Nebraska recognizes 28 students that scored a 36 on the ACT

again thank you so much uh for joining us to this recognition it is our honor to recognize all of these students who earned a perfect score on the ACT at some point in their High School careers these are all graduating seniors so congratulations to these students a little uh word of note how we're going to run the ceremony we're going to have some distinguished speakers today we've got the governor uh we've got the commissioner of Education we've got the interim president from the University of Nebraska here as well and a member from the ACT uh that all have some remarks that they're going to share with you when the remarks are over I'll come back up and I will be reading off the names of the students uh so they can come up and get their uh certificate when your name is called just simply come up the governor and the commissioner will be here in the center simply come up we'll pause for a moment so your family can get a picture with you with the commissioner and the governor if you want to stand in between the two of them that would probably be the best picture for Mom and Dad uh and then you can take your certificate to that microphone and in that microphone I would love it if each student could simply say your name what high school will you attended if you know what you're doing next meaning if you know what college you're going to and what you'll be studying that would be fantastic uh or whatever it is else that you have planned coming up immediately next um and with that we'll go ahead and get the uh ceremony started with Governor Jim [Applause] [Music] pillan well good morning and uh congratulations um I have an extraordinary EXT extraordinary Goosebump moments as your Governor but the the the tops are always when I get to be in front of kids and uh young people and uh this is an extraordinary day and and can't give a big enough congratulations to you on your accomplishment and being here it's off the charts it's off the charts you guys you guys are the top one quarter of students across the United States an extraordinary extraordinary accomplishment I think uh one suggestion that uh sometimes we get so busy and life goes so fast we forget the two most important words thank you I make sure if uh if there's one thing I could encourage you to think about doing uh there's three people who are the three people that have had the most incredible impact on your life think about who they are and then make sure you just take time to write them a note write a note on whatever kind of paper you have doesn't have to be fancy and whoever those three people are I will assure you they will write they will read that note not one time two times but 20 30 40 50 times I have a I have a coach and an English teacher that uh had an incredible impact on me and um he's in Hospice Care I got to see him just 10 12 days ago and over the years I'd write him a note he talked about that but his teaching is an extraordinary extraordinary privilege if somebody would have told me that one of the three is always a teacher or coach I'd have been a coach I'd have been and a coach because there's nothing more rewarding than making an impact on the Next Generation hope a few of you might consider that the other thing that I want to uh make you aware of of extraordinary extraordinary careers in the state of Nebraska I've learned one thing uh that uh is really really important I've never met a human being in my life yet who doesn't want to be around great people and I love asking this question everywhere I go what's the one thing you love the most about Nebraska sometimes lifetim get take things for granted but anybody that moves here they can't get it out of their mouth fast enough it's the people it's the people and we live in the safest place talk about just extraordinary [Music] opportunities whatever field you're going to go in one I would ask you to U consider that um I've had the privilege is everybody aware that off at Air Force Base 55th Wing extraordinary impact reconnaissance we have planes flying all over the world right now as we speak keeping not only our country safe but our planet safe we have a fourstar general headquarter at off at Air Force the most prestigious powerful Air Force Base in the world General cotton fourstar General who is heads up Global nuclear deterrence and it's closer than ever before and that's why I'm sharing it closer than ever before because we have our foreign adversaries who are teaming up trying to overtake us and the way that's not going to happen is if extraordinary Nebraskans like sitting in front of me say I want to consider that calling because we need some of the most brilliant American civilians to come and be a part of global nuclear deterrence our families are depending on it our states depending on it our countries depending on it and quite frankly our planet is cuz we live in the safest place in the world right here in Nebraska but we have some of the most extraordinary dangers in the history of civilization in the history of civilization and then maybe the other piece I wanted to just share with you is um whatever uh whatever you're calling I I'm guilty I love Nebraska um and I think I'll share this it's pretty humbling and it's pretty vulnerable um I talked to girl State and boy State last week I wanted to be in boy state I wasn't a good enough student and I'll share this because whatever your dream is make sure it's extraordinary make sure your dream is your passion and it's a dream that has the ability to have an extraordinary