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Cropp highlights GWU graduation
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Outgoing President Stephen Trachtenberg addresses graduates during George Washington University’s commencement exercises on the National Mall on Sunday.
WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Former Democratic District of Columbia Council Chair Linda Cropp urged more than 4,500 graduates from the George Washington University on Sunday to enrich their lives with public service, even if they are entering the private sector.
“You see, no matter who you are or what you think you are, most of us have reached where we are because someone helped us along the way,” Cropp told a crowd of more than 22,000 attendees on the National Mall. “That gives us a greater responsibility to extend our hand and pull someone else along.”
Cropp, a former schoolteacher, served as chair of the D.C. Council for nine years before losing her seat in a failed challenge to Democratic Mayor Adrian Fenty in September’s primary.
Outgoing GWU President Stephen Trachtenberg was scheduled to give the school’s keynote commencement address earlier this spring until outcry from students caused him to step aside. Instead, Trachtenberg briefly spoke along with honorary degree holders and Catherine Connor, a student and Iraq war veteran who took a nine-month leave from school to serve with a Marine reserves unit.
Other people presented with honorary degrees included Wolf Blitzer, CNN anchorman and veteran broadcast journalist; National Academy of Sciences President Ralph J. Cicerone; Harvey V. Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine; and former Connecticut Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr., president of the Trust for America's Health.
Connor, who joined the Marines in 2004, told her fellow students of her surprise when she landed in the desert in early 2005. She applied lessons of duty, service and sacrifice learned in the war to her future.
“While it’s often daunting to take risks, it’s even scarier to not be able to mold to the changes that life throws at you,” Connor said.
cmabeus@dcexaminer.com
