Pomp & Circumstance: Celebrating Graduations and Other Achievements
The Brian Lehrer Show | Jul 3, 2020
On Independence Day, we offer two on-air commencement ceremonies from the Wednesday-nights-in-May series, "Four Graduations" — plus an interview with winners of the 2020 NPR Student Podcast Challenge:
- In a year without traditional commencement ceremonies, join Brian Lehrer for a presentation of "on-air diplomas" to graduates entering the public policy and public service fields. The commencement begins with an address from Andrew Yang, entrepreneur, founder of Humanity Forward, and former democratic presidential candidate in 2020.
- Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez answers questions from graduates entering the public service fields.
- Tracy K. Smith, Pulitzer Prize winning poet, and former Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019, delivers the final commencement address to the series to the Class of 2020.
- Charlotte Alter, national correspondent for TIME, and author of the new book The Ones We've Been Waiting For: How a New Generation of Leaders Will Transform America (Viking, 2020), talks about the world that graduates will be entering, and responds to listener phone calls from the parents of graduates.
- Meet the winners of the 2020 NPR Student Podcast Challenge! Students Jaheim Birch Gentles and Joshua Bovell talk about their winning podcast, "The Flossy Podcast: Climate Change & Environmental Racism," which takes on environmental racism and their frustration with the lack of black climate activists.
These interviews originally aired earlier this year. Links to the unedited audio are here:
Four Graduations and a Wedding Part IV: This Ones for the Parents (5/27/2020)
Four Graduations and a Wedding Part III: A Public Affair (5/20/2020)
High Schoolers in Canarsie Take on Environmental Racism (7/3/2020)