impact cuz making money you won't have any problem the question is what will you be a part of that you'll make an incredible impact for your community for your state and I share why a dream is so important because some of you to get here today absolutely worked your tails off day and night and the hardcore reality is some of you are so blessed you maybe didn't have to work very hard so what happened to me I had a dream from the time I was 8 years old to be a veterinarian then I had a dream after Bob Dean came to be a football player and somehow I got a scholarship from coach Osborne and uh but school was a little bit more of a challenge for me my first class over in Avery in uh in uh couple blocks down was biology and if you're a preet student you should do good in biology right I got a 47 on it so I go out and see my advisor on East campus and his name was Dr Grace and I remember like it was yesterday so there are things that happen to you today that you'll never forget trust me and it impacts you immensely Dr Grace said to me it was a very short meeting and I'll say he didn't give me much grace he said what do you want to be Jim do you want to be a veterinarian or a football player obviously you can't do both obviously you can't do both anything else he said no thanks Dr Grace went on my way so what were my options here's the gift the blessing I had that overcame my shortcomings I had a dream I came to the conclusion that night the heck with Dr Grace I'm not letting anybody steal my dreams if I didn't have the dream then really easy to say oh yeah of course he's right but the reason why I want to share the dream with you you guys are extraordinarily blessed you're in the top one quarter of 1% if you have an extraordinary dream the other thing I learned from coach Osborne is there's no such thing as staying the same we either give everything we have today to make ourselves the best we can be or we go backwards no matter how gifted we are we go backwards putting it an athletic term we go backwards if you take a day off you go backwards four [Music] days go backwards four days so the beauty of the dream the beauty of the dream is it's our gold star and we never take a day off we make sure every single day we do things to make ourselves better we make ourselves to be the best vers of ourselves we can be so lastly I hope you have extraordinary dreams I hope that wherever you're called I know we have a number and kudos to the two of you who are United States presidential Scholars that's extraordinary and those of you that have taken advantage of the new presidential scholarship to stay here in nebras and get your education here but in the end I pray that all of your dreams are extraordinary and that you find your gold star and you have incredible passion and they bring you back here to Nebraska to find your incredible career your passion raise your families and make an incredible difference for generations to come could now be more proud of you uh uh what you being able to sit here today is extraordinary uh so uh congratulations God bless you all incredibly proud of you thank [Applause] you our next speaker today is with the Nebraska Department of Education commissioner Dr Brian [Applause] Maher well good afternoon everyone thanks for being here today it's an honor to represent you as the commissioner of Education I want you to know whatever you choose in life and as you have various speaking engagements because you will make sure you never find yourself speaking behind the governor that's a that's a just a bad place to be but I'll do my best here truly a pleasure to be with you here today and congratulate you on truly an amazing accomplishment um congratulations on being among a very elite group um it nationally an elite group that performs a perfect score on the ACT this year 28 of Nebraska's graduating seniors had the perfect 36 on your act historically on average less than one quar of 1% of students achieve that 36 on the ACT think about that 1% already put you in rarified air take that small group and take one quarter of that small group and that's the company that you find yourself in here today achieving a top score is an incredible accomplishment and one which you should be very proud and if you're not I promise you your parents are your teachers are your administrators are and everybody in front of you is very proud of what you've receed what you've accomplished by receiving a great high school education and applying yourself prior to taking these tests you'll be granted opportunities at Great institutions of higher education I encourage you to to continue applying yourself to your studies but more so to learning in the coming years and make a commitment to lifelong education when I finished my doctorate I remember my dad who was an elementary school custodian and had a sixth grade education and he was incredibly incredibly proud of me but the one thing he said to me was be careful you don't go on to be an educated idiot now his point was simply make sure you continue to learn and to learn and be about learning for the sake of learning but also for the sake of humanity uh may he rest in peace but I hope I've not become that educated idiot My Hope Is that you'll put your remarkable intellectual talents to use in service to your communities and to to your fellow citizens but also as the governor said if it works for you for the state of Nebraska as well I would love to see you ply your trade whatever that may be right here in the state of Nebraska parents who are here thank you you are the first and most important