Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday became the first female commencement speaker to address graduates at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapo...
Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday became the first female commencement speaker to address graduates at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
At the outdoor commissioning ceremony, Harris spoke of the challenges the graduates would encounter - like the 'national security threat' of climate change and cyber intrusions like the 'warning shot' fired at the Colonial Pipeline - and noted how the midshipmen were entering the world in a period of great change on the heels of the coronavirus pandemic.
'If we weren't clear before, we know now: Our world is interconnected. Our world is interdependent. Our world is fragile,' she said.
Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday became the first female commencement speaker to address graduates at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland
Vice President Kamala Harris stands in front of graduating midshipmen Friday at the U.S. Naval Academy
Graduating Midshipmen throw their hats in the air at the conclusion of the U.S. Naval Academy Graduation and Commissioning Ceremony
Vice President Kamala Harris is seen giving her commencement address on the enormous stadium jumbotron
Two graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy kiss at the end of Friday's graduation and commissioning ceremony at the Annapolis school
A U.S. Naval Academy graduate holds up her diploma (center) as Vice President Kamala Harris greets graduates
She congratulated the graduates and applauded their efforts during the pandemic, which she said 'has accelerated our world into a new era.'
'You guys rolled up your sleeves and you got vaccinated - and you made it to this day, you made it to this day,' she said.
Harris talked of the work the military did in helping the country combat COVID-19.
'Our military helped development the technology that made the vaccine possible,' she said. 'Naval researchers also figured out how to use 3-D knitting machines to make masks. Naval labs monitored the spread of the disease. And the Marine Corps and the Navy are leading on making the connection between the pandemic and medical readiness of our fighting forces for the future.'
Harris said, 'The American people are depending on you.'
She added: 'We saw this during COVID-19 when Americans watched how members of our military helped vaccinate our nation, because you know biological threats like pandemics and infectious diseases are yet another threat in this era.'
She described the cyberattack earlier this month that shut down the nation's largest fuel pipeline as 'a warning shot' in what the new Navy and Marine Corps officers will face.
Vice President Kamala Harris displays her U.S. Naval Academy jacket at the graduation and commission ceremony
Vice President Kamala Harris tries on the jacket that was presented to her in Annapolis Friday during that U.S. Naval Academy's graduation ceremony
Vice President Kamala Harris arrives via Marine Two to the graduation and commissioning ceremony for the U.S. Naval Academy's class of 2021
The Blue Angels fly over the U.S. Naval Academy Graduate and Commissioning Ceremony Friday in Annapolis, Maryland
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis on Friday
'In fact, there have been many warning shots, so we must defend our nation against these threats, and at the same time we must make advances in things that you've been learning - things like quantum computing and artificial intelligence and robotics and things that will put our nation at a strategic advantage,' Harris said.
In her speech to more than 1,000 graduates in Annapolis, Maryland, including ones who majored in mechanical, electrical and ocean engineering, she described climate change as 'a very real threat to our national security.'
'I look at you, and I know you are among the experts who will navigate and mitigate the threat,' Harris said.
Harris ended her speech by telling the graduates about a visit she made before traveling to the stadium.
'Our nation was designed to be a team sport and we are in this together,' she said.
'So you know, finally I'll just share with you on my way to the stadium this morning I stopped by the cemetery to pay respects to my dear former colleage, a great and courageous American, Sen. John McCain,' she said.
At McCain's name, a revered graduate of the Naval Academy, the audience broke into applause.
'So most people don't know he wanted to be buried next to his best friend, who he met on the yard, Admiral Chuck Larson,' Harris said.
'That is the ultimate example of what I mean - in it together,' she added.
Most of the 1,084 graduates were commissioned as officers in the Navy and Marine Corps, including 784 Navy ensigns and 274 Marines as 2nd lieutenants.
About 28 per cent of the graduating class are women.
Vice President Kamala Harris marked the milestone of becoming the first woman to give the keynote address at the academy's commissioning ceremony in the same year that the academy had its first black female brigade commander
Midshipman Sydney Barber, who served as the first black female Brigade commander at the U.S. Naval Academy this year, pauses for a photo while gathering with other graduating midshipmen
The commissioning ceremony was held in person again at the Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis, a year after the academy held its first virtual graduation and commissioning ceremony because of the pandemic.
Harris marked the milestone of becoming the first woman to give the keynote address at the academy's commissioning ceremony in the same year that the academy had its first black female brigade commander, who represents about 4,400 midshipmen.
Midshipman Sydney Barber, who was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Marines at the ceremony, said it was an exciting and emotional day to graduate with Harris as the speaker.
She said she was scheduled to meet the vice president after the ceremony.
'I plan to thank her for paving the way,' Ms Barber said in an interview before the ceremony. 'She definitely paved the way for me, inspired me throughout the journey.'
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