Four Graduations and a Wedding, hosted by Brian Lehrer, presents an on-air commencement ceremony for those entering the public sector. 

Former 2020 democratic presidential candidate, and entrepreneur Andrew Yang's message to the graduating class:

The world is wide open for you. Particularly if you want to go in some form of public service. It doesn't feel wide open to you right now, because you're likely at home, stuck, and doing the right thing. But it is wide open for you.

Make a list. And not just any list, but a list of goals that you have for yourself. Some of these goals can be short term and trivial seeming like learning to cook a good birthday cake. Some of them can be lifelong ambitions you have for yourself over decades. My goals included things like owning a dog, skydiving, being a good son, and changing millions of peoples lives for the better.  I have done the first two, I am working on the third, and the fourth as we speak. 

New York City in 2020 is a world of opportunity. Trust me when I say that anyone my age or older would trade places with you in a heartbeat.  Go out, and make us proud Class of 2020.

The full transcript of Andrew Yang's commencement address: 

Congratulations to everyone who’s graduating in 2020 at any level, you did it!  And I know that this is not the graduation ceremony that you imagined, but you did the important thing: you got through your studies, you completed whatever requirements were in front of you, and you’re going to get your degree.

Like Brian suggested, most of us don’t remember our actual graduation anyway.  So you’ve done the important thing.  And the world is wide open for you. Particularly if you want to go into some form of public service. It doesn’t feel wide open to you right now because you’re likely at home, stuck, and doing the right thing.  But it is wide open for you.  And there is a silver lining to graduating in the midst of a pandemic.  You can always say, “I graduated in 2020 during the Coronavirus crisis,” and everyone will give you a permanent sympathy card.  It’s like an instant way to get people on your side.

Now this is an anxious time, but you have so many things going for you.  The first big thing you have is time. When the world is changing, you will be much more comfortable with those changes than most anyone else. Because you’ve just come out of school, you’re used to learning. And as the world is changing around us many of us will be learning, and you’re going to be better suited to a shifting environment than most anyone else.  On a practical level, right now you’re a lot more comfortable with Zoom, Instagram, TikTok, and Snap than your parents are.  I’m sure they’re asking you for help all the time.

People talk a lot about how when you graduate from school, you’re going to have to work hard. But I’m here to tell you that that’s actually the easy part.  It’s not that difficult to work hard when you know what you’re supposed to do. The harder part is figuring out what to do in an environment of uncertainty. And so I call these two sides of the coin.

Number one the work hard when you know what you need to do; the grind. And a lot of school has been something of a grind for you I’m sure at times when you had finals coming so you know what I’m talking about when I say, “the grind.” The second part is actually the more challenging, but potentially more rewarding part.  And that is, what I call, “the void.”  “The void” is when no one tells you what to do, you’re not sure what the next move is, there’s a ton of space and uncertainty, and it’s up to you to actually make choices and fill your own time. That is the true nature of the challenge you’re going to be faced with. The grind is important, but I’m going to suggest that most of you are going to have a bigger challenge with the void than the grind. So that might sound like a daunting challenge, but I have some other good news it’s that if you can master the void there will be no stopping you. You will be able to do anything you want under the sun.

Alright, so how do you fill the void? It’s different for everyone, truly. A lot of it is about figuring out what direction you want to take, how to spend your time, who you want to spend time with, what you value, how you’re going to forge a life, a career, relationships but here are a few concrete things that you can do that may help. At least they helped me.

The first thing to do is to keep reading.  Now if you’ve been in school, most schools, you’ve probably been doing a fair amount of reading, but they told you what to read. Now you can read anything that you want under the sun. And you should see any book you read as a trip through someone else’s head, or someone else’s life.  Imagine if I told you can experience the life and times, and ideas and thoughts of Abraham Lincoln, Maya Angelou, or Michelle Obama.  You can. Just read their book.  My wife Evelyn read Michelle Obama’s book Becoming as preparation for becoming First Lady. Which turned out not to be necessary, but that is the power of books.  You can actually get inside someone’s head and live their life for a while.  That’s going to help you determine how you want to move forward.

The second thing you can do is to make a list. And not just any list, but a list of goals that you have for yourself.  Some of these goals can be short term, and trivial seeming like learning to cook a birthday cake.  Some of these can be lifelong ambitions you have for yourself over decades.  My goals included things like owning a dog, skydiving, being a good son, and changing millions of peoples lives for the better. I have done the first two, I am working on the third and the fourth as we speak. But when you have these goals you will find yourself moving toward them like magic. They will help direct you through the void because anytime you’re not sure what to do, you can just refer to what you want for yourself and then you’ll have a better sense of what next steps to take. And you can change your goals any time. They’re yours, you can refresh them. I’ve done it many times throughout my life, but I have been stunned by how many of these goals I have met, and you will be too.

Now the third thing to do is accept that your path will not be a straight line. Because that’s just not the way life works. When I was graduating from high school or college, I was the last person that anyone thought would ever run for President.  For much of my high school career I was shy, and angry and struggled with people. I took things to heart a little bit too much.  And that didn’t really stop when I went to college.  It even got into my twenties, as I tried things that did not work out personally and professionally.  It wasn’t until I was 31 that I found a job and an opportunity that was the right fit that allowed me to start really achieving goals and meeting what I wanted for myself personally and professionally.  So you are going to be facing days when you don’t feel like you’re making progress, but you should know that that is completely par for the course. And you can’t control everything about your environment, but you can however control your willingness to learn, and adapt, and grow, and as long as you do that you will find yourself making progress in ways that you would not have been able to imagine even a number of months before.  

I ran for President on a fundamental idea that the economy is transforming in fundamental ways. And people that want to go into public service: we need you more than ever. We need your help to create an economy and a society that prioritizes how we are doing as people. How to make us all stronger, healthier, mentally healthier, how to improve our relationships and our families and our future. I believe that you all are more than any previous generation in tune with this vision and we need you more than ever. We need you to help lead us to create a human centered economy and society that will work for us.

If you’re graduating from high school right now, you have a newfound power: to vote. And we need you to vote this fall because the future will not be built without you.  You may not be walking across a physical stage, but you all are working across the biggest stage of them all.  New York City in 2020 is a world of opportunity. Trust me when I say that anyone my age or older would trade places with you in a heartbeat. Go out and make us proud, Class of 2020.

→ The Full Ceremony.