teachers of the children that we have in this state and it is our parents that start these students on the road to lifelong learning thank you for all that you've done to make this day possible for your students and for us to teachers and administrators any who might be here or or even if they're not I think it's crucial to call them out I want to thank them for their dedication and commitment to the profession of Education they're on the front lines of educating the next Generations next generation of Nebraskans each and every day and again I want to congratulate you on this rare achievement I want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to celebrate with you without you and without your achievements those of us on the stage aren't here and in a great moment celebrating with you congratulations continue to learn and we're very proud of [Applause] you and our next speaker is the interim president of the University of Nebraska please welcome Chris kavor [Applause] good afternoon as I look across the room it's so pleasantly refreshing to see so many familiar faces and some that I don't know but as I look across the room I there's only one word that come to my mind and it's just this immense feeling of pride pride for Nebraska and all that you have done in your academic achievements throughout your high school career you know as a father of three teenagers my son one had just completed his first year of college one in high school and one in middle school I know the immense time constraints pressures that each and every one of you are under each and every day and for your achievements not just academically but what I've gotten to know from meeting with many of you over my last 6 months visiting high schools across the state is you're not only High academic achiever your student leaders your community leaders you're involved in academics Athletics the Arts speech drama band volunteer quite candly I don't know how you do it you represent everything good about Nebraska discipline hard work integrity and a me desire to make this a better place than how you found it and with that I am so incredibly proud of you whether you're going to be a new Husker a new Maverick a new Loper or particular you know the new Labs at UNMC or whether you're not attending one of our University of Nebraska campuses we are very very proud of you and you should feel tremendously good about all your accomplishments I want to Echo Dr Maher for the moms dads grandparents Aunts Uncles Guardians you did a great job as I said as a dad it's not easy to bring up young people these days social media peer pressure all the immense challenges that these young people face each and every day you did a good job and thank you for what you do not only for these young people but for all of us in Nebraska for the teachers guidance counselors principles superintendents I've had the immense pleasure to visit rural schools Urban Schools public schools private schools and each school I have visited when you walk through those hallways it's an immense feeling of Pride intensity that our teachers our principles and our superintendant have for these young people each and every day Nebraska is a great great place our future is bright so Dr Mahar thank you for your leadership and everything that our school do for these young people I'm so excited to see what you do in the future what dreams you chase what you achieve whether at the University of Nebraska or somewhere else and that's why in our last 6 months um it's such a pleasure to stand on the stage with Governor pillan to announce our presidential scholarship program which now will compete with the best and the best across the country in terms of Up full cost of attendance for anyone that achieves a perfect 368 this $120,000 Valu scholarship will be the most prestigious that we offer at the University and I'm so thankful that we have many in the audience today that will be part of our inaugural class of presidential Scholars and we have big ideas for you from programming to mentorship to internships to make sure that we keep you in Nebraska to do what you want to do my only regret I think is that we didn't start the program earlier because we want to develop a relationship with each of our president Scholars and I know many of you probably had already made up your mind on where you want to go pursue your academic careers and so but that's not going to happen anymore under the university watch we're recommitted so Junior sophomores freshman eighth graders seventh graders we're going to come be meeting with you and we want every one of you to be a presidential scholar but I know life is not always a journey straight up the Hill sometimes there's switchbacks and so as you if you're not attending one of our University of Nebraska campuses here's my message to you if it doesn't work out at your next place just like in athletics in the transfer portal give us a call I will personally assure to you each and one of you every day there's a presidential scholarship waiting for you if you decide you know it wasn't quite the right fit and you want to come back home to Nebraska so give me a call we'll look forward to having that conversation with you but again I thank the governor for the opportunity to visit with you no matter where you're going I'm tremendously proud of you I can't wait to see you what you achieve and the dreams you pursue congratulations welld [Applause] deserved and finally without our final speaker none of us really would be here today because she represents act please welcome Mary Flur thank