President Biden delivers commencement speech at University of Delaware

United States President Joe Biden delivered the commencement address at his alma mater, the University of Delaware, on Saturday, telling the 2022 graduates he believes they can ‘meet the challenges’ of the times.

Speaking to a crowd of over 6,000 graduates and their families, Biden delivered the address as the country mourns the death of 19 elementary school students and two teachers at a school shooting in Texas this week, as well as a racially-motivated grocery store shooting in Buffalo, New York two weeks ago. Biden acknowledged the challenges of becoming an adult in 2022, as the nation grapples with political division, gun violence, and rising inflation. 

“Your generation, more than anyone else will have to answer the question, Who are we? What do we stand for? What do we believe? Who will we be?” Biden said. “You can make the difference, you can lift the country up, you can meet the challenges of our time.”

The president then urged the grads to get involved in the political discourse. “There’s one message I hope you take from me today: This is no time to be on the sidelines,” he added. “We need all of you to get engaged in public life and the life of this nation.”

The president encouraged the students to utilize the head start they have, as the “most generous, the most tolerant, the least prejudiced, the best educated” group of graduates in American history. He prompted the graduates to “Keep the faith and take [the country] back,” adding, “Please. This is yours. Take it back. We need you.”

President Biden graduated from the University of Delaware in 1965 with a double major in history and political science.