Advice for 2016 graduates from ‘Hamilton’ star, President Obama and more commencement speakers
"Hamilton" creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda apologized to University of Pennsylvania graduates on May 16 for not including Philadelphia in his award-winning Broadway musical. "The simple truth is this: Every story you choose to tell by necessity omits others from the larger narrative," he said. "This act of choosing the stories we tell versus the stories we leave out will reverberate across the rest of your life." He related this lesson to an unhappy long-distance college relationship -- "I was trying to fit my life into a romantic narrative that was increasingly at odds with how I really felt" -- and to bringing his shows to stage. He brought his speech back to the "broke orphan" who stars in "Hamilton" as a reminder that "Time and time again immigrants get the job done." He urged graduates to stick through the hard times, reminding them they are all a "part of your story."
See who else is dropping knowledge on the class of 2016 in American schools nationwide.
Matt Rourke/AP
President Barack Obama took aim at presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump while delivering the commencement address at Rutgers University on May 15, 2016, in Piscataway, New Jersey. Though he didn't name Trump, Obama's target was apparent as he told graduates to tout their knowledge, not brag about their ignorance.
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson addressed graduates at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on May 14. "When life tells you no, ask yourself honestly, 'What am I capable of?' And once you know the answer, don't be afraid to let everyone else know it too," he told the crowd.
Mat Hayward/Getty Images
Academy-Award winning actor and 1978 University of Montana alumnus J.K. Simmons told graduates of his alma mater to live in the moment, "not dwell on the past, not be too anxious about the future," according to the Missoulian.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Retired astronaut Capt. Scott Kelly cut to the chase in his commencement speech at the University of Houston on May 14: "You just need to do what you can to make things in your community and our planet a little bit better."
Scott Kelly/NASA
Former New Orleans news anchor and TODAY show host Hoda Kotb got a standing ovation from Tulane University graduates for her commencement speech on May 14. Among her morsels of wisdom: You don't need everybody to like you, you just need one person.
Josh Brasted/Getty Images
Some students at Scripps College protested the choice of former United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as commencement speaker, in part because of her statement that "there's a special place in hell" for women who don't support Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. She rose to the occasion on May 14, telling the crowd "We should use our opinions to start discussions, not to end them."
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden delivered the commencement address at Northern Virginia Community College, where she is a professor. "This I believe: a community college education can truly change people's lives," she told the audience on May 14. "Community college graduates — including every single one of you — can change the world."
Chris Jackson/Getty Images North America/Getty Images for Invictus Games
"American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest spent one year at the University of Georgia before heading to Hollywood to pursue his dreams. He returned on May 13 to deliver the commencement address, telling graduates to follow his lead if the time is right: "If something is important, the best time for it to happen is right now," he said. "And if it's not important, then move on to something that is."
Marcus Ingram/Getty Images
Addressing Berkeley graduates on Saturday, Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg spoke publicly for the first time about her husband's death. She said it changed her in "very profound ways" but that she learned she could "choose joy and meaning" even after loss. Sandberg's husband, Dave Goldberg, died in May 2015 of a cardiac arrhythmia while the two were on vacation in Mexico.
Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images
Vice President Joe Biden spoke to University of Notre Dame graduates at their commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 15, 2016 in South Bend, Indiana. He shared the stage with former House Speaker John Boehner. They both spoke on the current negative state of politics and were each awarded the 2016 Laetare Medal, the oldest and most prestigious honor at the catholic university.
Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune/AP
When Oprah Winfrey spoke to graduates of Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 15, she had a personal connection to at least two of them, according to the school. Graduates Noluthando "Thando" Dlomo and Nompumelelo "Mpumi" Nobiva attended the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa which educates students in grades seven through 12.
