northwest High School

The following is the complete text of Gov. Jay Nixon's address at the Northwest High School commencement exercises Saturday:

Good morning.

Thank you Superintendent Ziegler; Principal Snell; President Talbott; administrators, faculty, staff, honored guests, alumni, families and students.

I’m delighted to be here with all of you at Northwest High School on this very important day.

And let me be among the first to say: Congratulations Class of 2011!

All your hard work has paid off, and brought you to this point, standing at the threshold of a new journey.

Graduates of Northwest High School have used the education they received here as a springboard to a rewarding future.

Whether you are bound for the military, the workforce, or college, you will soon be part of that proud Lions tradition.

This is also a day of celebration for the home team.

I don’t mean the baseball team, or the soccer team, or the track team. I mean your family and friends, whose love, support and sacrifice have helped you every step of the way.

They’ve been there for you from that first day in kindergarten, when you finally let go of your Mom’s or Dad’s hand, to this moment, when they sit in the audience, preparing once again, for every parent’s toughest job:  letting go.

Let me also congratulate the administration, faculty and staff at Northwest for their unwavering commitment to your success.

Public education is a high calling.

You play a critical role in shaping the minds – and values – of the future leaders of our state and our nation.  That foundation will last a lifetime.

Beyond the core programs that you teach, every extra-curricular activity demands extra hours that enrich the lives of all your students.

And it shows in this outstanding group of kids.

For eight years running, the Class of 2011 has been recognized for “distinction in performance” – a mark of overall excellence – by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. 

This graduating class also has the highest daily attendance of any graduating class in Northwest’s history. Teachers, I can tell you one thing: when students are showing up for class in record numbers, you’re doing something right!

The Class of 2011 also has the highest number of students enrolled in Advanced Placement classes. That’s terrific.

And again, it speaks to the caliber of the teachers and leaders at Northwest, who set high expectations for their students, and empower them to achieve.

On behalf of all the people of the Show-Me State, thank you for all you do for our youth, for your school and for your community.

Graduates, this ceremony marks the completion of one important phase of your education, and the beginning of another.

It is a celebration of all that you have achieved in four years. For you, graduates, these four years may have seemed like a loooong journey. But for your parents, I suspect these years have flown by all too fast.

You leave high school with more facts and figures packed into your heads than you may have thought possible…about subjects as different as poetry and algebra; cell biology and American history.

Facts and figures matter – especially on ACTs and final exams.

But they are not all that matters.

Your education has expanded not just the boundaries of what you know, but your capacity for learning.

Wherever your next step takes you, never stop looking for opportunities to challenge yourself and to achieve.

And never, ever, stop learning.

Your education also includes the lessons of the heart and spirit that you have learned outside the classroom from your teachers, your coaches, your mentors and your peers …and maybe even your parents…about the value of friendship… teamwork … service to others… and leadership.

I understand that you have been collecting food, clothing and donations for the tornado victims in Joplin, and that the 18-foot trailer that usually carries the gear for your marching band will be taking it all to Joplin sometime next week.

That’s just the sort of compassion and spirit that make Missouri such a special place to live.

I’ve been down to Joplin just about every day since the tornado hit, and I can tell you how great the need is. I can also tell you how much it means to the people of Joplin to know that folks like you are praying for them and reaching out to help.

As you may know, Joplin High School was destroyed by the tornado. It hit just a few minutes after their graduation ceremony concluded, on the campus of Missouri Southern State University about five miles away out of the direct path of the twister.

The clean-up and rebuilding of Joplin High School will be extensive and long-term.

We’re in the process of planning all that out now, and we’ll be with them every step of the way.

But the kids Joplin High School also will need help getting back to normal – doing all the great things you get to do in high school, like sports, and prom, and playing in a marching band.

The teachers and staff will need our support as well. I hope you’ll continue to look for opportunities to reach out to the Joplin community and your school colleagues over the summer, and when school resumes in the fall.

Tragedies of this magnitude leave us with so many questions: Why this town? Why that person? Why?

As you will come to experience when you leave the snug harbor of Northwest High School, there is no simple answer for the “whys?” in life.

Life can be unpredictable and chaotic. That’s just the way it is.

But in times of great joy and celebration -- like today -- as well as times of great sorrow and great need -- like the last two weeks in Joplin -- what is most important is that we come together, as a community.

There are limits to what we can accomplish as individuals. But together?

No task is too great.

Long after all the facts and figures you learned here at Northwest High have faded in the mists of time, the moments when you answered the call to help others, the moments when you stepped up to a challenge you’d never dreamed you could tackle – those moments will burn brightly.

As you step into the second decade of the 21st Century, the future that you, the class of 2011, will be creating from this moment on will be very different from the world your parents and grandparents grew up in. 

We live in a world where the boundaries of time, distance and culture are collapsing at the touch of a finger.

Technology allows us to bear witness to the triumphs and tragedies of the human condition in real time − from tsunamis in Japan, to the death of Public Enemy Number One, Osama bin Laden, to the Joplin tornado.

Without a doubt, we are more interdependent today than at any time in human history.

What happens on one side of the planet – whether it’s a nuclear meltdown or an economic boom – affects people on the other side.

We’re all in this together. And there are a lot of us. By the end of the year, the world’s population is expected to reach seven billion.

By the end of the century, it could be 10 billion… or even higher.

That means there will be more competition for everything – land, food, water, fuel. And that means there will be an increased need for cooperation.

The stakes – and opportunities – have never been greater.

Protecting biodiversity.  Coping with climate change.  Fighting terrorism. Developing sources of clean energy.  Feeding a hungry world. Curing disease.

We can’t do it alone.

We will solve mankind’s most pressing problems and create new opportunities, as allies. And true allies are those who can see beyond the surface of what makes us different, to reveal the substance of what makes us the same.

The more we learn to understand and respect one another, the more practiced we become at treating everyone with compassion and dignity, the better citizens of the world we will become.

In our rapidly changing world, education is high-stakes enterprise.

There is no investment that will have a greater impact on the future of our nation, our state and on the quality of life for you, your children and grandchildren, than the investment you make in your education.

Use all you have learned at Northwest – inside and outside the classroom – to continue to challenge yourself to achieve.

Use it to build a strong family, a vibrant community and a prosperous state.

Use your education to build a brighter future for our nation and our world.

Working together, our best days are ahead.

Congratulations and God bless.