Be brave. Be resilient. Be kind. Be grateful.
Those were the words of advice former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered the 102 students in the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts Class of 2019 during their commencement ceremony at Bank OZK Arena on May 25.
Clinton was the keynote speaker for the ceremony celebrating ASMSA’s 25-year anniversary. As first lady of Arkansas at the time, she was among a group of state leaders whose work was vital to the creation of the school in 1991. The first cohort of students arrived on campus in 1993, and the charter class of graduates celebrated commencement in May 1995.
Being invited to speak at this event gave her the opportunity to reflect on her own experiences and what she wished she had heard as a young adult at the time of her graduation, she said. First, she told the graduates to be brave.
She told them to be brave in seeking their dreams, in love and work and service. She encouraged them to be brave even as they take on what is not easy or comfortable. And while being brave, don’t worry about being perfect, she said.
“Perfection is one of the biggest problems that young people encounter today, especially young women,” she said. “The pressures of social media in which everyone looks perfect, sounds perfect — well, you know that’s not the case. So don’t be tempted to think if you can’t be perfect that you shouldn’t try.
“You shouldn’t be expected to be brave because you’re perfect. You’re in really good company because no one is perfect.”
Clinton followed that with encouraging the students to be resilient. Being brave enough to chase your dreams will sometimes lead to setbacks, disappointments and disillusionment. You can’t let those failures hold you back, she said.
“Remember, being resilient is really what separates those who get up and keep going no matter what knocked them down and those who get overtaken by their fears and stop themselves from moving toward their dreams,” she said.
She shared an early lesson about resilience from her mother. As a young child, she was bullied by other children in the neighborhood for weeks. One day when she was being bullied, Clinton tried to go back in the house, but her mother locked the door forcing Clinton to remain outside. As she was encircled by the group, she started waving her arms in worry and accidentally struck one of the little girls. She was then accepted into the group.
“My mother was fond of saying, ‘Life is not about what happens to you. Everybody gets knocked down in life. What matters is whether you get back up and what you do with what happens to you,’” Clinton said.
The former U.S. first lady referenced Henry James for her next piece of advice. She quoted the 19th century American novelist as responding to a question about the secret to life as saying, “My best advice about how to live a good life is be kind, be kind, be kind.”
Clinton said that kindness today is sometimes seen as soft, out of fashion and even held in contempt. “But there is no substitute for kindness,” she said.
Her final piece of advice was to be grateful. Clinton said scientific studies have shown that sharing gratitude has positive effects on a person’s physical and mental health. She spoke about the “discipline of gratitude,” in which a person finds something to be grateful for every day.
“Because practicing gratitude challenges you to separate out all of the problems, all of the challenges, all of the disappointments, even what you’re grateful for on the big world stage, whatever it might be. It allows you to focus and re-center on what is really important,” Clinton said.
In closing, she said she was very optimistic about the future despite how many problems the world faces. The time she has spent with today’s young people has allowed her to experience their ambition, caring, concern and determinations about tackling those problems, leaving her reinsured and thrilled about the future.
Clinton’s speech was preceded by Dinah Everton, a member of the Class of 2019 who was chosen to give the senior address. She also addressed the future, placing responsibility for changing the situation for the better on her generation.
“Today, we live in a world that is erratically changing like a dime spinning on its edge; the situation that lies ahead of us may seem more hopelessly grim than ever, but I, for one, have not lost hope,” she said. “Our generation must change the status quo in order to move forward and face the amassing problems of the near future, our future.
“That is no easy burden to bear, but as privileged as we have been to receive this education, we ought to use it to the world’s benefit. Use your newfound knowledge to heal, to inform, to make a statement, and to make the world a kinder and more equitable place for everyone.”
Everton encouraged her fellow graduates to seize opportunities the world offers to apply their unique abilities just as they seized the opportunities at ASMSA.
“Use your newfound knowledge to heal, to inform, to make a statement, and to make the world a kinder and more equitable place for everyone,” Everton said.
Alex Kaye, who served as president of the Student Government Association for this academic year, spoke of what it meant to be among “Arkansas’ Best and Brightest” students at ASMSA.
“We’re not ‘Arkansas’ Best and Brightest’ because we’re smarter than everyone else because sometimes we’re not. We’re ‘Arkansas’ Best and Brightest’ because we had the courage to take a step into the unknown. We had no idea if it would work out, and we had no guarantees it wasn’t a mistake. But we had faith in ourselves, and we took that step. And now we’re here. And it is incredible,” Kaye said.
He said that the students’ two years here were not perfect. There were many reasons students may have struggled, but in the end, they persevered, he said.
“I look back and I don’t see failure or weakness,” he said. “I see some of the most fun and rewarding experiences of my life. And when I see some of the messier or more challenging aspects of my time here, I don’t grimace or cringe. I say, ‘Dang, I did that.’”
Among the accomplishments of the Class of 2019, it was announced it had an average composite ACT score of 30.1 and earned more than $13 million in scholarship offers.