you for the Applause when I say I'm from act it's not always cheers and Applause that I get joking I first want to thank the governor and the wonderful Folks at the Department of Education here in Nebraska for inviting me here today to speak with each of you I promise I will keep my remarks short and sweet uh to the students I want to thank you so much to be here with you today to recognize you recognize you for your achievement that achievement as you know a perfect score in the act the college readiness exam so this is where I want the parents and the families to cover your ears for a second students it's official you're a big deal as of last year because we still haven't finished counting the numbers for this year for the graduating seniors but from last year out of 1.2 million graduating seniors only 1,800 across the whole United States achieved this score so again a big deal okay parents you can take your your hands off of your years now so I just want you to know that at act we know that a single number will never Define you as a person okay but rather it can serve as a goal poost a goalpost ensuring that each of you stand ready to succeed regardless of what path you choose to take okay the number reflects not only your dedication to scholarship but it also serves as a reflection of your hard work and determination which are qualities that will serve you well in the years to head while your journey After High School may not be a straightforward path and I'll I'll add that for most of the adults in this room our paths were not straightforward but these qualities that you've demonstrated with your achievement will help you to navigate any Challenge and change as you face it in the years ahead finally as a parent of two young men myself uh I want to share with your family's excitement today in recognizing you and just to tell each of you how proud of you we all are thank you so much [Applause] make sure we have all the bubbles filled in we do they're complete good job uh we're going to move on to our ceremony uh portion right now so if we could have the governor and the commissioner come forward all right we're going to go in alphabetical order so moms and dad ads if you're waiting along for the picture opportunity keep that in mind uh when I call the student up they'll come up get their certificate have a moment for a picture with Mom for Mom and Dad and then move over to the microphone once again once you're at the microphone if you could just let us know where you're from and what your plans are next and please say your name for us as well thank you so much first up Ruby Barger [Applause] um I'm R Bar I'm South High School and I'm studying science [Applause] at Mark BOS [Applause] I'm Mark B I want to great and I'm going be going to go to D to study uh [Applause] science Joseph crenchaw [Music] [Applause] I'm I'm Joe French PR PR I'm going to provin college and study bi chemistry Logan durac [Applause] I'm School stud computer [Music] science Rachel Fernandez [Applause] I'm Rachel fernandis I graduated from the academy and I'll beting John Hawkins to study [Applause] chry Jack goal [Applause] howdy I'm Jack and I will be going to Texas stud Ruby gutzman [Applause] [Music] hi I'm I went to Blair high school and I'll be attending UNL in R school with [Music] this Caleb Kelly [Applause] I attended uh Public Schools Nebraska and I'm planning to attend the r school at jell and fall studing computer science and physics with minor and [Applause] Logan Kai [Applause] kyber my name is my name is keyer I attend high school I will be attending University of Tulsa in the fall for theal physics and Mathematics [Applause] lilus [Applause] McKillip my name is j i wait till weast high school and I'll be Ino with major Elementary education [Applause] Lucas [Applause] manard I'm name Berard to tr preparatory school and I'll be attending the break school at UNL Bo of Science and [Applause] physics adva namam [Applause] I'm and I will be attending MIT to study computer science and [Music] [Applause] engineering Kashif naso [Applause] my name is and I high school and I plan to pursue a biology degree Michigan [Music] at Elias parsonage [Applause] I'm Parson with high school and I'm [Music] [Applause] studying Lucy rollinson [Applause] hi I'm School stud I chemistry and Mathematics at [Applause] Andrew [Applause] Rogers hello I'm Andrew Rogers and in the fall we be studying math physics at University of nebras I want to pray for [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Ethan [Applause] Roth my name is Ethan BR I went to benington high school um and then fall will be going to Hillsdale College to study INX gunar [Applause] selan my name is I went to high school and I will be attending weend in Rog [Applause] buiness Nan [Applause] fail name is Nale and graduate from Lor High School I found to economics and math at University of California Berkley where I will continue working hard for 10 out of 10 days and to try not to get my mask kicked Kaden vetro [Applause] [Music] thanks my name is St vro I attended Miller High School and this fall I will be attending Purdue University uh to study [Applause] engineering Rachel woo [Applause] [Music] I'm and IU from high school and the fall I'll stud engineering and computer science aters [Music] Rohan [Applause] yalamanchili CH I went high school and I be going to the r school at unud [Applause] [Music] and Roco [Applause] Zimmerman my name is Roo zman I attended M Mel high school and I will be studying at the University of Nebraska Lincoln and studying calary [Applause] [Music]