RALEIGH, N.C., May 14 (AScribe Newswire) -- Author and attorney Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential candidate John Edwards, delivered Meredith College's spring commencement address on Sunday, May 13. The ceremony was held in Meredith's McIver Amphitheater.
Edwards, one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World, was chosen as commencement speaker by the Class of 2007.
"A passionate advocate for children and families, as well as an accomplished attorney, Elizabeth Edwards has been a tireless advocate for many important causes," Meredith President Maureen A. Hartford said in her introduction.
Having been asked to speak at Meredith's commencement several months ago, Edwards said she had changed the outline of her speech after her recent cancer diagnosis, which she said had "made me confront my own mortality."
"I ask you to live deliberately," Edwards told the graduates. "What we do and how we do it does define us."
Her speech centered around the idea that each person's life is a story he or she leaves behind.
Rather than a grand legacy, "each of us just needs a story, a story worth telling, a story worth living...the story you tell is not a list of what you own," Edwards said. "The story is whom you touched, whom you allowed to weave their lives into yours ... with each thing you do, and each thing you decide not to do, you write that story," she said.
After recalling that young people of each generation had played large roles in the major movements of American history, Edwards said "you don't have to lead a great movement to make an impact ... in some small way every day you can make a difference by taking time to shower your friends and strangers with kindness."
Degrees Conferred
Meredith conferred four types of undergraduate degrees: the Bachelor of Arts, the Bachelor of Science, the Bachelor of Music and the Bachelor of Social Work. Graduates of the John E. Weems Graduate School at Meredith College were presented with master's degrees in business, education and nutrition.
About the Class of 2007
The Class of 2007, including those who completed their degrees in August, December or May, has 373 members, with 345 receiving bachelor's degrees and 35 master's degrees.
The class includes:
- Two mother-daughter pairs;
- 10 graduates who had a perfect 4.0 grade point averages;
- 15 graduated summa cum laude (3.9 GPA); and
- 107 had held campus leadership positions during their years at Meredith.
About the Speaker
Elizabeth Edwards has traveled extensively across the country during her husband's presidential and vice-presidential campaigns. The day after the general election in 2004, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. In her 2006 autobiography, "Saving Graces," she chronicled her fight against breast cancer and other milestones in her life. As an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Elizabeth Edwards majored in English. She went on to study American literature but then switched to law, graduating from UNC Law School in May 1977. Following law school, she clerked with U.S. District Court Judge Calvitt Clarke, Jr. Later, she worked for the North Carolina Attorney General's office and then was a bankruptcy lawyer in Raleigh. Ties to Meredith
Elizabeth Edwards said Meredith College held a special place in her heart, as the location of her daughter Cate's first dance recital, and the place where artist-in-residence Robert Mihaly sculpted the angel headstone for her son Wade's gravesite.
Chartered in 1891, Meredith College is a private, four-year, comprehensive college for women.
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CONTACT: Melyssa Allen, Media Relations, 919-760-8455, allenme@meredith.edu
Media Contact: See above.
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