 Good afternoon. I'm Michael Barr, the Joan and Sanford Wildean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. I am honored today to recognize and celebrate the accomplishment of the Ford School Classes of 2021. Our outstanding graduates who have earned their bachelor's, master's of public policy, master's of public affairs, and doctoral degrees. Students choose the Ford School because they care about the greater good. They work hard while at Michigan, and they learn to work together. They graduate prepared with the knowledge and analytic expertise, the leadership prowess, and the writing and communication skills needed to design, advocate for, and implement good public policy. In that respect, the classes of 2021 are like any other graduating 40s. But of course, this class's experience at Michigan were not like any other. Most of today's graduates started their Ford School studies in the fall of 2019. Students, you might remember that semester for the launch of a major new center for diplomacy. We hosted amazing speakers, Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice in the same week, Samantha Power, Steve Began, Susan Rice, Dennis McDonough, and Steve Hadley. All those visits were in person with handshakes, packed auditoriums, and of course free food. That seems like a really long time ago. In the midst of winter term, the COVID pandemic upended our world, bringing so much suffering and loss, with devastating health and economic impacts disproportionately felt by the most vulnerable. By May and for week after week over the summer, the death of George Floyd and so many other black and brown people at the hands of the police spurred millions of Americans to take to the streets demanding racial justice. In the chaotic, scary months leading up to and following the November election, we experienced deepening divisions in the United States, rising racism and white nationalism, and both rhetorical and violent attacks on our democracy. Here on campus, we suffered through a divisive return to school last fall, and we weathered a widely supported strike by graduate students who called on the university to make real strides on public health and racial justice. When the pandemic hit last March and we moved suddenly to an unfamiliar new, remote world of learning, teaching, and work, I started what became a nightly email communication to the whole school for the remainder of the semester. Through those emails graduates, you learned perhaps far more than you ever wanted to about me. Tastes and romantic comedies, thoughts on the weather, our Passover menus, love for the Harry Potter movies, my good days and hard days. But along the way, I was trying to model a way forward through the crisis. With all of you so much on my mind recently, I looked back at some of those emails. On March 17th, just as we started remote classes, I wrote, crises help us to remember who we are and what we stand for. The Ford School is a community dedicated to the public good. And in the days and months since graduates, you've shown that's true. You've demonstrated who you are. You are leaders grounded in service. You helped vulnerable communities, armed policymakers with facts and tools, worked with nonprofits and small businesses, marched for racial justice, listened and learned and stood up. You protected each other's health, offered an outstanding education and kept our community connected and turned out the vote standing up for our democracy. The crisis revealed you as resilient and strong. You persevered to complete your Ford School degree and you helped each other and so many others along the way. Graduates, we've weathered this whole brutally hard year together. Together as a community dedicated to the public good. Our shared experiences this past year have bonded us together forever. I know that for the rest of my life, I'll remember with great warmth and gratitude this class and the faculty and staff who taught and mentored you and kept our mission moving forward. I speak for the entire faculty and staff of the Ford School when I say we're proud of you. We believe in you, in your capacity and your conviction and your preparation and your empathy to take on the great challenges before us. Congratulations on all you've accomplished in Michigan. My heartfelt gratitude and best wishes to the classes of 2021. Go Blue!