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Western Governors University Graduation Keynote Speech - 2022

"... remember that person in you who decided to go after the goal achieved today. I want you to thank them. Because at some point, the person you were became the person you are. And that person you were loves you for sticking with it."

🌎

Western Governor's University

Education without boundaries.™

• https://www.wgu.edu/

Four online colleges. 60+ flexible degree programs.

The first university where all bachelor’s and master’s degrees are competency-based, with online courses designed in partnership with leading employers. We’re nonprofit, driven entirely by a mission to serve students—in fact, it’s right there in our name. We’re called Western Governors University because we were created by a group of U.S. governors, an innovative solution to their states’ demand for high-quality, outcomes-oriented higher education.

As of May 2022, the WGU has become the largest online college in the US

SJS / Steven J Schmidt, GreenPolicy360 Founder / Siterunner: I was asked by the Governor of New Mexico in 1996 to represent our state in the creation of the "Virtual University". In the 1990s, as a member of New Mexico's State Board of Education, I could see future opportunities more clearly in my roles on the state's technology council and with educational technology. At the time I was responsible for oversight of bringing the Internet into some 900 schools and I welcomed the role to create a new educational vision -- an online, accredited university. In my travels in 1969/70 I had become impressed by the new UK "Open University" and realized in the 1990s that online networks could provide new media access to top-level professors and educators and be made available to every student geographically. The idea of bringing 'remote learning/distance learning' to all students in our state and states around the country and world was immensely appealing. My goal, also, was to make higher education affordable and in New Mexico I worked to propose a full-tuition college scholarship, which was funded with a state lottery scholarship program. The combination of access and funding came to be. Each of the original Virtual University founding states appointed a member to serve on the work group and we set in motion what was formally announced in 1997 -- the new Western Governor's University.

The WGU and NM lottery scholarship are well into their second decade of success now in 2019. Education is the key to opening doors for every student and lifelong learning is an opportunity all of us deserve. It is a torch we are all passing forward, education, delivering all that eye-opening, visionary education can bring ...