MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN

Dear Graduates,

Today, your hard work and perseverance, your talent and commitment, are recognized with the conferral of your degrees. This is a big day for you, for your family and friends; and it is also an important day for the nation and our world. Today, you enter a rarified set: fewer than ten percent of the world’s population has a college degree. Only thirty percent of Americans earn a Bachelor’s degree. What you have accomplished is heady stuff, and you should feel very proud. On behalf of the faculty and staff of the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, congratulations!

The degree you are receiving today is just the icing on the cake. What we really celebrate is the knowledge and skills, the relationships and friendships, that you take from this place. We mark this rite of passage because you are ready. Your Colin Powell School education has prepared you to enter professional life and to make a difference for the better. We need you—now more than ever—to tackle big challenges and tough jobs. You are ready to be leaders in service to our city, our country, and the world.

My greatest wish for each of you is that you find happiness and that you bring happiness to others. I hope that you enjoy a rewarding life filled with the joy of accomplishment and optimism about what is possible. You enter a world more troubled and complicated than when I sat where you are. You are needed to make the future brighter.

If we, as a faculty and staff, have succeeded, you leave here with as many questions about yourself and this world as you have answers. The journey from here will have twists and turns, ups and downs. Be patient with yourself. Support one another. Be open to continued learning. Keep your values, your vision, and your ambition. Stay close to those who care about you—including those of us at the Colin Powell School who are invested in your success. Lean on us, as we will lean on you, to form community and to leverage bonds of strength toward solving social problems. We need your commitment, your perspective, and your passion to make all of our futures brighter.

The Colin Powell School and City College have given you the foundations for success. As you move on to your next chapter, remember that you will always be part of the Colin Powell School and City College communities. You take your place as part of a proud tradition. My colleagues on the faculty and staff believe in you, and we are counting on you.

Please accept my personal congratulations for what you have accomplished and my enthusiastic best wishes for your continued success.

Sincerely,

Andrew Rich Richard J. Henley and Susan L. Davis Dean

Class 2023

Valedictorian And Salutatorians