Governor O'Malley Delivers Commencement Address at Howard Community College
COLUMBIA, MD (May 16, 2008) – Governor Martin O’Malley today delivered the commencement address at Howard Community College before the largest graduating class in the school’s 42-year history. The Governor encouraged the more than 700 graduates to embrace the expectations set for them as college graduates and to serve their fellow citizens.
“This truly is a special day. It is not only your last mandatory lecture here at Howard Community College, it’s the moment of your strongest promise,” Governor O’Malley said in his address. “The motto of this college is that ‘you can get there from here.’ Your lifelong pursuit of ‘there’ begins today.”
“Carroll Quigley, a renowned professor at Georgetown, used to tell his students as they began each new semester: ‘The thing that got you here today is belief in the future, belief that the future can be better than the present and that people will and should sacrifice in the present to get to that better future.’ This idea, this belief that tomorrow can be better than today and that each of us has a personal responsibility to make it so is the strongest civic and patriotic value we share as Marylanders and as Americans,” said Governor O’Malley. “It’s what Professor Quigley called ‘future preference.’ As we seek to build this better world for those who will come after us, we need you.”
“The politics of posterity say that the world we leave for our children and theirs can be a better one, but only if we choose -- by our own individual work and investment -- to make it so during our own time,” he said. “We’re counting on your energy and your passion to continue moving our State forward, to continue making progress, to use this education you’ve gained to build for our future and for our posterity. We need you.”
In the fifteen months of Governor O’Malley’s term, his administration has established the first-ever Higher Education Trust Fund to stabilize tuition costs for families, froze college tuition for three consecutive years – making college more affordable for Maryland families – and increased aid for community colleges by nine percent from the year prior, and by 39 percent from the previous administration. In addition, Maryland invested a record $150 million over the last two years in better facilities at community colleges around the state. Howard Community College has received $24.4 million in funding from Governor O’Malley’s first two budget cycles, representing a 54 percent increase from the prior administration.
Founded in 1966, Howard Community College is a dynamic, creative learning community that strives to meet challenges by providing innovative solutions that lead to learning breakthroughs for all students. Over the course of a year, HCC enrolls more than 10,000 students in credit programs and 15,000 in noncredit programs. Operating under the slogan “You Can Get There from Here,” which students often cite when describing how HCC helps them attain their educational goals, the college provides open access and innovative learning systems to respond to the ever-changing needs and interests of a diverse and dynamic community. Last month, HCC received the U.S. Senate Productivity Award, Maryland’s most prestigious award for performance excellence.
